For the past few years we’ve been visiting Killarney Provincial Park at the end of fall or beginning of winter when the trails are much quieter. It’s located along the northern shore of Georgian Bay and features windswept pines, lush forests, pink granite and white quartzite ridges. The landscape is so breathtakingly beautiful that it provided much inspiration to the famous Group of Seven painters. We typically stay in one of the rustic cabins, but they’re becoming harder to book. We managed to reserve a yurt though and decided to give that a whirl.
Tag: hiking
The Cabin – November 2024
We had a fabulous fall in 2024. The leaves were a bit delayed in changing colour because it was warmer and drier than usual. But the cold and rain was finally catching up. It wouldn’t be long until we had our first snowfall. So we decided to head to the cabin before it got much colder outside.
Camping in a Cabin in Algonquin Provincial Park
We typically plan a backcountry canoe trip through a different part of Algonquin Provincial Park every summer. This year we were unable (or rather unwilling) to because of baby M. Instead we booked a rustic cabin in the Mew Lake Campground and planned to explore a few of the trails along the popular Highway 60 Corridor.
The Cabin – October 2024
We’ve had an unseasonably warm and dry fall in southern Ontario. So to make the most of the nice weather and beautiful display of fall colours we decided to head to the cabin. This would be our first visit to the cabin all year and baby M’s first visit ever.
Pinawa Dam Provincial Heritage Park
Pinawa Dam is located on the Winnipeg River and was Manitoba’s first hydro-electric generating station. It ran from 1906 to 1951 until it was replaced by the nearby Seven Sisters Generating Station downstream. Pinawa Dam Provincial Heritage Park contains the ruins of the former dam, along with a couple of hiking trails to learn more about the history of the area.
Birds Hill Provincial Park
Located near Winnipeg, Birds Hill Provincial Park offers a variety of trails throughout the year for hiking, cycling, horseback riding and cross-country skiing. The landscape was formed by ancient glaciers and contains eskers, prairie, meadows and aspen forests. It was named after the Bird family who lived in the area in the 19th century and contains former homesteads from several early settlers.
Pembina Valley Provincial Park
Pembina Valley Provincial Park is located in the southwestern part of Manitoba close to the US border. It’s a relatively new park, it was established in 2001, and there aren’t many facilities or activities. But there are several hiking trails that weave through the forest and meadows, providing plenty of opportunities to view the Pembina Valley.
Spruce Woods Provincial Park
Spruce Woods Provincial Park is located in western Manitoba. It was named after its abundance of spruce trees growing in the area, but it’s best known for its towering sand dunes. The park contains a variety of hiking trails that weave through the different habitats in the park, including forests, grasslands, prairie, wetlands and open sand dunes.
Riding Mountain National Park
Riding Mountain National Park is located in southwestern Manitoba along the Manitoba Escarpment. It protects a diverse landscape, including boreal forest, aspen parkland, meadows, grasslands and wetlands. It’s also home to black bears, moose, elk, wolves, and even a bison herd. There are nearly 370 kilometres of hiking trails within the park, many of which are used in the winter for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site
Kejimkujik is the only national park in Canada that’s also designated a national historic site. This is because of its importance to the Mi’kmaw people, an Indigenous group who are among the original inhabitants of Atlantic Canada. The park was named after Kejimkujik Lake, which is derived from a Mi’kmaw word that means little fairies. It’s spread across two locations in southwestern Nova Scotia in an inland section, which is much larger, and a seaside section. With an abundance of lakes, lush forests, historic canoe routes and hiking trails, it’s easy to be enchanted by the park.