This Island is famous for the Fogo Inn where a room goes for 2 to 3 thousand dollars a night. Maybe Zika has a friend/relative special rate, but the story of the Fogo Inn is interesting. Zika Cobb went to the Silicon Valley and made lots of money in the Stock Market. She decided to return and invest in her economically struggling community on Fogo Island. In 1992, 60,000 people of Newfoundland lost their jobs because the cod fish were overfished, and many had to relocate to other Provinces.
With this amassed wealth, she started several Artist in Residence Programs and finally built the World-Famous Fogo Inn using in town trades people.
The hiking is so incredibly beautiful and varies up and down throughout.
So many steps through steep large boulder areas.
So many well maintained plank boardwalks through bogs.
So many coastlines that were totally reachable on foot unlike the cliffs that are part of mainland Newfoundland.
Hikes are relatively short, most under 3 miles, but the entire walk is with minimal elevation gain making for and a relaxing time unless of course you’re climbing to one of the Heads.
But the scenery is breathtaking.
Trails and Tales
Joe Batt’s Trail
This famous 3.1 mile/144 feet elevation trail offers many views of the infamous Fogo Inn. The Great Auk, an extinct native bird, let‘s you know that you have reached the end. By the 1850 Auks had been hunted to extinction as they awkwardly waddled and were easy prey and in high demand for feathers, meat and fat.
It is one of the Fogo Island must-do’s. Again, a leisurely beautiful walk with planked walkways and bridges and steps when needed.
Started out a Community Park and Ballfield, with a small wooded stage that host the Etheridge’s Point Seaside Folk Fest in August.
So many beautiful views and such varied terrain yet mild elevation gain.
Another ultra modern style, but dark brown, sits along the Trail – we could see someone working at a desk wall through the huge windows.
Fogo Island Inn Tour
First stop on the Island was the Visitor’s Center where we found out it was possible to do a tour of the Inn, which was scheduled for Thursdays. You just need to call the Inn to reserve.
There is no driving up to the Inn. You meet at the shack right orf Route 334; we were told we could walk up the road or wait for a shuttle. Our guide greeted us right near the lobby entrance and bar.
The Inn was made to look very Newfoundland with wood planking that ran on the ceiling and walls. She said that it was not to look too perfect, but have slightly imperfect seams making it authentic looking.
The Shorefast Foundation was founded by Zita Cobb to promote economic development and resilience on Fogo Island. The Inn was the main project with all of the furniture and woodworking being done in the local woodshop. Construction of the Inn was completed in 2013 and included all local crafting. This bench seat tapestry below depict the Newfie life.
The quilts, tapestries and décor was also all made by locals including the very cool rope chandeliers that hung over the gathering room.
Each of the 29 rooms faced the ocean with private balcony partitions to access the outside. The rooms were simple and contained a wood stove.
There was a library, a social room with a grand piano, and a theater for movies/lectures among things like hot tub areas that we did not see.
The décor was quite simple really and not what I would expect for a 2000 a night room.
Each of the stairways had a different wall paper design depicting something of the island; since we were not guests, we took the stairs exclusively except for our first stop at the 4th Floor. Those Fogo Island designed stairway wall paper stops were perfect for stopping the group and minimizing time in the paying customer areas. Most importantly it is a success story of a former Fogo resident that used her riches to help out her economically struggling community through the Shorefast Foundation providing working opportunities.
The hiking all around Fogo Island is so much bang for your buck. Such beautiful views everywhere without having to climb difficult terrain. The entire hike for most of them had beautiful scenery and I would say it is truly a hiking paradise for those who are not such avid hikers. The trails are cut and well groomed even through the fields, bogs with so many steps, and viewing platforms.
Brimstone Head Trail
The Lions Club runs the Campground and maintains the Trail up to the Brimstone Head as well as the campground.
Vinny is parked way right at the end of the cove. At times a bit windy, but so beautifully situated.
There is a resident black fox who I first sighted on the first super windy day hike to the top.
He was quite aware of my presence and only jumped way as I moved closer.
I would see him again the next morning has he was on the pounce for some critter or another.
The Brimstone Head viewing platform from fox level is impressive. I was quite glad for the various handgrip accouterments ato the top especially in that crazy windiest hike so far – glad there was no wet rocks.
Really nice was the fenced viewing platform in that crazy wind. The Wishing Well Side Trail led you to a wishing well that contained water that looked up to the Brimstone Head and was extremely windy too. This path was wider and more meandering and grassy but had many beautiful views as well.
