Coaticook Gorge Park is a unique park in eastern Québec that is fun for the entire family. Although the park is primarily known for its pedestrian suspension bridge spanning over the Coaticook Gorge, it is also home to several fun and relatively easy hiking trails, including one that takes you over the spectacular and unique bridge. After sunset, the park turns into a magical light show courtesy of Foresta Lumina. To help you discover this beautiful area, we put together this Mont Saint-Bruno National Park Hiking Guide.
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Coaticook Gorge Park Location and Map
Coaticook Gorge Park is located (Link to Google Maps) in the Eastern Townships of Québec, south of Sherbrooke and near the borders with Vermont and New Hampshire (USA).
How to Get to Coaticook Gorge Park
The easiest way to reach Coaticook Gorge Park is by car.
From Montreal: about a 2h drive (165 km)
From Sherbrooke: about a 35 min drive (40 km)
From Burlington (Vermont): about a 2h20 drive (120 miles)
If you need to book a rental vehicle for your hiking excursion, we highly recommend using Discover Cars to get the best rates on your rental in Montreal.
We also highly recommend Airalo (eSIM card) for your connectivity needs when travelling abroad. Airalo is the world’s first and largest eSIM store with eSIM plans for 200+ countries and regions worldwide.
Alternatively, you can also reach the park from Montreal by organized transfer via the Navette Nature service, which offers bus trips on various weekend dates. The service rotates between parks, so there might be only one or two trips per park per season.
About Coaticook Gorge Park
This park’s main attraction is its suspended bridge which crosses the Coaticook Gorge at a height of 50 metres. At 170 m (554 ft) long and 50 m (160 ft) high, the Coaticook Canyon Bridge is one of the longest suspension footbridges in North America and one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Eastern Townships – it was the longest suspension bridge in North America at the time of its completion in 1988. To our knowledge, the Gorge is the largest in southern Quebec, and the Coaticook Gorge Park is impressive enough to attract over 300,000 visitors every year.
The Gorge itself is believed to have been formed roughly 15,000 years ago, following the last ice age. Impressively, the gorge continues to deepen due to the flow of water causing erosion at the rate of about 1 inch every 10 years.
Another great reason to visit this park is that if you stay in the evening, you can experience the magic of Foresta Lumina, a multimedia nighttime experience that takes place in the park itself. After sunset in summer, visitors can discover an enchanted trail winding through the mysterious forest and meet characters inspired by the area’s myths and legends.
Coaticook Gorge Park opening hours and schedule
Park Seasonal Opening Hours
The park’s schedule changes a lot throughout the year, so it is best to consult the park’s website for up-to-date opening hours. The longest opening hours are from late June to late August (8 am to 6 pm), with reduced hours in the preceding and following months. There are also two different visitor reception centers, each with its own opening hours and scheduled last entry into the park.
– The summer park hours
– The winter park hours
The two visitor reception centers are the Denis Maurais Reception Center and the Camping Reception Center. The first is the nearest reception to the trail that leads to the suspension bridge, whereas the latter provides access to all of the other hiking trails in the park (while also providing access to the suspension bridge via a longer trail).
*Note that both Denis Maurais Reception Center and the suspension footbridge are closed during winter. The exact dates vary from year to year, but the bridge is typically closed from early November until late April.
Park Access Fees
The daily rate for accessing the hiking trails is $10.50 per adult (2024), with reduced rates for children and senior citizens. This fee includes parking. You can pre-purchase your tickets online here. The park website strongly recommends purchasing your tickets online prior to your visit to reduce waiting times on arrival.
Coaticook Gorge Park Hiking Trails
The park officially has 5 trails, ranging from 1.0 km in length up to 8.5 km in length.
Gorge Trail (3.5 km, 84m elevation)
Mountain Trail (3 km, 110m)
Gorge – Mountain connector trail (1 km) – shared with cyclists, connects both reception areas
Promenade Trail (3.5 km, 25 m) – shared with cyclists
Tillotson Trail (8.5 km, 152 m) – partially shared with cyclists
Our favourite trails are the Gorge trail (bottom black trail on the map) and the Mountain trail (dashed black line trail, top right), which we will present in greater detail below. They can also be combined via the Gorge-Mountain connector trail (yellow trail).
The Gorge Trail
This is the one to do if you are short on time while in the area and only have time for a short hike. The trail follows the gorge shoreline, down near the water level for most of the trail and up above the gorge for the middle part of the trail, which includes the crossing of the famous Coaticook suspension footbridge. It is recommended to walk the loop portion of the trail counter-clockwise.
Distance: 1.8 km
Route Type: Loop
Elevation gain: 35 m (cumulative elevation gain: 60 m)
Start point: Car Park (free parking)
AllTrails rating: (4.4, 218 ratings (2024))
Duration: Most people complete the trail in about 25-35 min
The highlight of this trail is obviously the suspended bridge that passes over the gorge, but it’s quite scenic all around. The trail is neither very long nor very difficult as there is very little elevation gain throughout the trail.
You can also do this hike by starting at the Camping Reception Center by adding the connector trail that follows the river. This is the most popular version of the Gorge trail and it will roughly double the total distance of the previous trail.
