The DIRT

Name: Garnish to Point Rosie

Distance: 52 kms return

Duration: 1 day

Rating: Class 5 and 6

Accomodations: Camping and lodges

Creator: Geoff  Smith

Location: Eastern Newfoundland, the Burin Peninsula

The Garnish to Point Rosie trail runs from the Town of Garnish to the resettled fishing community of Point Rosie. This small out port has never been accessible by road, and in the past could only be reached by boat.  Today there are several summer cottages at Point Rosie, but it’s quaint and timeless character still remain. A trip along the coast from Garnish to Point Rosie is in some way like a time travel experience back to a much simpler, yet often harsh, time in history.

Video shot during the late summer of 2011...

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Video shot during the summer of 2013....

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Making a life along the coast of Fortune Bay centuries, or even decades, ago must have required a great deal of self-reliance, innovation, and grit. Especially while living in a small community without access by road or railway. But many small out ports just like Point Rosie have thrived along the rugged yet beautiful coastal regions of Newfoundland. Success was in no small part due to the abundance of the codfish stocks, which have now dwindled to nearly nothing, thanks to foreign overfishing and government mismanagement.

I must confess to this trail route being my personal favorite of the many I have ridden over the decades I’ve spent riding trails all around the island. There is just something about it’s combination of rugged geography, stunning coastal vistas, and intriguing local history which tick all the boxes for me. The friendliness of the local people, and their determination to create and maintain a world class, multi-use trail, probably also has something to do with my attraction to this route.

The trail will take you across several very long stretches of rocky beach, over many brooks, and across streams which all have innovative and locally constructed bridges spanning them. The beaches with their loose stone terrain require a fairly high level of skill and confidence to traverse. Riders with light motorcycles will find these crossings much easier than heavily loaded bike riders will. So travel as light as you can for this trip.

There is also access to a new ‘overland’ trail route in this area, which the local trail association hired an excavator to push through the back-country between Point Rosie and the Powder Horn trail, but more about that later.

The very substantial bridge which serves as a gateway to the trail network from the Town of Garnish

 
A rider crossing the gateway bridge over the Garnish River

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The blue waters of Fortune Bay are nearly always in view along this trail route

 
The local trail association has erected signs marking places of interest along the route

 
Stopping for lunch with views like this to ponder always seems to make food taste better

Nothing like a day at the beach

 
This is the old bridge over Scott’s Brook, which is now being replaced with a new one

 
Between the beach sections there are plenty of roller-coaster hills and turns

 
Nice backdrop for a ride

 
Chatting with a friendly local couple at the end of the longest beach near Garnish

The old bridge at Scott’s Brook had been knocked out by Hurricane Igor in 2010, and was still out when my buddy Brian and I rode the trail in 2011. We crossed the brook the hard way (sans bridge), but had fun being challenged by the moving water. The new bridge is under construction as I write this.

Useful Links

Area Information
Town of Garnish Information
Info on Trail
Accomodations