In Spring 2024, work will begin on the East Blow Me Down Trail, a 4km backcounty hiking route that will connect the Forestry Access Road above Benoit’s Cove on the south shore of Humber Arm to the eastern end of the Blow Me Down Ophiolite Massif. The new International Appalachian Trail Newfoundland and Labrador (IATNL)…

Appalachian hiker Lew Coty from Vermont makes an annual pilgrimage to Western Newfoundland in August to spend a month exploring the mountains and coastlines of Newfoundland's Long Range Mountains, North America's northern terminus of the Appalachian-Caledonian Orogeny.  Some might wonder what he does at home in winter, besides tend to trees on his maple syrup…

Another chapter in the Adventures of Lew Coty! "It was near the end of my Newfoundland vacation when I spend over a month hiking into the backcountry every year. Paul Wylezol who heads the IATNL was eager to do some exploring and suggested hiking into the hills south of Little Port not far from the…

The Newfoundland section of the IAT/SIA has been added to the FarOut trail guide app for long-distance hikers, the “No. 1 navigational app for the best long-distance trails in the world!” With over 700km/450mi of thru-hiker trail route and 280km/175mi of “backcountry trail routes”, the Newfoundland section includes some of the most dramatic scenery…

At a combined federal-provincial press release at Lobster Cove Lighthouse in Gros Morne National Park, Cabox Aspiring Geopark was among a number of tourism-related projects in Western Newfoundland to share in a total of $2,744,563 in government funding intended to “help upgrade accommodations, host events and festivals, market the region, and develop new world-class attractions”

On June 24, Cabox Aspiring Geopark installed its latest interpretive panel, entitled Bay of Islands Ophiolite Complex, near the entrance to Saltbox Restaurant and Geopark Information Center in Benoit’s Cove. The panel is located above a mini ophiolite rock garden containing samples from both earth’s mantle and ocean floor, and features descriptions of all four…

After 2022’s successful launch of its new and improved IAT Ireland, IAT Europe’s most westerly chapter has welcomed the Western Way, a long-distance walking trail taking in spectacular scenery in the counties of Galway and Mayo in the west of Ireland.

My trek begins with a boat ride from Cox’s Cove to Stowbridge Head where I spend the night at a cabin owned by Paul Wylezol (who heads up the International Appalachian Trail Newfoundland and Labrador) and Arne Helgeland. For the past several years they have been renovating what was once a dilapidated fishing shack into…

A photo and video tribute to the Lewis Hills and Blow Me Down Mountains, faced with industrial wind development.

In the early morning of July 28, IATNL executive members Paul Wylezol, Delano Pittman and Ulrica Murley-Pye set off on a north to south traverse of the Blow Me Down Mountains on the south side of the Bay of Islands. However unlike the well-established IATNL Blow Me Down Traverse through the center of the Blow…

From July 22 to 27, IATNL executive members Paul Wylezol and Arne Helgeland played host to American Hiking Society Founding President Jim Kern.  Paul, Arne and Jim, who soon turns 88, are friends of Appalachian Trail Museum President Larry Luxenberg, who in 2019 joined Paul and Arne on an IAT 10th anniversary tour of Scotland,…

Ireland’s chapter in the International Appalachian Trail runs from the spectacular West Donegal to the stunning North Coast in County Antrim. Get ready to take the next step on one of the world’s largest walking trail networks, the Ulster–Ireland leg of the International Appalachian Trail. The next phase of the Ulster-Ireland chapter of the International Appalachian Trail…