Distance: 3.7 km
Route Type: Out & Back with Partial Loop
Elevation gain: 60 m (cumulative elevation gain: 96 m)
Start point: Car Park (free parking)
AllTrails rating: (4.6, 385 ratings (2024))
Duration: Most people complete the trail in about 55-65 min
The Mountain Trail
Another fun short hike in Coaticook Gorge Park is the Mountain Trail. It’s slightly shorter (3km) than the Gorge Trail and Connector combined trail and starts from the same car park. You’ll gain more elevation, however, just over 100m throughout the trail, but it remains a fairly easy trail nonetheless. Unfortunately, this trail isn’t on AllTrails, but it’s an easy trail to follow as there is good signage throughout the park. It is recommended to walk the trail clockwise.
Distance: 3.7 km
Route Type: Out & Back with Partial Loop
Elevation gain: 60 m (cumulative elevation gain: 10m m)
Start point: Car Park (free parking)
AllTrails rating: (4.6, 385 ratings (2024))
Duration: Most people complete the trail in about 55-65 min
One of the trail’s main features is the tall tower lookout that you will come across about 1/3 of the trail (clockwise direction), which offers impressive views of the surrounding landscape. Like the Coaticook Gorge trail, the Mountain Trail is considered an easy trail.
As we mentioned earlier, we highly recommend combining the Gorge, Connector and Mountain trails together. Depending on your starting point, the combined trail will have a length of 7-8 km. Since you’ll be paying $10.50 anyways, you might as well get you money’s worth and explore more of the trails.
Other Coaticook Park Information and Details
Canine companions: Dogs (on a leash) are only allowed throughout the park.
Other Summer Activities: In addition to hiking trails, you can also find in the park over 25 km of mountain bike trails ($15.50, 2024 – annual rate also available), an 18-hole disc golf course (10$, 2024), and Marhgaret’s farmhouse (free with a hiking day pass), where you’ll find ponies, pigs, sheep, and goats, among many other animals.
Foresta Lumina: During the summer months after sunset, the Gorge trail comes to life as a multimedia and immersive light show. The light installations are accompanied by an ethereal soundtrack put together by Moment Factory, and two kilometres worth of trails are transformed into a magical light show. The Foresta Lumina runs from mid-June until mid-October. Up-to-date rates and schedules can be found here.
It is highly recommended to book your tickets in advance, as these sell out quickly, particularly on weekends. If you want to combine a day of hiking with a multimedia nighttime experience at Foresta Lumina, you can pre-book a combo ticket online.
Winter: Come wintertime, although the suspension is closed, there’s still lots to do in the park, including winter hiking (Mountain trail and two others)), snowshoeing (5 trails), snow scooter, fat bike trails, dog sledding, ice climbing and skating on an outdoor rink. Note, however, that there is no equipment rental available on-site.
Toilets: Public Toilets are available at both reception centers, in addition to other sites scattered across the park along the trails.
Hiking Packing List
All Trails subscription – This comes in really handy for areas with little or no cell reception, as the annual subscription allows you to download trail maps for offline use.
External Battery – If you are using your phone to track your progress along the trail or to help with navigation, you certainly don’t want your phone to die on you. That’s especially true in the unlikely event that you might get hurt or need assistance.
Hiking poles – These can be particularly useful in steep trails or muddy/boggy trail conditions.
Want to Discover More Hiking Trails In Southern Québec?
You might be interested in these pages:
Best Hiking Trails Near Montreal
Best Hiking Trails in the Eastern Townships
Quebec Hiking Trails that Are Stunning in Winter
Best Hiking Trails Near Mont Tremblant
Photography Gear
If you like our photography, you might be interested in some of the gear we use to shoot our travel and hiking destinations.
Camera Body – Nikon Z 6ii Fx-series Mirrorless Body
Main Lens – NIKON 24-120mm F/4G ED VR AF-S
Zoom Lens – Sigma 745-306 150-600mm f/5-6.3
Polarizing filters – Urth Circular Polarizing (CPL)
Camera Tripod – K&F Concept 64-inch Camera Tripod
Mini-tripod – Lammcou Flexible Camera Tripod
Camera/hiking backpack – Vanguard Alta Rise 48 Backpack
Universal Travel Adapter – VYLEE Universal International Power Travel Plug
Other Travel Essentials
Travel Insurance
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e-Sim cards
Airalo is the world’s first and largest eSIM store with eSIM plans for 200+ countries and regions worldwide. With Airalo eSIMs, travellers can get connected the moment they land at their destination and avoid nasty data roaming charges
eSIMS are a sustainable alternative to single-use SIM cards – they are 100% digital, require less energy to produce and be re-used rather than disposed of.
Car Rentals
Discover Cars is our go-to website for car rentals. We almost always find our preferred rate there.
Transfer from Airport
Welcome Pickups is our favourite private transfer service, which you can pre-book at a fixed price. Currently available in 220 cities all over the world (mostly in Europe, but with several major cities in Asia, the Middle East and the US).
Kiwitaxi is another private transfer service – we haven’t tried it yet, but it’s currently available in a few more countries (102 as of 2024).
Hotels and Accommodations (coming soon)
Photography Prints
If you found this blog useful, you can help support our blog by purchasing low-cost digital prints. Printed physical prints are also available for purchase.
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Well, that wraps it up! We hope you enjoyed our Coaticook Gorge Park Hiking Guide and that it will prove useful for planning your hiking trip.
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