ECT #6, 7 and 8: Cobbler Path

I hiked the Cobbler Path from Outer Cove to Red Cliff in three sections, since I was solo hiking and didn’t have the option of a car at each end. On the first hike, I started at the Doran’s Lane trailhead and took the relatively short hike out to Torbay Point and back. Though this was the shortest segment of the trail, it was the most challenging for me as I did it on a windy evening and a good bit of this trail is over open ground near the edge of the cliffs. While the East Coast Trail is built in such a way that even the trails that go along clifftops are well in from the edge and perfectly safe, it doesn’t always FEEL that way to a person who suffers from fear of heights, as I do. I had one of the worst bouts of vertigo I’ve ever had while climbing back up that trail, and had to sit for awhile with my back pressed against a rock to feel grounded — even though I was never in the slightest danger!

My second crack at the path took me in at Doran’s Lane again but this time I went south to Cobbler Brook. This took about an hour (and of course another hour coming back) and involved some steep climbing and lovely views. I met a fellow hiker with two very friendly dogs (I never walk Max on the ECT because he doesn’t interact well with other dogs, and as so many of them are off-leash on this trail I would not be able to handle him if they rushed up intending to be friendly. But I always enjoy meeting other hikers with dogs!). Finally, today I tackled the last part, entering from Red Cliff Road. I hiked out to the other side of Cobbler Brook, meeting up with my own progress from last time, then hiked back and looped around the end of the trail at Red Cliff to come back by the gravel road that leads past the old military ruins up there. I also did some geocaching on this leg of the trip and found four of the seven caches I searched for.

Total distance — about 8K, but since I had to double back every time I guess that puts it around 16 K for all three hikes.