I recently returned from a five day, four night backpacking trip in Killarney Provincial Park. This is one of my favourite destinations in Ontario as it’s within reasonable driving distance of where I live. It is however just far enough to make it challenging to maximize hiking time during a long weekend, as it can take five or more hours to drive there. After several previous attempts to complete the 78 kilometre trail, each of them following a 4 day itinerary, I adjusted my plan to allow 5 days on the trail.
When I called Ontario Parks early in August to book campsites, I was left with only a counter clockwise loop based on available sites. After spending so much time in this park, and other Provincial Parks in Ontario, I have some serious concerns about the way backcountry camping is administered. But I will save my opinions for later. On to the trip.
For this hike I was joined by my mother who was able to take a week’s vacation time on short notice. My approach to backpacking is to carry only items I will actually use, and to keep my menu carefully adjusted to what I really need. Just prior to the hike, I lent Mum my copy of ‘Lighten Up!’ for reference in keeping her pack reasonably light too. All in all, there were only a few items that we carried that didn’t get used or which turned out to be redundant.
At the trail head.
Our first day’s travel was very enjoyable as the skies were clear and the temperature just below 20 degrees Celsius. The initial 5 or 6 kilometres were relatively smooth with a few teaser vistas along the mostly forested path. Around the 7 km mark we joined the day hike trail to ‘the Crack’. The trail ascended steadily and led us to the base of a crevice leading to the top of the Killarney Ridge portion of the Lacloche Mountains. This feature is called ‘the Crack’, and from its exposed ridge top has spectacular views of the interior of the park, Georgian Bay, and even distant Manitoulin Island to the west.
Climbing 'The Crack'
Killarney and O.S.A. Lakes below.
A few kilometres of decidedly more rugged and technical trail brought us to H49, our campsite for the night.
We arrived with plenty of time to set up our shelters, gather firewood, and have a refreshing swim before dinner.
Campsite H49
Towards sunset the sky clouded over, but the rain held off until about 6:00am the following morning. Even then there was only perhaps thirty minutes of light rain. My new Tarptent Contrail had no trouble with the light rain. After getting up and having breakfast we hit the trail. Just a few kilometres into the day, Mum slipped on an innocent looking section of rocky trail. The fall wasn’t serious, but she caught her thumb awkwardly and heard a ‘pop’ as she reached out to brace herself as she fell. It seemed to have been an ‘out and in’ dislocation of the last joint on her thumb. Within minutes it was swollen up and began to turn interesting colours. After dosing with ibuprofen she was happy to carry on. However, the incident definitely unnerved both of us. We were acutely aware of just how vulnerable we were on this rugged and somewhat isolated trail. As the trail remained damp in places from the early morning rain, our progress from this point was cautious and it became clear that our destination for that night, some 20km ahead, was unrealistic. Furthermore, as the Lacloche Silhouette Trail is a loop with no ‘bail out’ options, a reassessment of our plan at the end of the day led us to alter our goal of hiking the 78km loop. Instead, we would hike a few kilometres further and summit ‘Silver Peak’ the next morning, before turning back and retracing our route from the first two days over the remaining two and half days. We chose to stop at Silver Lake, and occupied a deceptively pretty campsite which we hoped we remain unclaimed by anyone with the permit for the site that night. The big drawback to this otherwise beautiful location was the complete lack of easy water access. Each potential spot to collect water was either dangerously steep, or along marshy shoreline.
Silver Lake rainbow.
We awoke on day 3 and quickly packed up camp and ate breakfast. As appealing as leaving all our gear at the campsite was, we chose to bring it all to the base of the side trail, just in case an emergency arose. We encountered just two people before leaving our packs behind a tree at the base of the side trail to the summit. The climb to the top was longer than I recalled from a previous trip here in 2006, but the views from the top were worth it. We spent perhaps 30 minutes enjoying the views in all directions, including the distant ‘super stacks’ of the nickel mining and processing operations near Sudbury. We also took note of some very worn graffiti which appeared to indicate that a fire tower used to stand on the summit, and that it was seasonally tended by a ‘towerman’. His name and dates from the early 1950’s were painted on various rock surfaces near the summit.
