kawartha highlands provincial park

Jan 31 and Winter Blues have me searching for summer plans..*I feel it's important to share my experience from last summer, perhaps helpful to consider if thinking about accessing K.Highlands from Long Lake: K.Highlands was once nearly all Crown Land, with some of it leased on 99 year deals to private cottagers and some owned as freehold. Upon my stay on Long & Loucks (and Cox) lakes it was palpable the disdain, and at times, reckless disregard the remaining cottagers have for park users. I saw it happen to groups of others, and it happened to me. There is definitely some "bad blood" and resentment lingering from when the province turned this area into a park in 2004. I get the feeling that the cottagers think if they can scare park users away, then they'll have the place 'all to themselves' once again. I left the cities to get away from the aggressive people with over-sized cars bullying their way along the roads, only to find that the SAME types of people are on these tiny lakes: with HUGE boats going way too fast, with no regard for the park-pass carrying canoe/kayak users.Oh, and bring your own water. Long and Loucks lakes taste like BOAT OIL. Not surprising seeing 100+ HP outboards on these tiny sliver lakes. I have an MSR hand-pump water filter - which is very good most of the time - still couldn't get the taste of dirty boat out of the water. Boiling only made it worse! :(Fishing was mediocre. Scrappy little bass will keep you from falling asleep in the boat, but you're sure to go hungry if fishing was your meal plan. Overall, too close to the cottagers and their toys here to consider this a true "Provincial Park" experience .

Starting out on Long Lake, we had to tolerate and battle an onslaught of motor boats with no regard for canoes or kayaks. The beaver damns we had to portage were not listed as "portages" on the map, so that was an unpleasant surprise. And to top it all off, there were no fish biting in Cox and no firewood! I'll go back to Algonquin next time.

We spend a weekend on Crab Lake. The access is relatively easy via a single short portage. It is a nice destination for people who don't want to camp on a lake with powerboats, yet don't want a long portage (for example families with young kids). A few campsites on Crab Lake have tables and they all have kybos. We found the sites to be well-maintained and treed. The kids caught lots of smaller fish (smallmouth, rock bass, perch). Overall a nice camping getaway.

Just spent 2 nights camping on Crab Lake. The site (312) was very private and quite spacious. The water was warm and perfect for swimming, but do wear water shoes as it is pretty rocky. Since no motor boats are allowed in Crab Lake, the water is clean and stays calm. We had great success fishing for bass and perch. Just watch out for the large snapping turtles who will steal your fish! Getting to the site wasn't very difficult. Took a little over an hour to canoe down Wolf Lake to the portage. The portage was short and it was another 20 min to our campsite on Crab Lake. Crab Lake has many bays, so have the map with you and watch it closely as it is easy to mistake one bay for another. Can't wait to return!

I parked at the East end of Long Lake. There is an easy entry beach and the water was crystal clear. It is a very good lake for stand up Paddleboarding It is relatively calm and has some powerboats but mostly it's a canoe lake. I paddled for nearly 4 hours and wasn't knocked off balance by any wake. Most boaters slowed down as they passed or went wide to avoid wake. There are washrooms available in the parking area. Really enjoyed the scenery and the ease of getting in and out of the water.

Who would think you would find a gem of wilderness so close to home? We picnic with the grandkids in Cold Lake. There is only one cottage on the lake and it has a beautiful sand bar in the middle of the lake that lets you set up a net and play volleyball in the late summer as the water recedes. There are campsites for rent from the Province and the lake is great for canoeing, kayaking and small motor boats.

