Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park

Great place to take a walk away from the city to breathe some fresh crisp winter air. Spot some coyote/wolf tracks and possibly see an owl or a rabbit within the trees.

Very private sites, beautiful landscape, good wildlife viewing, good for all types of campers from first trip to expert

Huge provincial park, lots of beautiful fall colours, a few long hikes. Better do your research on the trail routes before you start as it is easy to go off route when it’s not on the road but most of the time the random off-routes connect to the main road anyway, so it’s not a big deal. There’s a lot of private property though, so just try not to wander into someone’s backyard. I didn’t see a whole lot of wildlife though, which I was a bit disappointed about but the park is relatively well maintained and there’s quite a bit of parking around the whole park. They’re paid day parking or with overnight permit. Lots of beautiful little bodies of water for water activity like fishing or canoeing tooZ

It was amazing

My wife and I just paddled 14 km through Long Lake and Loucks Lake (without portaging) on the 2020 Labour Day Sunday because it looked like the nicest day weather-wise on the long weekend. We we weren't sure about whether it would be worth the 2 hour drive from Toronto but the beauty of the lakes well exceeded our expectations. There are quite a few granite cliffs to explore from the water and many islands. Long Lake and Loucks Lake make for great paddling because you're close to the shores so it always feels like you're making great progress. The back country sites looked really nice and well maintained. The portage from Long Lake to Buzzard Lake is rather wide and fairly easy going 340 m. There are cottages and cabins but everyone we saw from shore were friendly. Most of the power boats were respectful. The parking lot at Long Lake was full on the long weekend so you may want to arrive earlier rather than later. Cell coverage was really good. There are pit toilets by the parking lot. $12.25 for a day permit. Long Lake Lodge can outfit paddlers. From what we saw, their equipment was in good shape but you may want to call ahead to reserve on busy weekends. This seems to be a paddlers paradise and besides portaging, not much opportunity for hiking.