Killarney Provincial Park

The La Cloche range is white quartzite, among the oldest rock on the continent, and it stands in bare ridges above lakes of extraordinary clarity, several of which are clear partly because acid rain in the twentieth century stripped them of life before controls came in. The Group of Seven painted here repeatedly, and it was A.Y. Jackson's lobbying that got the first lakes protected in 1933, which makes this one of the few parks in the world created at the request of painters. The La Cloche Silhouette Trail runs about eighty kilometres over the ridges, and canoe routes link the interior lakes with short portages. Silver Peak gives the long view across Georgian Bay.

History

The park owes its origin to artists: when Trout Lake was about to be logged, the Group of Seven painter A. Y. Jackson petitioned the province to preserve it, and the lake, taken into trust by the Ontario Society of Artists, became O.S.A. Lake, while Franklin Carmichael, Arthur Lismer and A. J. Casson also painted here. The area was set aside as a wilderness preserve in 1959, Highway 637 reached the town of Killarney in 1962 and Killarney became a provincial park in 1964; acid rain from the Sudbury smelters damaged many of its lakes from the 1940s to the 1970s, and since emission rules came in some have recovered (Wikipedia, Killarney Provincial Park).

What you'll find

• The white quartzite ridges - bare pale rock above forest and water.
• OSA Lake - named for the painters' society, and one of the clearest.
• The La Cloche Silhouette Trail - eighty kilometres of hard ridge walking.
• Silver Peak - the long view over Georgian Bay from the highest point.

When to go

June to October, with autumn colour against white rock in late September and early October the most photographed time and the hardest for permits. Backcountry sites are reserved and go quickly for summer weekends. Blackflies in June are severe.

What to expect

The Silhouette Trail is far harder than its length suggests, with constant steep quartzite scrambling that shreds boots and ankles. Backcountry permits for the best canoe routes book out months ahead. The clarity of some lakes is a symptom of past damage rather than pure health, which is worth knowing. Cell coverage is essentially absent.

Nearby

Manitoulin Island is across the channel; Sudbury is an hour and a half north.

Key facts