Grundy Lake is located near the town of Britt, ON approximately 3 hours from Toronto. The drive up to the park was beautiful after you made it though all the traffic in Barrie on HWY 400.
I headed to Grundy Lake for Labour Day long weekend and really enjoyed this park. This is the 30th Ontario Park I have visited and it did not disappoint! It had everything I was looking for! The lakes were serene, the trails were stunning and the wildlife was all around. There are countless inland lakes offering endless canoeing and kayaking. No motorboats are permitted in the lake. The paddling adventures would be endless at this park. Unfortunately, I didn’t get out on any of the lakes to paddle. Grundy Lake offers 10 backcountry sites that are accessible by canoe and if the scenery is anything like what I witnessed from the hiking trails, I’m sure they are incredible!
There are 4 hiking trails at Grundy Lake Provincial Park:
Swan Lake Trail – 1.5 km loop, Gut Lake Trail - 2.5 km, Beaver Dams Trail – 3.6 km and Pakeshkag Lake Trail – 5.2 Linear Trail
I hiked Swan Lake, Gut Lake and Beaver Dams. All three trails had beautiful scenery. We had a minor accident while hiking the Swan Lake, Rosie thought it would be a good idea for her to have a quick little drink from the lake. Little did she know she was going to slide in headfirst into the lake. My heart stopped, I didn’t know what to do. Luckily she managed to find the shoreline and climb her way out through the bushes. She seemed fine just extremely dirty, and if anything, she scared herself. Physically, she was fine but now a little extra cautious when it comes to getting close to the lake.
When I hike with her, I always keep her leash on her but don't really hold on to her. She is pretty good at staying close. I don't know if she was just hot and needed to have water but the way she ran down to the lake was crazy. I always make sure I have a bottle of water for her and we always take breaks on the hikes if she gets too hot. I have been hiking with her since she was 12 weeks old and this if the first time she has ever been so brave to run to the lake.
After that, I decided I was going to do the other trails without her. I took her back to the campsite, and she crawled into bed in the tent, and slept for the rest of the afternoon.
The Gut Lake trail was my favourite of all of all the trails. The scenery was spectacular. There were so many lakes and rivers that ran into one another along this trail. I came across a small little snake that made me run up the rocks. I was way too afraid to stop and take a photo. Even though the length of all these trails are short, the uneven surface along with the uphill climbs over rocks and tree roots was pretty challenging.
After a long day of hiking, it was time to just chill by the fire. The moon was so bright, it lit up our entire campsite for the weekend. As I was sitting by the fire and scrolling through Facebook, I noticed that some people had taken photos from the previous night of the northern lights that they could see a Grundy lake, so once it became dark enough, I ventured off down to the lake to try my luck at witnessing the Aroura Borealis. I was unsuccessful in seeing the northern lights, but the amount of stars that were out Sunday night was spectacular. I laid on a rock close to the lake and just stared at the sky and contemplating life. I didn't have my journal handy so I just opened my notes in my phone and made a journal entry in there.
There’s just something about staring off into nothing that really makes me feel whole. Well, at the lake that night I came to a realization that I need to do more of these camping trips solo. Having friends and family around on these trips is great but doing them alone is so soul-searching for me so the next trip I’m on my own!
This weekend I also did some thing a little different. I decided I was drinking craft beer rather than the low calorie vodka-sodas that I normally take on these trips. I tried different beers from a bunch of local breweries. I tried a couple from Muskoka brewery Mad Tom IPA, Drifter Hazy pale Ale, Major Tom as well as Lady Friend from Elora Brewing company, Sleeping Giant Brewing Company's Northern Logger. I’m not a huge beer drinker but as I was wondering through the LCBO before this trip I thought it would be fun to try something new. I bought the beer only for the can. I wasn’t sure what any were going to taste like but I was pleasantly surprised on the flavour of most of them. The Northern Logger was my favourite of all of them. I can't wait to take a trip to Sleeping Giant next year and check out this brewery!
All in all, this was an incredible 30th park to visit. It was a great way to end the summer. This park will be on my list of parks for next year for sure. I need to get out in the lakes and paddle around and check things out. I don’t have any other camping trips book as of yet, but I would like to try to find a waterfront site at the end of September and watch the fall colours. Now that Kaidence is back in school, if there are any more trips this year, they will be solo trips.
If you guys have any recommendations on places to visit to see the fall colours, make sure to leave me a comment and I will try to check them out! Don’t forget to follow along on Instagram and Facebook so you can find out where I’m headed next!
Happy Camping 🏕️
Love,
Liz
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