St John Trails

Would appreciate thoughts on favorite trails and what not to miss on St John. Heading down in two weeks and will be S/V Island Time out of CYOA. Cheers. Rob

Here is the text from the Coral Bay Cruising Guide that that Coral Bay Yacht Club will be publishing online very soon

The National Park has many hiking trails. The best map for the trails is at https://trailbandit.org/Downloads.html.
You can do a great flat walk in Coral Bay by:
- Walking from the dinghy dock to a right on Fortsberg Road (turn right on East End Road at Skinny Legs, first right)
- Back on East End Road, head left and walk to the triangle intersection, take a left on Salt Pond Road.
- At the intersection where the dumpsters and Love City Mini Mart are, take a right down Kings Hill Road.
- The first cement road on the right goes up to the LaLa Land neighborhood.
- Continuing on Kings Hill Road, past the sign that says “You are Lost”, you will come to Josephine’s Greens and Coral Bay Garden Center on the left. Josephine sells organic produce, fruits, and herbs.

The Europa Bay trail in Little Lameshure is a nice flat hike.

Great hilly hikes include:
- Johnnyhorn Trail - from Leinster Bay to Coral Bay
- Brown Bay Trail - spur off the Johnny Horn trail
- Ram Head Trail from Salt Pond Bay

Add the Reef Bay trail from one of the NPS moorings in Reef Bay. See the Great house, sugar house, and hike up to the Petroglyphs.

Cheers, RickG

I would consider the Reef Bay trail from the beach up to the Petroglyphs a must do hike. It is pretty steep, but the good news is that when you get to the petroglyphs, it is all downhill back to the beach. Both times i hiked it I started at the top from Centerline Rd. Big hike back up, still worth it.

Thanks for the info. Reef trail looks like a nice challenge.

I have a book called "St John, Feet, Fins, and Four Wheel Drive" published in 1994 that is probably still fairly accurate. The times are from that book.

My recommendation is the Rams Head trail out of Salt Pond Bay. It has the best views. Hiking time is 45 minutes each way.

From nearby Lameshur Bay, you can hike to Reef Bay., about a 60 minute hike each way.

I have a book called "St John, Feet, Fins, and Four Wheel Drive" published in 1994 that is probably still fairly accurate. The times are from that book.

My recommendation is the Rams Head trail out of Salt Pond Bay. It has the best views. Hiking time is 45 minutes each way.

From nearby Lameshur Bay, you can hike to Reef Bay., about a 60 minute hike each way.

Thanks RobT I have a great map of trails from Nationl Geographic which also gives distance and times. Definitely plan on doing Rams Head trail

From Leinster/Waterlemon, you can take the Johhny Horn trail to Coral Bay...I did it by myself and thumbed a ride back to Anneberg and walked the footpath back to Leinster.

Just the hike to the top of leinster has a magnificent payoff...the hike to Coral was steep but can be done quickly - felt like under an hour....Alternatively you could do the reverse....Happy Hiking!

Some of the trails are a bit rough imho. You might consider your foot wear and be prepared for some steep, rocky, rooty and washed out trails. Dont' get me wrong - still enjoyed the hikes.

The only app I've actually paid money for is called "St John Off The Beaten Path". Used it a bit to figure out which fork in the path to take and found it very useful as it overlays you on the map with your gps location.