General information about the Provincial Park
The oldest nature park in Ontario protects huge deciduous and coniferous forests, swamps and over 2400 lakes on an area of 7725km². The Provincial Park is part of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve.
Number of visitors
About 800000 visitors come to the park every year. Most stay along Highway 60 and hike the trails.
Best time to visit: The park can be visited all year round. Since a large part of the park is forest, we would definitely prefer the autumn for a visit.
Entrance fees and opening hours
- 21CAD/car/day - permit required
- Not covered by the Discovery Pass.
- Open 24h all year round.
Our visits: So far 1 visit in October 2021
Highway 60
Description: Most visitors to the park stay along Highway 60. This leads for about 60km through the southern park and offers plenty of opportunities for recreation. Who wants to use the facilities of the park needs a permit. This can be reserved online via the link above, up to 5 days in advance. If you cross the park on the highway without parking, no permit is necessary. The permits can also be purchased on site, but especially in the fall, it can happen that they are sold out.
Our rating: When researching the Fall Foliage in Eastern Canada, this park always showed up on the lists of the top 10 places. Therefore, we had to visit the Algonquin Provincial Park of course. We really liked the park very much. Although the weather was not always perfect, the leaf coloring was just great and impressive. Since the park consists practically only of forest, swamps and lakes the park is basically only an autumn park in our opinion. Without the leaf coloring, it wouldn't be even half as interesting for us.
Peck Lake
Description: The Peck Lake Trail leads you around the small lake with the same name. The trail is relatively flat and basically easy to walk. Sometimes it leads over roots and stones and then again over a short staircase.
Trail length: 1.9km round trip
Altitude difference: 164ft
Time needed: 1-2 hours
Difficulty level: easy
Our rating: We enjoyed the short trail. The foliage color was great but unfortunately the weather let us down a bit during our hike. With a little sun, the colors would have certainly shone more beautiful.
Booth Rock
Description: At the beginning the trail is flat and easy to walk. After a while, the climb to the viewpoints begins. Again, the trail is not difficult, it is just a little more strenuous because of the steep uphill. The descent then leads over numerous stairs, also steep in parts. The last third of the trail then leads level along a lake back to the parking lot.
Tip: If you want to hike this trail in fall when the weather is good, you would be well advised to get to the trailhead early. The parking spaces are very limited and therefore quickly become full. If you don't find a parking spot at the trailhead, the trail will be at least 1km longer.
Trail length: 5.1km round trip
Altitude difference: 820ft
Time needed: 3-4 hours
Difficulty level: moderate
Our rating: It may have been the great weather, but this trail was by far our favorite of our hikes in Algonquin Provincial Park. Even though it was a bit strenuous at the beginning, the view compensated for every drop of sweat. The trail definitely has our recommendation.
Lookout
Description: Actually, the trail is easy to walk because it is very well developed. It leads, sometimes steeply, up to a rock from which you have a great view of the surrounding forests. Especially in autumn this is really spectacular.
Trail length: 1.9km round trip
Altitude difference: 381ft
Time needed: 1-2 hours
Difficulty level: easy
Our rating: We also liked the Lookout Trail. Since it is relatively short, it is one of the most crowded trails in the park. The many people and the not so great weather have clouded the mood during our hike a bit. But the trail is definitely worth a look.
Whiskey Rapids
Description: The short trail is easy to walk and well maintained. It leads down to the river and rapids and then back up to the parking lot.
Trail length: 1.9km round trip
Altitude difference: 125ft
Time needed: 1-2 hours
Difficulty level: easy
Our rating: The rapids weren't particularly spectacular, but the trail was still quite nice. Nice to stretch your legs for a bit.
