A canoe trip in Killarney Provincial Park has been on my bucket list since I was a little girl. I grew up going to summer camps where the highlight was always the week-long canoe trip we would take up in Northern Ontario. Most of the trips took place in Algonquin, but the senior and more hard-core tripping staff would head even further north to Killarney.
Since I stopped working at camp in my early 20’s, I never got the chance to hit up Killarney Provincial Park so I decided to plan a trip on my own.
With the benefit of using our new (well, we bought it used) Kevlar Ultralight Souris River Canoe, a canoe trip plan was the plan for our vacation. Our goal was to have a weeklong canoe trip up in Killarney, but since it was vacation after all, we planned a route that wasn’t too intense so we were able to have some ‘Flogger’ relaxing days, as well as time for the two big hikes – Silver Peak and The Crack. The lakes within your route need to be booked around 5 months before if you want to hit up specific lakes and within a scheduled amount of time. You can likely find last minute campsites available but you may be limited in how far/long you can go for.
We stayed in the Town of Killarney the night before our trip. Because of the fire ban due to raging nearby forest fires, the drive up was quite smoky – but once we reached the town, the air was totally clean and it was safe to be outside.
The town itself is very small (one main street) – but super cute for a day trip if you’re looking for one with a couple of restaurant options – Herbert Fisheries is known for their Fish and Chips. The town is a well-known port for casual boaters who have cottages or cabins nearby, so the boardwalk was busy with families when we were there. We spent the day wondering around and checking out the various art galleries. Knowing that the town of Killarney and Killarney Provincial Park are super well connected to the famous Group of Seven artists, there is a ton of art history there and inspires modern day artists to spend their summers and paint the incredible and remote scenery. We spent a night in the town so we were only a quick 20 minute drive to the start of our canoe trip journey and where we would leave our car for the week.
THE ROUTE
DAY 1: BELL LAKE TO DAVID LAKE
We started at the Bell Lake Access Point and canoed about 3km through Bell Lake to get to the first portage of 700m. We purposely packed light since it was just 2 of us, so one of us carried the food barrel, while the other carried the shared backpacking bag, and we tandem carried the canoe over our heads. I really wanted to avoid doubling back during portages so we could keep an efficient schedule. From there, we canoed 1.5km through a swampy lake, but it was covered with lily pads and flowers which was beautiful, like we were gliding through a garden. A quick 210m portage followed and took us our next paddle of about 2.5km through the large David Lake. David was one of our favorite lakes of the trip as the campsites were very spread out and the lake was massive (one of the largest in the park), so we felt like we had our own private island for two nights. Tip: Fill up on water while you’re out on David Lake before getting to camp. You can choose any campsite as your reservations are for specific lakes – so as long as you’re on that lake for the date you booked, find one that fits your needs.
DAY 2: DAVID LAKE TO SILVER PEAK HIKE TO DAVID LAKE
The Silver Peak Hike is a must-do if you have the time. It’s not long in duration, but it’s fairly challenging 10km round-trip hike as it’s rocky and a fairly steep climb to the highest point in the park. We docked our canoe at the David Lake portage (which was hard to find) and took the trail that led to the hike. You just need a day bag with you so I suggest staying somewhere nearby from the start of the trail so you can leave most of your stuff behind. If you have a nice sunny day, you can get incredible pictures from the top where you overlook a large portion of the provincial park and connecting lakes and trails.
DAY 3: DAVID LAKE TO BALSAM LAKE
After 2 nights in David Lake, our next leg had us for 2 nights in Balsam Lake. It was a smooth 4km canoe ride to the 620m portage. It was a bit rainy and grey this day, but the sights were still so beautiful. While portaging, we met a couple going the opposite way from us who recommended we stay at the site just after the portage – which was a good choice as it was the most open site and on its own little island in the middle of Balsam Lake. The other sites surrounding us were deep in the forests and since Balsam was more swampy, they were buggier than what we experienced. We also got great sunset views from where we camped out.
DAY 4: BALSAM LAKE FLOGGER DAY
We spent the day swimming, reading and hanging out here with no plans to move around from our campsite.
DAY 5: BALSAM LAKE TO BELL LAKE
This was a longer paddle day as Balsam is pretty big and we didn’t stay on one of the further campsites as originally planned. It was a 1.4km paddle through one of the side passageways of Balsam and 3km to Little Bell Lake. From there, we had a 2.6km paddle to Three Mile, and finally a 2.8km paddle to Bell Lake.
