Pukaskwa National Park, Part 3: Coastal Trail to White River Suspension Bridge

The White River Suspension Bridge is an incredible 30 meter long bridge that spans the 23 meter deep gorge through which the White River pours an astounding amount of water. The whole thing is pretty incredible; the hike is a 15km roundtrip along the Coastal Trail backpacking route and after the first 2km or so you could pretty consistently make out the rush of water even though it was almost two hours ahead of us. Sitting on the bridge for lunch was pretty loud.

The early part of the trail was mostly forested with glimpses of the lake but it quickly turned inland, spanning a half kilometer of floating boardwalk across a marsh before beginning a long stretch of damp mixed hardwood forest and finally a kilometer or so of dry upland white pine just before the bridge. Most of the way was muddy and rocky making for slippery footing which resulted in the camera primarily staying safely in its case, but some stops were made to capture a moss-carpeted ravine, a well-camouflaged toad, and a cove that we passed briefly.