Hiking the Coastal Trail: I was warned

“This trail is very difficult,” warned the park interpreter at the Lake Superior Provincial Park visitor center. “But we’d like to hike the coastal trail,” I pointed out. “But it is VERY challenging,” she insisted. Slightly offended (do I look that out of shape?) I boasted, “we should be ok, we hiked parts of Bruce Peninsula a few days ago”. I mistakenly assumed that since I hiked a black diamond on the Bruce Trail, I was ready for anything. I was so wrong.

The entrance to the trail should have been my first hint that this trail was in a different class.

And in case you’re wondering, in the photo above, Michel is walking inside a large crevice. Within fifteen minutes into the hike, we realized our walking poles were more of an hindrance as we needed our hands free to climb rock faces and to scramble down ridges. This photo might give you an idea. If you look closely you will notice a small blue marker on a tree. This is meant the trail continued at the bottom of that rock outcrop. If you don’t see clearly the way down it’s because it was very, very steep!

Another interesting aspect of this hike were the caves we had to go through. Don’t you think this cave could house a bear?

The thought crossed my mind! Which is why Michel went in first, although that strategy was not particularly useful with the massassauga rattlesnake in Georgian Bay Islands National Park.

This was by far my most challenging hike ever, and I loved it.

As mentioned above, this coastal trail is located in Lake Superior Provincial Park and not a national park. Even if my Quest focuses on the national parks, I still plan on visiting key provincial parks. More on my approach with provincial parks in a later post.