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St. John USVI Trails: Turner Point Trail
The Turner Point Trail starts on the south side of the East End Road (heading east) at the top of the last (highest) hill before you go down into Haulover. The trail descends steeply through a dry cactus scrub environment and leads to the beach at Elk Bay.
Once at the beach, walk about 100 yards past a wrecked boat and turn right into the forest. Follow the ribbons up the hill until you reach an old road bed. After the road flattens out a bit, the trail splits. Pink tape to the right going up steeply leads to beautiful ruins at the top of the ridge. The orange tape leading more or less straight ahead at the fork leads up to the top of the big hill further out. Great views of the east shore from Calabash Boom to Ram Head. Although this trail, which I will call the Turner Point Trail, goes through National Park lands, it is not an official park trail. Nonetheless, it has apparently been used for a number of years. So far no one I have spoken to knows who originally cut the trail or for what reason. According to the Trail Bandit, "The “trail” coming down the hill isn’t really a trail, but a hacked out way. I didn’t do it, but it has been used for a number of years. Steve Clark told me about it when he accused me of making it ... AH, if only I were 20 years old again, I could find all the trails on St. John."
January 9, 2010 UpdateThere exists an alternative to the trail down from the East End Road to Elk Bay. You can access Elk Bay via Haulover Bay instead. Also, the orange tape trail is now overgrown, but a marked trail down from the ruins on the ridge will take you to Water Creek, where there are ruins near the shore.
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The Trail Bandit writes, "If you turn left and follow the side hill above the mangroves to the next little point, you can find the cannon that is buried muzzle up in the sand. It is about 30 feet from the water on the west side of the point, near the tip."