Lion’s Den Trail
This 4.6 mile 708 feet elevation trail near Fogo was beautiful on this evening hike when the wind had died and our Bang Belly Bistro visit required a bit of a metabolism boost.
Too many beautiful sunset photos. We never did find the picnic table that is in honor of Randy’s deceased grandparent. Randy is the caretaker of the Brimstone Campground and told me specifically where to look and to make sure I leave a message in the bottle that is tied to the table.
We thought it may have been to the right at the end of this rock grouping, but the trail was getting narrower and less groomed, and decided we still a 2 miles to go.
This area is made up of four abandoned fishing communities which thrived in the late 1800‘s and established commercial trade in the early 1900‘s. At this time the Marconi wireless was being required to support weather conditions for both fishing and sealers(seal hunting). This station would be closed down in 1934 as all stations transformed to tube transmission to prevent radio interference. Signal Hill in St John’s was selected to perform this function.
The wind had died down nicely and the walk was beautiful this evening.
There were many side excursions to the abandoned fish communities like the trails to Eastern Tickle.
And Lockes Cove
The Tickle area was exceptionally beautiful during sunset. FYI: a tickle is the narrow pinch point between the ocean and a bay.
The rock formations along with some in the trees paths and greenery made the Lion’s Den Hike exceptionally interesting even though we didn’t find Randy‘s Grandparent’s Picnic Table.
Oliver’s Cove Trail
Oliver really did a nice job of this 2.5 mile/121 feet elevation loop through grassy pastures and crystal clear water.
Up black rocky outcropping glittered with mica, especially against the green patches. The sparkling of the black rocks was really exquisite and I have never seen such abundance in one area.
More jagged rocky shoreline.
Small Ponds in the middle of the soft green bogs..
This trail ended in a dirt road back to Vinny who stood watchfully.
We had already completed the Joe Batt‘s Arm trail today, the Inn Tour, Growlers Ice Cream, Beer at Storehouse and we still had the Community Music Gig in Tilting to do. It was a busy day, but one needs to take advantage of sunny weather in Newfoundland.
Fogo Head Trail
This was another 2.2 mile 446 feet elevation gain trail and we did it in the evening since the wind was scheduled to die down.
But the low lying clouds, in other words, the fog was also coming and going as we hiked. Luckily not too thick, and just made the whole thing a bit interesting really.
This made for a very mystical evening hike and the fog would roll away and come back so quickly.
We found the beginning of the loop trail right up the road from the Brimstone Campground, but this was not the beginning Parking Trailhead that we came to at the end of our hike. We could have hiked back the way we came or we opted to walk the roads through residential areas since fog could have gotten thicker.
Residential areas are charming and so took the opportunity to get a few photos.
This was part of the Fogo Head Loop and was about 1 km of road walking back to the starting and the Brimstone Head Campground.
Fogo Island Towns
Fogo
Bang Belly Bistro
We had tried to lunch here unsuccessfully and met the manager outside this dinner only restaurant. So after chasing weather forecasts, and deciding wind was to calm down in the evening, we scheduled a first 4pm reservation that Sunday so that we could accomplish the Lion Den Hike that evening. We had come across the manager again as we stopped to have a coffee at the Punch Buggy Coffee Shop.
Evidently the Bang Belly Manager was also manager for the sister coffee shop as he referred to it. It was so nice to overhear him talking so nicely to the café staff, and then said that he had better get Bang Belly up and running for our 4pm reservation – So small town. Meanwhile I stopped in at the “This and That” store across the street where I have never seen a collection of so many hand knitted hats and gloves in my life.
They sold these cushions which I also saw at the Bang Belly Bistro and Fogo Inn. Perfect to use up all those yarn ends. Fogo has a real sense of people making things for sale to the summer tourists = products were very reasonable an I almost bought a red kids sweater like the one Ma had made for the girls in our Saint Ann Days. The restaurant décor was retro and the metal/synthetic seat chairs looked like chairs from grade school, but adult sized. Mismatched napkins were neatly surged to go along with the mismatched.
carrot puree shot brought out by our now acquainted manager.
John had the Savory Sourdough Bread Pudding with Sous-Vide Carrots and I had
the Jiggs Pakora which is a deep fried cabbage, carrot, turnip mash, split pea puree with salty beef chutney. For the main course I had Chicken and Potato Waffle which sounds plain, but add the spicy maple syrup with roasted corn and cabbage and mustard pickles to the crispy chicken and it had a world of deliciousness.
