Soldiers Pond Swimming Hole

Soldiers Pond is a beautiful swimming hole directly above Fort Amherst, St. John's. The swimming hole is across the water from Signal Hill and offers a beautiful view of it. It is also along the East Coast Trail and is very easy to find if you know where to look.

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The Swimming Hole

The swimming hole is fairly easy to find, you can simply follow the East Coast trail up the mountain. Once you are at the top there will be a large pond to your right, with a dam keeping the water in. The side that you will come to does not have any good spots to sit. I would recommend walking across the dam as there is an open area on the other side (where the picture below is being taken from).

The best spot to get into the water is from the dam. If you go out to where the girls in the picture above are, there is a small ledge in the water which you can use to lower yourself in. It is also easy to get into the water from the rocks along the edge of the water. Some words of advice, as far as I know, there is not anywhere to jump in, it is not deep enough. I also noticed that there seemed to have been some drilling done in the area, as a result of this there were some rusted metal objects at the bottom, nothing to be worried about, but just a heads up.

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Directions

This is a great spot to swim as it is literally in St. John's. The parking lot is across the harbour from downtown St. John's, here is a link.

Once you park you will continue down the road and past a couple of houses until, to your right, you see a stream of water and signage for the trail. If you get to the lighthouse at Fort Amherst you have gone too far, although that is another cool spot which I will make a blog post for as well.

Once you get to the trail start heading up the mountain, although it is a fairly steep and tough climb, the view from the pond makes it worth it. You should probably wear sneakers or hiking boots, but I have seen it done in flip flops (not recommended). The trail is easy to follow, and once you reach the top it is impossible to miss the pond, which will be to your right. Here is a link for the pond.

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The picture above is taken of Signal Hill from the lay-out area beside the pond. The picture below is taken of Signal Hill from the hike.

Even if you don't want to go for a swim, I'd still reccomend the hike as it provides a really cool view of Signal hill.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you go check it out let me know what you think! Thanks.

Sam,