katherinescovesandriver | backcountryadventure

Coastal Trail

Katherine's Cove to Sandriver

TRAIL SPECS:

Trail distance: 5km roundtrip

Total trail time: 3 hours round trip

Trail Rating: NOVICE

We followed highway 17N until we reached Lake Superior Provincial Park. The turnoff for Katherine's Cove was about 15-20 minutes into the park.

We walked along the southern beaches beginning at Katherine's Cove and crossed a small creek to get to the coastal trail. The trail was a little damp at first, but that only lasted for about for about 20 meters. Soon we came out at a pebbly beach featuring a large rock in the water.

It wasn't far down the pebbly beach that the trail went back into the bushes. The terrain was very rocky and mossy with interesting root stairs as well as small cave.

We eventually came out to a sandy beach with dunes farther inland and Bathtub Island in sight. A sandbar makes wading to the island quite easy when seasonal temperatures allow it. Its a great place to swim for a fun day trip in the summer.

The sandy beach and dunes continued all the way past Sinclair Cove with a strange rocky part and two creeks we jumped across along the way. When we approached the end of the beach, we found the opening of Sand River, where we found the trail that took us up and over the highway.

Upon reaching Sand River the terrain got rocky again as we hiked along the beautiful cascades. There were many access points along the trail to get pictures. The trail continued for a while (if desired you could continue on and camp overnight further up on the trail), but we turned around at the top of the spectacular cascading waterfalls.

The hike took us three hours round trip, with many stops for stunning photographs.

The sand beach off in the distance is Katherine's Cove. The trail lead us to these large rocks and the pebbly beach. The coastal trail continued on back into the bush, just after the trees in the foreground.	A section of the coastal trail, just after the pebbly beach. Some sections were steep but had natural stairs made from roots or rocks with branches to grab ahold of to pull yourself up or lower yourself down if needed.	The coastal trail brought us up very high to a lookout before heading back down towards Bathtub Island and Sinclair Cove.
Some moss covered rocks to climb around on the hike down from the mountain.	Along the beaches where the sand dunes start, with Bathtub Island in the distance.	This is where the sandbar began that you could use to walk out to Bathtub Island. We continued along the beach further south.
The peculiar rocky section in the middle of Sinclair Cove.	The waves out here have always been huge and very majestic.	The beginning of Sand River; a small section of the waterfalls we were about to see. The men fishing said they try to catch trout and salmon here.
The next part of the Sand River Falls. The trail we took along side the falls is called the 'Pinguisibi' trail.	The colors and the formations of the stone in the giant rocks always intrigues me.	As we continued on up the trail, the Sand River falls continued to get larger and more impressive.
The top of the falls, and our turning around point. We went off trail for a lot of the photo-ops and climbed over many of the rocks along the falls.

Backcountry

ADVENTURES

Coastal Trail

Katherine's Cove to Sandriver

The sand beach off in the distance is Katherine's Cove. The trail lead us to these large rocks and the pebbly beach. The coastal trail continued on back into the bush, just after the trees in the foreground.

A section of the coastal trail, just after the pebbly beach. Some sections were steep but had natural stairs made from roots or rocks with branches to grab ahold of to pull yourself up or lower yourself down if needed.

The coastal trail brought us up very high to a lookout before heading back down towards Bathtub Island and Sinclair Cove.

Some moss covered rocks to climb around on the hike down from the mountain.

Along the beaches where the sand dunes start, with Bathtub Island in the distance.

This is where the sandbar began that you could use to walk out to Bathtub Island. We continued along the beach further south.

The peculiar rocky section in the middle of Sinclair Cove.

The waves out here have always been huge and very majestic.

The beginning of Sand River; a small section of the waterfalls we were about to see. The men fishing said they try to catch trout and salmon here.

The next part of the Sand River Falls. The trail we took along side the falls is called the 'Pinguisibi' trail.

The colors and the formations of the stone in the giant rocks always intrigues me.

As we continued on up the trail, the Sand River falls continued to get larger and more impressive.

The top of the falls, and our turning around point. We went off trail for a lot of the photo-ops and climbed over many of the rocks along the falls.