John had the BBQ Miso Cod with roasted carrots, turnip, soy and herb oil caramelized cabbage. We had pulled an “eat hardly anything all day”, like we did in our college days in anticipation for this feast, and boy that did the trick. Good that we had hiking plans or it might have been food coma time. Evidently, reservations are highly recommended for this outstanding restaurant.
Cod Jigger Diner
After being turned away for lunch at the Bang Belly Bistro, the manager had recommended Cod Jigger Diner where the bacon is supreme and the Wi-Fi is screaming. Sat here and did all the backups to the I-cloud and even had electricity during this cold blustery day.
Joe Batt’s Arm
According to legend Joe Batt’s Arm, the largest of 11 communities on Fogo Island, was named after a crewmember of James Cook who jumped ship in Gander Bay in 1763 while surveying the area. I guess he really liked it. He later arrived on Fogo Island community and was so well liked that they named the area after him. The Arm was a term that indicated a place was wrapped around an inlet. Someone does a great job of tending to this trail.
This town of Joe Batt’s Arm was chosen as the infamous Fogo Island Inn. We also saw people plowing small gardens on the trail edge. We had noticed several places along the smaller Newfoundland highways where people had some fenced gardens and then we saw one right near the ball field entry of Joe Batt’s Arm Trail.
Growlers Ice Cream was perfect for our after hike treat before the Fogo Inn Tour. Yum.
Storehouse for a mid-day beer and fries – no bar and we were required to order some food at this tastefully decorated restaurant which was part of Fogo Inn conglomerate. Good Wi-Fi here too and we had heard the food here was excellent as well. What a cute teapot shelf.
Tilting
Heritage Center hosts a Thursday night Music Session in the charming Rock Bridge Café right on the wharf. The Café was closed, but the adjoining quilt/gift store was open. Rather than a play together Irish/Bluegrass style session, several musicians took turns performing. With a few tunes, the leader tried to initiate as play/sing-a-long. There were two storytellers there of whom we saw his front yard presentation on our Oliver’s Hike. He spoke very softly so my recording didn’t come out too well.
Two accordions and a fiddler played a traditional jigs and waltzes and a couple of people danced.
Toula Merchant Reunion was another concert we attended on Saturday night after seeing some bulletin board flyers. Evidently one of the members, Paddy, lives in Tilting and arranged for his ole pals to come together at the Tilting Parish Club for this concert. It turned out that the roommate, Andrew Dale, of this group is a member of the “The Once” which is a group we heard and loved at StanFest last year. Boy could Andrew play a great electric lead guitar and mandolin too. We even got to participate in the “Stop the Train” song written by Sherry Ryan about the human weather vane Lauchie MacDougal who could predict the Wreckhouse Winds. Fun Night
Getting to Around Fogo Island
Brimstone RV Campground
I got reservations on-line two days prior to arrival in this mid June time-frame when we had decided to visit Fogo Island. We had been warned that there are few campgrounds as well as places to boondock on Fogo Island, but it looked like there was an overflow ball field to this Brimstone Park. Evidently it hosts a music fest in August where this field gets filled. On Fogo there were many “no overnight” camping signs, but we did find a place to take a nap and have dinner in a 30 ft gravel driveway space between trees near on of those many ponds on the way to Tilting. It would have been great for an overnight because there was no path to anything the gravel stopped at the pond. Additionally, we noticed there was no sign at the Lion’s Den Parking Area so probably could have stayed there. We had thought about staying an extra night but the morning of that Sunday there were only two RV spaces available at Brimstone Head, so we decided to spend out last night in line to catch the first morning ferry.
Woolfreys Pond RV Resort
This was the closest Campground to the Fogo Island Ferry on the Newfoundland Mainland and we stayed here the night before going to Fogo. The best unexpected thing about this campground is that it has a boardwalk around the pond which was so peaceful, so even in rainy weather it would provide for a nice 2 mile walk. The dump station is located several hundred yards outside the park on the right hand side. One could probably just use it for free because the office told us about it and there was none there.
Ferry
Getting to Fogo is another 80-minute ferry ride. The summer schedule had begun and there were about 5 ferries a day from the Twillingate Area – only $25 for our Vinny. No reservations – you just line-up and wait. All went pretty smoothly although the first smaller ferry didn’t fit us, but a second one was coming into the dock, so we easily got on this larger one. The return ferry was no additional cost and we slept in the line being awoken suddenly by the horn that said loading was beginning. Seemed like this ride took less than an hour-good thing because we had no time for coffee and there was no services aboard.
Travels with Vinny VanGo 
One thought on “Fogo Island, Newfoundland”