Planning Part 9 - Day Seven Algonquin Provincial Park

The joy in planning this trip has been in learning about new places we'll be able to discover when we actually hit the road. But there is a special anticipation that comes with finally planning to go to one of the places I've dreamed about for years. Algonquin Provincial Park is definitely one of those places, and it is no coincidence that the previous night's stop was Huntsville, ON. Huntsville is 30 minutes from the west entrance of the park, and the east gate is three hours from Ottawa. This means we can spend almost a full day exploring the park. It might not be the week long camping and canoeing adventure, or the lakeside chateau with Muskoka chairs that I always envisioned, but it will certainly give us an opportunity to get to know the area.


Day 7 Algonquin Provincial Park

There are a multitude of activities we could do while in the park - canoeing (there are canoe rentals available), swimming, educational programs and hiking. There are three hikes in particular that sound interesting and feasible (short enough to complete within our timeframe, and our children's hiking attention tolerance). These include:


Booth's Rock Trail - a 5 km trail that passes two lakes and goes to a lookout
Spruce Bog Boardwalk  - a short 1.5 walk through a Black Spruce bog
Bat Lake Trail - a 6 km trail through a hemlock forest to an acidic lake


If these options don't work out, there are literally dozens of stops along the 60 km drive though the park. There is no doubt we'll easily fill a day there. Once we're done, we'll head to Ottawa, and kick off another phase of the trip - one that is decidedly more urban and more focused on the history of our country.