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.

What you actually see

• 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.

Honest expectations

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.