Destination: Mountain Lake site 435 Route: Long Lake Access - Buzzard - Mountain LakeWe had called the park office with our 21 questions, maybe more, before booking our site and the park rangers were so friendly and very informative. Thanks guys for the recommendation on Mountain Lake! You were spot on, exactly what we were looking for!Maybe 10 minutes into our paddle on Long Lake, it started to rain down on us, but this didn't dampen our spirits. Paddling alongside the exposed bedrock on Long Lake is quite invigorating and if anything, excited us. The first portage connecting Long Lake to Buzzard is a relative easy one. I believe it was 340m and the terrain wasn't so rough. The water on Buzzard was a little choppy with the on and off again rain, but we pushed forward with smiles on our faces and it wasn't long before arriving at the last portage connecting Buzzard to Mountain Lake...We certainly broke a sweat on this last portage to Mountain Lake. lol Rocky, muddy in areas, hills...and at the end of the portage, there's a fun little drop to get back into the water. The mosquitoes weren't as bad as we expected them to be, but there were a number of black flies that wanted to make a meal out of us. Once back in the water, it was maybe a 2 minute paddle to our site. Site 435 is currently the only site on Mountain Lake and I highly recommend it if you're seeking complete solitude and tranquility. No motorboat access and not another soul in sight...who wouldn't love this?! We were told that Rainbow trout can be found in Mountain Lake, but only the little guys were biting for us. We spotted a couple of small water snakes and a large number of frogs on steroids. Being adjacent to the marsh/wetlands, there are tons of these guys and they are rather loud at night. My fiance and I found it amusing. Their relentless croaking had us bursting into laughter. I don't imagine everyone would find this so funny, though. Maybe not so tranquil at night. lol There's lots to do on Mountain. Maybe you'll have better luck than we did at fishing, or you can paddle across and hike up the rocks for a stunning view of the lake. If it's a hot day, take a dip in the cool water or do like we did and take a long siesta in the hammock. A definite must-see!

I live on Catchacoma Lake and I am noticing more and more garbage being dumped out of vehicles along Beaver Lake Road during the operational months that the park is open. Please , anyone coming and going into the park , wait and put your garbage into trash cans instead of dumping it out your window onto the roads leading in and out of the park. thank you

I won't go on at length, as I've reviewed this park before, but we visited two different lakes - Bottle and Sucker Lakes - in the north end of the Kawartha Highlands this year, and had an excellent, though somewhat different experience than in the central part of the park (Mississauga and Cold Lakes).Bottle Lake is very easy to access. There's just a quick portage from the parking lot through some beautiful hardwood forest, and you're right there. The lake is easy to paddle and some sites have sandy shores while others have classic Canadian Shield rock shores. It's pretty easy for novices.Sucker Lake is over a short, but very steep and rocky portage at the far east end of Bottle Lake. Sucker Lake is all Canadian Shield, with broad, sloping rocky shores, great swimming, and picturesque red, white, and jack pines all over. The camp sites (the ones I saw anyway) are all spread well apart, and the added distance makes for more satisfying paddling and more solitude for those looking for a real backcountry experience.

On July 21, 2013, we entered at the far east end of Long Lake, paddling west through Loucks Lake (both cottage-laden, with powerboats) and portaging down to Compass Lake. We then portaged down Crane Creek to Cherry Lake, which was a bit of a bear - after a tricky and steep initial portage from south Compass Lake down to really low water levels we picked our way through a narrow channel, but made it (with an extra unmarked portage, which is always a pleasant surprise). The status board at the park entrance said south Compass portages were closed, but paddlers exiting on the Sunday afternoon we arrived said it was navigable, which it was. Needless to say, beyond the first portage, there were no powerboats, and precious little in terms of private land ownership, though there were a few sprinkled here and there. Cherry Lake was pretty good, though our site (#541, west-side, south end) was buggy: three days there. One day we headed down to Turtle Lake, which had at least one great campsite we scoped out for future trips. After day 3 we went up through Triangle Lake and portaged (1.3 km, some steep and technical - the exit northbound is poorly marked, leading the uninformed to a small cottage off the grid prior to backtracking) to Cox Lake, where we finished with two days at a great site - on the last night the sky was clear and before the moon went up we paddled out to the middle of the lake to look at constellations: brilliant. Day six we headed back across Cox Creek to Loucks Lake, which had a longer than stated first portage due to low water, and 3 beaver-dam pull-overs. Once on Loucks, it was easy-peasy, and we were on our way back to the starting point. It was really nice, and we'll be back. We did Sunday to Friday, so avoided the weekend crowd - a few days we didn't see anybody else, with no other campers were on our lakes save Thursday night. Still, I could get CBC R1 to check the weather, and usually get a couple bars on the cell phone (oh, ye purists writhing in your graves, there is something to be said for this degree of connectivity for the emergency factor - like gravesites on the Attawapiskat and Soper - along with parenthood and all of the responsibilities this role employs). Our 7 year old caught 5 fish (and with my assistance, released them). He had an absolute blast, and (to his parents' delight) expressed his preference of these environs over his Toronto home in no uncertain terms. I'm not sure, but figure this recent park may have been created in part to relieve pressure on Algonquin. It offers the deep woods experience (ran into a couple of unmapped portages during our day trips that are pretty hard core, such as the one from Sparkle to Agate Lake) without the long trip. Of course, each lake had their requisite loons, hollering out through the day and night. There was a pretty wicked storm a week prior to our visit - masses of big pines (and some oak) downed: the park staff had cleaned up quickly on both portages and campsites (faster than the cottagers, for example). I'd give it a pretty high rating. No, it's not Quetico, but on a convenient location and pretty authentic flatwater experience, it rates.

