Another weekend of splendid, late summer weather meant it was finally time to attack the trail leading northeast out of Harry's Harbour until it ends with the sea.

This Kings Cove Trail has long been on my to-do list, not just because of there being a resettled community here, but also because there's another pair of reachable, obscure coves.

The village of Harry's Harbour is accessible via the Springdale Trans-Canada Highway exit, followed by driving the NL-391 to its end. It's about two and a half hours from Corner Brook, and being prepared with groceries and supplies, there was no need to stop in Springdale.

Reaching the trail parking and stuffing some last items into our giant backpacks, the first portion of the hike was along a rocky beach, before we then broke north into the woods on a track that I suspect is sometimes used as a quad trail.

Isy's wind sail tent is decidedly not a backpacking tent, but it was only 1.5km (~0.9mi) to the first cove, so I had to bare teeth grin and bear it. She had to deal with the dog pulling every which way while she had her own heavy pack, so I was actually fine with the distribution of gear.

Plodding along, I couldn't help but think of the future, when I may not be able to carry a 25-lb tent with one arm over this distance on an uneven trail. I guess there's always wagons, making multiple trips, or maybe, y'know, buying a more appropriate tent.

The other problem with the wind sail tent - its performance in the wind - wouldn't be a problem here, since we weren't out on a headland and a stand of large aspens allowed us tuck in and out of the west wind.

With camp made we headed down to the shore, where even if there wasn't much of a sunset, the sea was mesmerizing in its calmness and the atmosphere was tranquil, as there wasn't a single four-wheeler, boat, or fog horn making noise anywhere out in the distance.

I cracked a giant can of beer from a local brewery, a brewery which confuses most locals with why their cans are almost 1 liter. Of course I occasionally enjoy them as they're the closest I'm getting to a 40 here (without bringing some King Cobra or Steel Reserve on a plane, of course).

Waking up the next morning, there were a lot of berries along with some bear scat around, but all we saw were some cormorants, gulls, and a squirrel.

(Upon leaving, a mother and young moose were startled by us and rushed down the trail, but thankfully darted off into the woods before crossing our - and Kingsley's - path. It was quite the sight to behold with the large creatures rushing down the tree tunnel, but then also moving through the thick woods with such power and ease.)

Isy was very interested in the sprawling field of partridgeberries surrounding our tent, leaving me to take the dog and explore more of the trail network.

The next cove over was the main Kings Cove location I believe. With Kingsley off leash, I figured he'd be fine to tag along as I moved up the hill in order to get a better view, but then he just whined and barked down at the trail instead of trying to move up through the dog belly-deep shrubs.

I swear, he's been to a lot of resettled places but it always brings out the delicate city dog in him, haha.

There's a pretty good cemetery website for the Island of Newfoundland, so I was quite surprised to notice headstones off to my left since I hadn't seen them on the Newfoundland's Grand Banks website cemetery transcription list.

It would seem that I finally found an obscure enough cemetery to be left off that site. This obscurity is also clear in the fact that Kings Cove isn't in the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador either.

The original census of this area list seven communities, three of which are now resettled as they all condensed into Harry's Harbour or nearby Nicky's Nose Cove (along with the people who left for mining opportunities in Little Bay or Tilt Cove, or lumbering/construction opportunities in Springdale.)

Here in Kings Cove, the first census of 1869 lists the population as 30. By 1884, Harry's Harbour had 65 persons, while Kings Cove still had a respectable 45. There are then a handful of censuses that list the population as 29, 25, 43 and 43; before the census of 1943 that lists 35 Kings Cove persons in 7 families, located in 6 dwellings. The post office was in Harry's Harbour, and as Harry's Harbour had a church, school, and multiple stores at this time, I imagine everything the Kings or the Englands of Kings Cove needed, they would walk or boat over to Harry's Harbour.

There's a map of abandoned Newfoundland communities and they have Kings Cove as being abandoned and/or resettled in 1961.

While that map isn't always the most accurate, it's the best guess I have since there weren't any signboards on the trail, there's little information online, and I didn't stop to talk to any old-timers.

Kingsley and I would turn around as this point thinking Isy must've had her fill of berry picking, so maybe when I come back for the other two coves, I can stop to find out why Kings Cove ceased to exist.

Isy hadn't had her fill upon my return, as there were still other vessels to fill with patridgeberries and she wasn't stopping until every last one was loaded to the brim.

As someone who'd rather pay someone else to do his berry picking for him, this was an unfortunate development. It was time to get on all fours and pick the little crimson berries, lest we be here until nightfall.

Eventually we were weighed down with enough partridgeberries that it was acceptable to head back to the car.

I remained pleased with this trail that'd long been on my radar, where stealth camping and making a night of it made it even better. Can't wait to go back.