Park it for summer in Ontario

By Katharine Fletcher

Whether backcountry multi-day canoe or hiking trips are your thing, or camping in one of Parks Canada’s oTENTiks (think cabin-tent crossover with beds in a campsite for six) our national and provincial parks systems offer diversity – and fun.

Where to go? Here are some destinations we believe are truly special. Find out why for yourself, starting with Ontario Provincial Parks … view as much as us, because his painting of Pic is famous.

Go here for camping that looks out over the greatest of the Great Lakes, hiking amid subArctic vegetation, paddling (remember, winds can generate rough waves and wind across this immense lake), and wonderful swimming.

There’s world-class paddling under vaulting cliffs, through almost Caribbean-turquoise waters, forested islands and beaches. For us, these natural elements generated feelings of awe.

Being interested in First Nations culture, we hiked the Agawa Rock Trail to see the redochre symbolic pictographs painted on the

 Lake Superior: 130 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie, 15 south of Wawa on the lake’s eastern shore ontarioparks.com/park/lakesuperior

cliffs by Ojibwe peoples. One shows Misshepezhieu, the Great Lynx, spirit of the water. He could work for or against humans – calm the waters, or bring wind and storms by thrashing his tail. Misshepezhieu (spelled many different ways) was later immortalized in a painting by Ojibwa artist Norval Morrisseau.

Go here to fish for trout in a spectacular setting.

 Quetico: about 200 kilometres west of Thunder Bay to Atikokan, then south into the park ontarioparks.com/park/quetico

German prisoners of war were held in Canada during the Second World War, and Neys Provincial Park is on the land that housed them. The visitors centre has a model of Camp 100.

Renowned for its fabulous stretch of sand beach, we discovered Neys while driving across Canada with our homemade cedarstrip canoe, Windigo strapped to the roof, seeking watery adventure. We lingered here, feasting on immense blueberries, and gazing at Pic Island. Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris seems to have enjoyed the

 Neys: just over 1,200 kilometres from Ottawa on the north shore of Lake Superior, near Marathon. ontarioparks.com/park/neys

Up for canoeing and wildlife watching amid 460,000 hectares of wilderness with 2,000 lakes? Quetico enables you to paddle to remote backcountry sites where waterfalls and loons are likely neighbours.

We set off in Windigo and pitched our

tent at sundown – not ideal timing, but who cares? Memories of solitude, the majesty of virgin pine forests and endless-seeming lake water still resonate with me.

Go here for family camping at Dawson Trail Campground. Wilderness Skills Weekends in July and August give you and the kids a chance to learn orienteering, firestarting, shelter building and more.

Our look at Canada’s national parks, starts where I did in …

 Georgian Bay Islands National Park: 450 kilometres west of Ottawa, near Midland, Ont. pc.gc.ca/pn-np/on/georg/natcul/natcul1. aspx

When immigrating to Canada from England in 1958, my family visited Georgian Bay’s glacier-sculpted rock islands with wind-tossed white pines and felt we’d touched the heart of our new land. Nowadays, I long to return and explore

this park’s Canadian Shield rocks, where hot summer hiking on fallen pine needles releases their signature pungency into the air.

All of this park’s trails are on Beausoleil Island, whose northern (Canadian Shield) and southern (mixed forest) ecosystems are completely different.

Go here to book a waterfront cabin for two, take a trip on the Daytripper boat to visit just a handful of this park’s 30,000 islands.

 Bruce Peninsula National Park: 670 kilometres from Ottawa near Tobermory on Lake Huron pc.gc.ca/pn-np/on/bruce/index.aspx and Fathom Five National Marine Park of

 Trent-Severn Waterway National His

pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/on/trentsevern/visit/ visit6/lock21.aspx

I studied at Trent University so I’ve been familiar with Lock 21 for a rather long time. It’s the highest hydraulic lift lock in the world. The visitor information centre explains the construction of the 386-kilometre TrentSevern Waterway, which took 87 years to construct in the 19th and early 20th century. It opened transportation of goods and people from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay: no wonder this engineering marvel is a Parks Canada national historic site.

Hiking the Bruce is on our bucket list to explore the heart of this World Biosphere Reserve, and we haven’t done it yet. Neither have we visited Canada’s first National Marine Park, Fathom Five, which I’ve twinned here because these adjacent parks offer completely different activities.

Fathom Five is internationally recognized as one of the world’s best freshwater diving destinations, because Georgian Bay’s clear waters give superb visibility of shipwrecks as well as underwater formations.

Go to the Bruce and Fathom Five together, to take in breathtaking terrestrial and marine ecosystems

Go there to explore the site, camp in an o-TENTik, and get a sense of the glaciated topography of drumlins and eskers which underpins the Peterborough and Kawarthas area.

You can boat through the entire lock system (Parks Canada permits required) and sit on red Adirondack chairs dotted in pairs along the Trent-Severn. A new program this year, they’re great places to take selfies. ~ Photos by (in order of appearance): FlickrDad, Adam Kahtava, Joe Strupek, Michael Leckman, Masha, John Vetterli 

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