Georgian Bay Islands National Park is a small but fabulous chunk of land that’s only a couple hours north of Toronto.
The best way to reach the park is via a short ferry ride from the small but cute village of Honey Harbour, which is just a short drive northwest of Port Severn, off Highway 400.
The park is a great spot for hiking and biking, with easy-to-read trails and a bike rental shop in case you can’t bring yours along. We had a great day trip, but you also can arrange for a campsite, sleep in an old-style, wooden cabin or spend the night in style at one of the Parks Canada oTENTik structures, which are large, permanent, glamorous tents outfitted with raised floors, cozy beds and furniture. Staying in one of these gives you the feel of camping out, but with the comforts of a hotel room.
On the way to the park, our ferry boat captain explained that the Georgian Bay islands are the world’s largest freshwater archipelago, but that this park is the smallest in the Parks Canada inventory. He also talked about the birds and wildlife we might spot as we walk about; osprey, turtles, bald eagles, bears and more.
After getting off the boat on Beausoleil Island, we rode a pair of rental bikes through pretty woods filled with bright white and soft pink and white, petunia-like flowers, and out onto a magnificent slice of Canadian shield rock with minerals that turned the stone marvelous shades of ochre and brilliant orange. We’d packed a lunch, and were happy to find several wooden picnic benches resting on the rock; just meters from the soft, lapping waves coming in from the east.
Beausoleil Island, Georgian Bay Islands National Park, Muskoka, Ontario. JIM BYERS PHOTO
The sky was a perfect shade of blue when we visited, and there was a bank of swirling, wispy white clouds hanging in the air. We admired the sound of the gentle waves on the ancient rock (some 1.3 billion to 1.7 billion years old, if you can imagine it), and admired the brilliant white bark on some towering birch trees while we munched away.
Our visit was only a couple hours, but it whetted our appetite for spending more time in the western edge of Ontario’s Muskoka district, one of the best places to spend a summer’s day in Canada.
For more information on things to see and do in Muskoka, click here.
Parks Canada has implemented a fee for visiting Georgian Bay Islands National Park. It’s $6.50 for adults and $5.50 for seniors. Youth 17 and under are free at all national Parks in Canada. A family pass is $13.50. Click here for information.
