The Ram Head Trail on St. John

Getting to the Ram Head trailhead from Cruz Bay

By car, then on foot: 41 minutes from Cruz Bay to the Salt Pond Bay lot on Route 107, by our measurement, then a 10 minute walk down to the sand, where the Ram Head Trail begins.

The drive crosses the island and runs through Coral Bay; buy water there or in Cruz Bay before you go. The lot is small, the park calls parking limited, and every beach and trailhead lot fills quickly in season; an early start helps the parking as much as the heat.

Without a car, VITRAN's Route 109 bus leaves the Cruz Bay dock six times a day from 6:25 am, on the Department of Public Works' table checked October 2026, and Salt Pond is the last stop on its route; ask the driver which runs go all the way, and which bus comes back. A taxi from Cruz Bay is $30 for one person or $21 each for two or more, by the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff dated October 2022.

The walk from the lot to the beach is an old dirt road, uneven and rocky, about a quarter mile in the park's figure and half a mile in ours, downhill on the way in.

The route over the cobbles to the point

Walk the length of Salt Pond beach to its south end, where the trail splits: Drunk Bay to the left, Ram Head to the right. The National Park Service rates Ram Head steep and strenuous, 0.9 mile one way, and allows 30 to 50 minutes from the beach, more if you stop for the views.

The path climbs first over the rocky shoulder at the end of the bay, then drops to a beach of rounded blue-gray cobbles on the windward side, loose and ankle-turning underfoot. From there it climbs again, in a narrow track through low scrub and cactus, to an overlook on the point with the sea below on three sides. By our read of the terrain data, the climbing adds up to about 230 feet on the way out, and the overlook sits about 150 feet above the water.

None of it is technical, and none of it is shaded. The rock is loose in places and the path is narrow enough that people pass one at a time. Closed shoes beat sandals, and the park's safety page warns about low cactus that breaks off against a leg.

Drunk Bay, the short detour from the junction

Take the left fork at the end of the beach and an easy quarter mile, on the park's Salt Pond Bay page, passes the salt pond the bay is named for and comes out at Drunk Bay on the east side of the peninsula.

It is a different shore from Salt Pond. Drunk Bay faces the open swell, and the beach is rock and rubble with surf breaking on it; by our read it is a place to look, not to swim. The park says that at some times of year salt forms at the edges of the pond.

The detour adds about half an hour there and back, and it is best done on the way out, while the morning is still cool, or skipped on a hot afternoon when Ram Head alone is enough sun.

When to hike Ram Head: heat, light and water

Go early or go late. The average high at the nearest weather station runs from 84 °F in January to 90 °F in July and August, on NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals, and on a path with no shade the middle of the day is the hard part of this hike, more than the climb. By our read, the best window is from first light to about 9 am, while the lot still has room, or the last two hours before sunset.

The park itself calls Ram Head a sunset hike and a good trail for full moon walks. If you stay for the sunset, bring a headlamp: the cobbles and the descent are the parts you least want to do in the dark, and the drive back to Cruz Bay is 41 minutes of hill road at night.

Water is on you. The park asks for at least half a gallon for each four hours of hiking, and its list for Salt Pond Bay has no drinking water. Carry it all from the car, with a hat and sunscreen; whatever you take down the trail comes back up the hill to the lot.

Park rules that apply on the trail

Ram Head is inside Virgin Islands National Park, and the park's 2026 Superintendent's Compendium, updated October 6, 2026, applies: no bicycles on any trail, and no leaving a trail to shortcut between parts of it.

Dogs are the awkward rule. The park's trail page allows pets on these trails with restrictions, and the compendium bans pets on park beaches, while the Ram Head route crosses Salt Pond beach and the cobble beach to reach the point. Read the park's pets page before you bring a dog, and leave it home if in doubt.

There is no entry fee and no permit. The trail is open year-round, and the restrooms are at the beach, not on the trail.

Who the Ram Head hike suits

Ram Head suits a walker staying in Coral Bay or on the east end, for whom Salt Pond is close, and anyone who wants a hike and a swim in one morning: the trail ends where it started, at a calm beach with turtles over the seagrass.

It is a harder sell from Cruz Bay. Forty-one minutes each way by car, a walk down to the sand, and a mile of exposed rock each way make it a half day at least. The park calls it a hike for all ages if able to climb steep, rocky trails, which rules out small children in a carrier and anyone unsteady on loose stone.

For the island's other trails, from the long Reef Bay descent to the short Lind Point walk from the ferry, see hiking on St. John.