Beverley Turpin
Rossport Coastal Trail
The Rossport Coastal Trail is short (1.5 kilometres) and sweet, offering hikers beautiful beaches and views of Lake Superior as well as more interior terrains.
When Dawn King moved to Rossport, Ontario, eight years ago, she would drive along Highway 17 and marvel at the Lake Superior coastline and think about how it needed a local trail.
Turns out, Beverley Turpin had the same idea years earlier, and even received letters of support. When she and Dawn hooked up as partners, the timing was right.
“It was perfect, because we both had the same vision,” Dawn says.
Representing Rossport Tourism Association, the two women spearheaded the effort to develop the Rossport Coastal Trail, which had a grand opening July 19, 2014.
The 1.5-kilometre trail starts at the east end of Rossport at Wardrope Park and meanders along the shore of Lake Superior.
“It’s a beautiful trail. The views are phenomenal,” Dawn says. “When you go onto the trail, you go across a beach. … You’ll see some of the Rossport islands offshore.”
Beverley Turpin
Rossport Coastal Trail
The coastal trail connects to the 53-kilometre Casque Isles Hiking Trail that runs from Terrace Bay to Rossport. It is part of the Voyageur Trail system that starts far east of Lake Superior in Sudbury and has several completed sections along Ontario’s eastern and northern shores of Lake Superior.
One of the challenges for trail supporters was to get the needed government approval for the Rossport trail because it runs along Ministry of Transportation right-of-way property. After many letters and phone calls to officials, “they finally agreed that it was a good idea, and that it would be a benefit for tourism,” Dawn explains.
The trail crosses land that’s part of the proposed Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area, a vast protected marine area that extends from Thunder Cape on the west to Bottle Point just east of Terrace Bay on the east.
Trail supporters hope to see trail upgrades – such as interpretive signs, benches and a smoother rock surface on some areas – done this year. “We want it to be accessible for people of all ages, for our visitors as well as for our local residents,” Dawn says.
Most of the Rossport Coastal Trail is classified as easy for hiking, but a couple of sections are considered to be intermediate because they may prove a little more difficult for the elderly.
The new trail “is good for the tourists, because when they come in the afternoon, they like to go for a walk, but not necessarily a major hike,” Dawn says. “So this is perfect.”
Walking the new trail takes about an hour, maybe a little more … a perfect hike indeed for a Lake lover.