This is a hike that I have had on my wish list for the last few months.  I have been waiting for the weather to get a little warmer so that we wouldn't be walking in snow along the trail.
So, when there was a sunny day forecasted during the children's Spring Break I was able to convince some friends to venture out onto this trail with me.  We weren't disappointed.  We had a 2 year old, a 3 year old, two 6 year olds and one child backpacked on this trail.  All of the children did great - I was incredibly impressed that the 2 year old walked most of the trail and Lucas, age 3, walked the entire time - all 6 miles (9.5 km).  Who says children can't hike?
The pictures really do not do this trail justice.  There was no way to capture the entire beauty of the gorges at once.  You have to walk through them to see how the river has carved itself into the face of the rocks.  As you descend from the trail head in Sainte Croix toward Vuiteboeuf (where the trail ends) you go deep into the forest following the river and are surrounded by steep rock walls and steep cliffs down to the water.
It was also a bit difficult getting good photographs as Lucas was very eager to look over the railings into the plummeting water and I was too nervous to let go of his hand for very long.  
He was so interested that he would stop for a moment to look and then run forward on the trail again to find a better viewpoint.  I had a hard time letting go of his hand long enough to step back and take a good photo of everything we were seeing.
The hike starts from the Sainte Croix train station.  From the station, you follow the train tracks toward Vuiteboeuf.  You will pass yellow hiking signs with "Gorges de Covatannaz" marked on them and yellow walking man stickers or yellow diamonds painted on rocks and trees to guide you along the trail.
Just starting on our hike: following the train tracks at the beginning of the trail from the Sainte Croix Train Station
After walking along the train tracks you will then cross through farm and cow fields.
You will then begin walking along the river and into the woods.
The trail, once entering the woods, gets narrow at times as the water begins to flow faster and drop into the gorges.
At the end of the gorges there is a beautiful rock formation that the children loved running through.
 At the end of the trail there is a fun sign that we had fun posing under as we felt very accomplished:
After leaving the trail you walk into the town of Vuiteboeuf toward the train station.
The train station of Vuiteboeuf is just past a charming church.  We then took the short train ride back to Sainte Croix.  This trail took us 4 hours and 30 minutes and was 5.74 miles long.  The time included several breaks to throw stones over the railing into the water, to stop and eat many snacks and to get ice cream after entering into Vuiteboeuf.
For entire photo album of our hike click HERE.
Happy children hiking downhill: