Trail · from Gander (YQX)

The Edgar Baird Lakeside Trail

Mapped path: 2.1 km; One way — the two ends lie 0.31 km apart, so the way back is this path again unless you have arranged a lift.
Climbing: 96 m
To the trailhead: 15 min

easyderived: 2.1 km + 96 m of climb ≈ 2.9 effective km — the rule is stated in code, not opinion

Drive: 8.4 km from the Gander (YQX) terminal door to the trailhead — not the town. OSRM driving profile, terminal door to the trailhead, checked 2026-09-04.

The trail itself: 2.1 km, 96 m of climb — the line is coloured by elevation, green at 29 m up to red at 103 m.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line computed with OSRM.

The trail, measured

Edgar Baird Lakeside Trail: the mapped path is 2.1 km with 96 m of climbing, from 29 m up to 103 m. How long that takes is yours to know; what it climbs is not a matter of opinion.

to ~8% grade8–15%steepervertical stretched ~2×

Every cited segment →

OpenStreetMap way/1070017204 + way/1070022047 + way/1070022046; elevation from AWS Open Data Terrarium tiles (z14), sampled ~30 m, ascent over a 3 m noise threshold.

The shape is the fact worth reading: a climb that descends to a different low is a loop, not an out-and-back.

terrain from open elevation data — the same source as the profile above

Conditions are the day's — trip-plan basics →

Drive it with your own nav:Organic Maps →OsmAnd →Apple →Google →Waze →The first two run on OpenStreetMap and don't track you — the same map this site is built from.

Download the GPX → works in Organic Maps, OsmAnd, Garmin and Strava alike — it's just a file, no account, nothing tracked.

No one has sent a recording of this walk yet.Be the first — send the track →

Getting here

15 min from Gander — 8.4 km to the trailhead.

The measured drive is YQX → Lewisporte — 7 stops on it, with the road numbers, the surface and where to eat along it.

What has been recorded near here

Species reported within 50 km of Edgar Baird Lakeside Trail trailhead and shared to GBIF, the international record of species occurrences. The useful column is when — the months the reports cluster in.

Northern gannetseabirdMorus bassanusReports cluster in May, June, July12 reports on record
Atlantic puffinseabirdFratercula arcticaReports cluster in June, October, August8 reports on record
Humpback whalewhaleMegaptera novaeangliaeReports cluster in July3 reports on record
Fin whalewhaleBalaenoptera physalusReports cluster in 2 reports on record

What this is not

Not how many there are. A report means somebody looked, saw and wrote it down. A busy harbour with tour boats reports more than an empty coast with the same animals in it.
Not a sighting you are promised. Nothing here says you will see one.
Not complete. Only species we ask GBIF about appear, and only where somebody reported them.

From GBIF, queried 2026-09-14 — their record, not a copy of it.

Eating, when you come off

Everything the open map data records within 20 minutes' drive of the trailhead, measured by road and ordered by nothing but how long it takes to reach. 0 of 25 have positions two independent maps agree on.

Big Stop Restaurant300 Trans-Canada Hwy · (709) 256-788611 min · 6.5 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
Swiss Chalet92 Laurel Rd · (709) 256-700512 min · 6.3 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
Harvey's92 Laurel Road · (709) 201-001612 min · 6.3 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
Dairy Queen Grill & Chill100 Trans-Canada Hwy · (709) 606-228512 min · 6.3 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
McCafé320 Airport Blvd.12 min · 6.5 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
McDonald's320 Airport Blvd. · (709) 651-220112 min · 6.5 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
Subway318 Airport Blvd · (709) 651-240012 min · 6.5 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
Tai Sun Restaurant298 Airport Blvd · (709) 651-280112 min · 6.6 kmunconfirmed — go by the address

No opening hours anywhere on this site, for anywhere — the open data holds none, which is an absence in the source rather than caution on our part. The telephone number is the only reliable answer to whether a kitchen is serving. Built 2026-09-14.

No photograph yet — the profile and the map are the honest visuals until someone who has walked it sends theirs.

Getting to the trailhead — Gander (YQX) to the start of the Edgar Baird Lakeside Trail: 8.4 km, about 15 min by road.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line computed with OSRM.

The first-hour trail: fifteen minutes from collecting your bags to a mapped 2.1 km path along the slope above Gander Lake, named for the forester whose family name runs deep in this town. The 96 m of ascent is rolling, not climbing — the profile above shows the shape — and the lake below is the one the town keeps quietly to itself while visitors rush past on the highway.

This page exists partly as proof of an engine: OpenStreetMap holds far more named trails than relations, and the discovery sweep that found this one found neighbours awaiting the same treatment. AllTrails lists more trails; every one here is measured from the open map, cited way by way, downloadable as a plain GPX, and beholden to no account.

The full drive, with stops, moose notes and road links: the Gander (YQX) route this trail hangs off →

Measured September 4, 2026. Trailhead: OpenStreetMap way/1070017204 — the trail's south end above Gander Lake.