Super Stacks (centre of horizon).
Mum at the summit.
Yours truly.
Following our decent from the peak, we gathered our packs from their hiding place, and were about to turn back towards our campsite, when we noticed some hikers coming from the opposite direction. We waited and said ‘hello’. It turns out that the two men were both teachers at Fleming College in Lindsay, where I was about to begin studies in September. Small world! I've just begun more orientation week, and hope to stop into their offices to say hello soon.
We bumped into several other groups as we retraced our steps from before the climb. This section of trail doubles up with a number of portages and day hike routes to Silver Peak which can only be accessed by canoe. We soon turned away from this popular section and carried on back towards the south ridge. Our goal for the day was to get to the campsite at Heaven Lake which sits next to a small ridge top lake and has expansive views of Georgian Bay, Philip Edward Island, and at night, the lighthouse at the town of Killarney. We lucked out and arrived to find the site unoccupied. Our major problem for each night was that it was likely each site would be occupied as we had abandoned our route with our reserved campsites. On this day the rightful occupants arrived later on, and were so happy to have finished their day’s hiking that they were more than willing to allow us some space on the site. Our 'hosts' were two middle aged women with packs that were far too heavy. Neither of them had done any backcountry camping before, and before dusk they asked to be shown a proper bear hang.
I showed them my bear hang technique:
1 - tie a rock to the end of a rope
2 - throw it over an appropriately high tree limb
3 - replace the rock with a biner
4 - clip food bag to biner
5 - hoist food bag at least 15 feet from the ground and well clear of
other branches
6 - tie off rope to nearby tree or branch using whatever sturdy knot
you're comfortable with
I hope they were able to duplicate this, or something like it, during the rest of their trip.
The next morning we got up early, but took our time taking down camp and eating breakfast. The skies were clear and sunny, so we figured there was no better time to air our gear. Our route on this day included the tough section we covered on Day 2, and the descent of ‘the Crack’. Although the temperatures were relatively cool, the clear skies meant a lot of sun exposure on the open rock sections which dominated this part of the trail. We delayed lunch until arriving at the Crack so we could enjoy the views while stopped. I think we waited about twenty minutes too late for lunch as I was feeling pretty weak and exhausted by the time we got there.
Cairns on exposed quartzite ridge.
Lunch break.
After lunch and the descent, which had to be taken quite slowly, we continued on along the final section of trail east of George Lake campground. We stopped for the day at Wagon Road Lake, and hoped that one of the two campsites would prove to be unoccupied.
Crossing a beaver dam at the end of Wagon Road Lake.
One of the sites ended up being taken shortly after our arrival, so we hung around the other site and washed up and cooked dinner. We opted to delay setting up camp until the last minute in case the rightful permit holders arrived late. It was a Friday night after all. All the waiting was less that relaxing. We sat there trying to unwind, but mentally preparing to ask some weekend hikers to share a campsite was not enjoyable. So we gathered our gear and set up camp at a clearing on the main trail just metres from the proper campsite. Of course no one ever showed up to occupy the campsite. The big challenge this site presented was the lack of soil for tent pegs. We made do with rocks, but the pitch of my Contrail was less than perfect, and by morning was downright saggy. Condensation was also significant, but not an actual problem for me.
Perfect spot for illegal stealth camping.
After packing up, and eating breakfast, e hiked back to George Lake Campground, and arrived just over an hour after starting out. We made good use of the campground’s shower facilities, and then stopped by the Park Office to turn in a digital camera we had found on day one. Then we headed west to the end of Highway 637, and the town of Killarney, in hope of finding some French fries. The local chip truck wasn’t open yet, but we found some excellent breakfast at a nearby marina/restaurant/bakery/coin op laundry.