DAY 6: BELL LAKE TO BELL LAKE ACCESS POINT TO THE CRACK HIKE
We had a quick and beautiful 2km morning paddle back to the car and drove about 15 minutes to the parking lot of ‘The Crack’ hike. This is one of my top hikes for sure – it’s challenging but not impossible, and it’s a mix of hiking and scrambling over large pieces of rock which I don’t get from my other Ontario hikes. The crack is a 7.2km out and back trail and once you reach the top, the views are absolutely breathtaking. It took us about 4 hours to do the hike and get back to the car. This hike is not a loop, so be careful not to continue on once you reach the hike as you’ll be entering a 78km hiking trail.
THE MENU
We only had a smaller food barrel with us so we wanted to keep our meals light and packable with minimal garbage output. I made us home-made dehydrated dinner meals so we were able to avoid the expensive pre-made ones from the camping stores. Each meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner), with the exception of a small bottle of peanut butter and jam, was all in separate ziploc bags with all needed ingredients so we were able to keep the barrel organized – and the ziplocs were the only garbage produced during the trip for the most part.
| Breakfasts x5 | Lunches x6 | Dinners x5 | Dinner Recipe | |
| Day 1 | Store-bought/Breakfast at Hotel | Pita with salami and mustard | Vegetarian Chili | Mix ingredients together and dehydrate: 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 chopped onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 sweet red pepper, chopped, 1 can kidney beans, drained, 1 cup corn, 1 tablespoon chili spice mix, 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
Store in a Ziploc freezer bag and label. Once you’re ready to cook, add contents to a pot and add a few cups of water to your liking. Boil and serve. |
| Day 2 | Oatmeal with dehydrated strawberries and banana chips | Pita with PB and J | Pasta with tomato sauce, cheese | 1 pkg penne/non spiky pasta 1 pkg sauce mix powder (Knorr Parma Rosa packet) 2 Babybel Cheese’s To cook: boil pasta and drain out half the water. Add sauce mix and cheese. Stir and serve. |
| Day 3 | Oatmeal with dried apricots and raisins cinnamon | Wrap with cheese | Thai noodles | 1 pkg soba noodles ½ cup dehydrated veggies (from a Bulk Food store) 2 Tbsp. peanut butter 2 tbs coconut milk powder2 pkts soya sauceTo cook, add 1 cup water and contents of bag in pot (except Soya Sauce and PB). Boil until cooked through and add PB and soya sauce. Serve. |
| Day 4 | scrambled eggs with salami, wrap | Pepe Pizza (wrap with cheese and tomato paste) | Chickpea pasta mac and cheese | Chickpea pasta Melted cheese Milk powderCook pasta in pot. Drain out 80% of the water. Add milk powder and pieces of cheese/babybel and mix well. |
| Day 5 | oatmeal with raisins, almonds, cinnamon | Pita with PB and J | Curry Chickpeas | 1 Cup uncooked quinoa 1/2 Cup dried chickpeas 1/2 Cup Dried Vegetables (from bulk food store) 2 Tbsp Powdered coconut Milk 2 tsp Curry Powder 2 tsp Chili PowderPack powdered milk and seasonings in a small plastic ziploc bag and enclose with other ingredients in a larger Ziploc bag. To cook: Combine all ingredients except powdered milk and seasonings with 2.5 cups of water in pot and bring to boil. Cook for 5-10 minutes. Remove from stove, stir in powdered milk and seasonings. |
| Day 6 | Pancakes and syrup | wrap with Tuna packets, mayo packets | n/a | 1.5 cups of ‘just add water’ pancake mix in a small Ziploc bag
1 small jar of syrup |
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- Fire Ban solution
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- Summit of Silver Peak
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- Our home away from home
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- Portaging ‘The bean’: Souris River Ultralight Kevlar Canoe
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- Lake full of lily pads
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- Climbing ‘The Crack’
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- Town of Killarney, Ontario
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- Town of Killarney, Ontario
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- Town of Killarney, Ontario
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- Town of Killarney, Ontario
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- Summit of ‘The Crack’
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- Summit of ‘The Crack’
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- Finale Meal at Trappers Inn, Parry Sound
Backpacking with blisters 