I would not have given this park a star, but they made me! We had biting ants on the campsites... yes, we stayed at 2 separate sites and they both had major... and I mean major ant issues. it is beautiful, but unless they take care of the ant issue, beware!! We also had campers who wouldn't leave the campsite... so we had to canoe around for hours. We met other campers who were also disappointed in the park. Back to Algonquin we go!!!! Oh, and while the ants were biting, the fish were not!. The one fish we caught after 3 days was wormy! There are so many nicer parks we've visited.

Can't beat this for privacy and peacefulness. Clean sites with the essentials - picnic table, fire pit and 'box'

Kawartha Highlands is a beautiful natural park. I particularly like canoeing or kayaking up Bottle Creek into Bottle Lake.

We visited the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park for the first time on the Labour Day weekend of 2012. We camped overnight on Cold Lake, which was absolutely brilliant. Currently, the only way to get to your site is via canoe or kayak, which is a humongous selling point, if you ask me. No cars, no drunken idiots, no other-people's-music-that-you-don't-like. It's heaven in Southern Ontario, where most parks would be cramped to bursting over a summertime holiday weekend.The Park is situated at the southern end of the Canadian Shield, so it's got a lovely mix of hardwood forest and pine forest - beautiful big oaks and maples with white pines shooting up around the shores. It also means there's a lot of rock barrens and smooth rock shores, both of which are perfect for soaking up sun, hiking, and enjoying the water; and it means that the shorelines are delightfully irregular.The camp site we visited was clean (mostly - smokers, please don't throw your butts around the camp fire) and well-situated. The park wardens were around to make sure everything was okay, and they weren't hard to look at, either.One of the other nice features of the Park is that you reserve online and receive your permit via email. It's extremely convenient for backcountry camping.If there was a drawback, it was that the canoe trip from the Cold Lake access through Mississauga Lake and Gold Lake was crowded with power boaters, some of whom clearly have no idea how to pilot a boat. That said, no marks were taken off as that's not something the Park can control, and it was a gorgeous Labour Day weekend. Just a word of warning to those interested in visiting.We'll definitely be back to explore more of the Park.

Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park was established less than 10 years ago and until 2010, it was possible to camp there for free—however, as of 2011, permits are required and camping is allowed only on designated campsites. Encompassing 376 square km, it s the largest park in Ontario south of Algonquin Park. The park has plenty of lakes and canoe routes—some require portaging and thus access to quite pristine and motorboat-free lakes. Since there are quite a few private properties (cottages) in the park, motorboats are permitted on many lakes, yet to prevent the use of motorboats for camping, overnight mooring of motorboats is prohibited in the park.We visted Kawartha Highlands Park in June, 2012. The park does not have any car camping; since at that time we did not want to do any interior camping, we stayed in Silent Lake Provincial Park, located just north of Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park and almost every day we drove with the canoe to Kawarha Highlands in order to canoe on its lakes.Our first trip was on Wolf Lake. We stopped on a small island to have lunch and continued paddling to the end of the lake, to a relatively short portage leading to Crab Lake (140 m) and then leisurely paddled back. We saw at least one campsite with two campers occupying it—as well as met a solo windsurfer who tried to surf to his cottage, yet was practically stationary as there was hardly any wind. We struck up a conversation with him and eventually gave him a lift, or rather a tow.The next day we paddled on Long Lake—its name being very appropriate, as it was a very long lake indeed! Next to the parking lot was the Long Lake Lodge with several cottages located on the top of rocky hills. It was a very nice paddle—until the weather deteriorated. We stopped on a campsite, donned our rain suits and soon it began to rain. We waited for well over one hour for the rain to stop... Even though it was one of the longest days of the year, it was almost 8 pm and we decided to head back in spite of the rain and reached the parking lot just before 9 pm.We also drove to Anstruther Lake, one of the largest in the park. We thought we could do a lot of paddling there... but when we saw the lake, we did not like it: it was too big and too open—and because it was windy, we knew it would be difficult to paddle on it. Instead, we decided to go back to Long Lake and complete our trip that was interrupted by rain. Soon we were passing the familiar shores of Long Lake, left behind the campsite where we temporarily stayed on yesterday (it was already occupied) and reached a portage leading to Buzzard Lake. A canoeists with his two kids was portaging his canoe & camping equipment.As we were paddling on, we saw a canoe with two young guys; they said they were going camping for the weekend (it was Friday). After a short time the lake became larger—we saw a number of cottages along its shores as well as a few campsites on its southern shore. We stopped on one of them and were very surprised to see that it was occupied by a lonely raccoon which appeared to be sick and was trying to approach us. Although raccoons are very common, it is highly unusual to see them during the day—especially tame ones! We tried to scare it off and eventually it disappeared in the forest. Fifteen minutes later we saw the canoe with the two guys who were actually planning to stay on this campsite (it was probably the greatest campsite in the area!). We chatted with them for a while, then paddled to a very nice island just meters from the campsite, sat on a bench and admired the sunset. At 9:00 pm we got into the canoe, said ‘bye’ to the two guys at the campsite (they had already set up their tent and a huge tarp) and paddled back, arriving at the parking lot at 10:00 pm. Altogether we paddled over 13 km.On our last day, we went canoeing in the evening on Eels Lake. We spent some time in a bay near the put-in, full of dead roots, and later paddled north and then turned south into a small bay. The area appeared to be quite wild and after several minutes we reached a long beaver dam—with a beaver sitting on the other shore. We carried the canoe over the dam and got into another part of the lake, created by the beaver dam (otherwise it would have been a very shallow, swampy area). It was absolutely worth it—it looked very pristine and natural, some of the lake was very shallow and swampy. We spotted a house (cottage?) hidden in the forest, but it appeared nobody was living there. After paddling around the lake, we observed the sunset and then headed back to the car.When the weather was not good and we were unable to go paddling, we drove to nearby town of Apsley at dinnertime for a nice meal. It turned out that the local restaurant, “Swiss Bear”, closed at 3:00 pm on Sundays. We found another place which was closing in 15 minutes but the waitress/cook graciously accommodated our requests. Later we went back to Apsley, bought ice cream and went to a dollar store where we found a few interesting items at great prices! We also drove to Bancroft—a very picturesque town; having spent an hour or so walking down the main street and visiting a few stores, we went to a supermarket.Overall, my impression of Kawartha Lakes Provincial Park is very positive. It is located relatively close to Toronto and even though there are some private cottages inside the park, one can still find a lot of isolated and scenic places. We did not do any portaging, but were told that lakes requiring portaging are much nicer, offer plenty of privacy, solitude and wilderness. I am looking forward to eventually doing some interior camping in this park!