Fall hiking in the Humber Valley

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

Michael Newton walks through the colourful birch forest

       Fall hiking in the Humber Valley of Western Newfoundland has numerous options but a favourite with many people is the short trek to Barry’s Lookout. We did this trail on Sunday, October 14 and the autumn leaves were splendid. The trail was abit muddy due to the recent wet weather so waterproof hiking boots are recommended. What makes this trip such a standout is that it is short-just 1. 8 km (1 way) yet it gives outstanding views of Humber Valley.  Depending on how long you linger at the lookout bench and how many pictures you take enroute you can easily complete the hike in less than 2 hours. You can also extend the hike by walking further west along the ridge. On our most recent hike we saw a family with 2 young children out enjoying the hike as well as another person busy snapping photos as they hiked along.

The view looking east from Barry's Lookout

    The trail head is located in Humber Village and can be accessed by turning left on Maple and then left again on Pine. Drive down Pine to where the trail begins. One of the hardest aspects of the hike is to find the actual starting point-so here are the UTM coordinates for your GPS - 21    0442679 E   5426386 N. We usually park at: 21    0442803 E    5426419 N where there is room for a few vehicles. If there are readers that are interested in learning how to use a GPS for hiking or other applications let me know since we are planning another GPS-topographic map course for early November, 2012 in the Corner Brook area. Contact Keith Nicol at knicol@grenfell.mun.ca if interested in adding your name to list.

The yellow birch trees are at their peak right now!