Exploring St. John’s: Grand Concourse Trails

Throughout St. John’s there are trails/paths under the umbrella of “Grand Concourse.”

“The Grand Concourse is an award-winning integrated walkway network spanning the metropolitan area of the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Capital, St. John’s, and its neighbouring communities of Mount Pearl and Paradise. Approximately 125 km in length, the Grand Concourse links a series of rivers, lakes and ponds, parks and green spaces, providing access to the beautiful natural features of the metro region.”

Downtown, these are more routes you can take through the neighbourhoods. In other areas, these are trails through the woods you can go for a little hike with.

The house I moved into when I first came to Newfoundland was in a very new development (as in , still very much under construction, my lawn was gravel and construction waste and I had no driveway for the longest time). However there was a little path by a stream that took me up to a road which led me to a spot about midway along the Oxen Pond to Wishingwell Walk bit.  

Heading up into the woods!

Starts off as an uphill path over a grassy hill, and then it’s a winding trail through the woods, until you come out to a clearing up high on Mt. Scio. There are benches along the way if you need to take a break, and the steeper spots have stairs built into them.

This is especially lovely in the winter, covered in snow...

From the clearing at the top you can see over pretty much the whole city, Signal Hill, the harbour. . . The first time I walked Ollie up there I was quite overwhelmed. Only a 30 minute walk from my house, and it’s as if I’m quite outside the city looking in (though really, you’re not outside the city at all.)

View from the top! There's Signal Hill! And The Rooms! And I can totally spot the clinic I work at when I'm sitting up there.

If you go over and down the other side, along Long Pond to Oxen Pond Walk you end up on the MUN campus eventually. Not a bad way to walk to the campus on a nice day. This connects to Long Pond Walk which takes you all around Long Pond, where Ollie loved to play fetch in the water. Definitely one of my favourite things about St. John’s is how much green space there is all over the place, and how easily I can get away from “city-ness” and enjoy a lovely walk in the trees.

Heading down the 'mountain' towards MUN. This bit is pretty steep, nice they made some stairs!

All the photos in this post were taken May, 2009. I lived in this neighbourhood for a year, and did this walk at least once a week with Ollie… and took photos almost every time. I never really get tired of the pretty views!