June 13, 2021 - A walk in the park, Day 3

The night felt a bit cooler than last night, but I suspect that has more to do with the heavy blanket of fog that now covers the hillside. Even though we all went to bed pretty early, before sunset, it seems to take even longer for anyone to stir this morning, but by 8:30 my bladder can take no more. If there is one constant while camping, it is the need to relieve oneself always seems to dictate the time one crawls out of bed in the morning. At least, that's how it seems it goes for me.

The same routine this morning as yesterday morning, coffee, oatmeal and pack up. This time it is 10:30 before we hit the trail. The time is not much concern as we only have 10km to cover today, and it is a much easier 10km than it was yesterday.

While we still have some awesome coastal views left on this leg if the trip, the fog is not going to allow for the same scenery as yesterday. Although the fog itself lends its own unique views and beauty, and they are still worth stopping to take in.

We push on through without much trouble to Carey Brook, one more small ravine with a partial set if rock stairs taking you to the bottom. The storm surge has filled the bottom of the ravine with driftwood and other beach debris. It is a good place to fill up the water bottles.

Another hour or so brings us to Seal Cove. This area is one of the more popular places to stop overnight. In fact, all the campers we met on night one at refugee cove choose to hike the extra 4km past keyhole brook to Seal Cove on their second day. The beach here is a good place to stop for a snack and a rest. It is littered with driftwood, and someone decided it would be a good spot to build a little wind break out of that driftwood. They were right. It is amazing the temperature difference in this little camp. It is like walking indoors.

Seal Cove is one of the last areas of the trail to follow the coastline. Soon we will begin to travel inland to Eatonville. While this part of the trail does not have the same views, the winding path has its own beauty. I am particularly fond of the scent of the pine and spruce now warmed by the sun overhead, as the trail makes its way to Eaton Brook.

One more steep downhill struggle and we have finally come across the brook. We will follow this brook back to the beginning of the trail for much of the day tomorrow. But for now, it leads us to our campsite for the night in Elliot Field, near the Eatonville enterance, Site number nine to be exact.

When I began planning this trip over the winter, one of the things I had to take into account was that two of us would be in a hammock. That means we would need enough trees at each site to hang them. The first night at Refugee Cove was an easy one to pick. I remember we looked at site one the last time we did the trip, as it is very close to the trail itself. I remember it being very well treed, and the photos of the site online showed this fact as well. The photos for the other sites were not as clear however. I did my best at guessing based on the very limited information, and choose site one at Keyhole Brook. While we were able to hang the hammocks without much fuss, we did have to go into the woods from the site a bit. Site four or five would have been a much better option there. For the Eatonville campsite, it was even more difficult to judge, as half the sites are in an open grassy field. I ended up choosing site nine as that looked to be surrounded by trees. Upon arrival to the site, it is indeed surrounded by trees, and is actually a very nice site. However, the trees are not set up the best for hammocks, but with a little creativeness, we do manage.

There was one other group at Keyhole Brook with us last night, and they said they stayed at site one in Eatonville and that it was beautiful. After getting setup, I decided to go over and take a look, and they were right. It is a gorgeous site and would have been excellent for a couple hammocks and a tent. At least we will know for the next time.

The bugs are bad this evening, most likely because we are more in-land and away from the coastal breeze. It will be a short evening as we eat and turn in early to escape their wrath. Hopefully we are able to get on the trail at a decent hour tomorrow morning as not only do we have a 16km hike, but also a five hour car ride home after.