July 25, 2020.
Mixed sun and cloud, mid 20’ Celsius. High humidity
total time- 12:29:49
Trail Report:
The day started at 6:15am with Doug from North Shore Adventures picking us up at Hattie Cove visitors centre for the 90 minute water shuttle to the south starting point of North Swallow River.
Drop off was approximately 8:00am and after 15 minutes of getting sorted on the beach, we were off.
Pukaskwa Coastal Trail is remote. There are no roads and only chance of a bail out is a rescue. The trail is not mark but uses rock cairns to guide direction of travel. This proved difficult in spots but for the most part the trail makes sense. The trail was beautiful with dramatic scenery. The trail however, is hard. There was no rhythm to the trail and we were constantly changing footing from rooted earth to sheer granite. The coastal sections were unrunnable and really slowed our overall time. The last section after the first suspension bridge, which was supposed to be the easiest was in reality equally as hard as the first 30 km. The hope was for a sub 12 finish, but the heat from the day caused gut issues later in the day which forced us to slow. In the end we had to walk the last 3km. At the end of the day, we are very happy with the run and were impressed with the dramatic topography and scenery.
Big thanks to Eric and Shaun from Parks Canada in Pukaskwa who helped with the logistics of the day.
Extra big thanks to Doug at North Shore Adventures for the water shuttle.
https://www.northshoreadventures.ca/