Kawartha and Haliburton Information

Ontario’s Kawartha and Haliburton counties are sometimes overshadowed by their popular cousin in the west, the Muskokas, but as you drive east along Highway 401 or Highway 7, the dazzling beauty of this four-season "Land O’ Lakes" region winks at you from its sparkling waters, whispers to you through its rustling trees, and, in the wintertime, gleams spectacularly in the twinkling snow.

KAWARTHA
From Toronto, it takes little more than an hour to get into Kawartha, and it’s actually a bit of a pleasant surprise that it’s possible to go so quickly from complete urbanization to the rural charm of the great outdoors. Indeed, the largest municipality in the area is Peterborough, which has a population of just over 70,000. From there, the citizenry numbers fall drastically—the second-biggest city in Kawartha is Lindsay (with slightly under 20,000 people), and then below that, there’s Bobcaygeon, which has just 3,150 people living against its rustic backdrop.

Trent-Severn Waterway
Fittingly, the word "Kawartha" means "land of shining waters," and with lakes, provincial parks (Balsam Lake Provincial Park, Emily Provincial Park, and Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park), conservation areas (Ken Reid, Windy Ridge, Fleetwood, and Pigeon River Headwaters), and numerous beaches, rivers, canals, and recreational parks, this inspiration for the region’s namesake is clear. However, what also makes Kawartha’s network of water bodies unique is the existence of one of the best interconnected systems of navigation in the world, the Trent-Severn Waterway. This 386-kilometre National Historic Site of Canada stretches between Lake Ontario in Trenton in the east, to Georgian Bay in Port Severn in the west. Originally used as an 18th- and 19th–century means of transportation for the fur-trading and lumber industries, the Trent-Severn Waterway is now just for private pleasure crafts and boat cruises that bring tourists to the infamous locks in Peterborough, Bobcaygeon, Lindsay, Fenelon Falls, Rosedale, and Kirkfield. "Infamous" because the Peterborough hydraulic liftlock is the world’s largest, and coming in second behind it is the liftlock in Kirkfield, which is also the highest point along the Trent-Severn Waterway. Self-guided tours of both the locks and the waterway are also encouraged, but only during the public season that lasts from May to October.

The Trail System
Besides driving your car or boat, experiencing the wilderness wonderland that is Kawartha is easy if you also like to hike, cycle, ski, horseback-ride, dog-sled, snowshoe, snowmobile, or ride ATVs. The region boasts a trail network that snakes through 800 kilometres of pristine forest, and of particular interest to many tourists is the 85-kilometre Victoria Rail Trail that connects Kinmount and Bethany. This historical route exists along what was once CN rail line, and it intersects with the Trans Canada Trail in Lindsay.

Peterborough
If, however, you prefer to spend your time exploring towns rather than trees, the relatively metropolitan Peterborough is a great place to start, because it’s a simple matter to branch out from here into the surrounding smaller towns. Peterborough is, after all, "the gateway to Kawartha"! And, to get you in the mood to explore the history and back-country adventures of the communities that lie ahead of you, both the Canadian Canoe Museum and Peterborough Museum & Archives await your arrival.

The Canadian Canoe Museum is home to the world’s largest collection of canoes and kayaks, and it’s here that you can relive the heritage of regional, provincial, and national Aboriginal, French, and British settlers, and how each culture used canoes and kayaks for centuries of expeditions that were completed in the name of trade, mapping, and trail-blazing. The Peterborough Museum & Archives, on the other hand, houses a more diverse set of exhibits and artifacts that reflect the history of the Kawartha region. An additional interesting feature about this museum is that fact that it was established in 1897, but was moved to its current location on Armour Hill in 1967.

Bobcaygeon
Just over an hour north of Peterborough is Bobcaygeon, and, believe it or not, there is more to this town than its connection to the Tragically Hip song of the same name. It has long held its own as an engaging place to visit in its own right—in addition to being a fur-trading post in the 1600s, its downtown is now located on an island!

This "hub of Kawartha" is named after the Aboriginal word "Bobcaygewanunk" that means "shallow rapids" or "swirling rivers around islands," and as you stand at the town’s lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway and look out onto the water, it’s not hard to understand how apropos those definitions really are. And, if you happen to be town as a respite from your nearby cottage, stopping in at the Kawartha Settlers’ Village is worth an afternoon of your time. This collection of historic homes and buildings from the Kawartha region sits on what used to be a successful farm, and from mid-June to August, you can explore exhibits and artifacts that represent the area’s history from 1830 to 1915.

Visitors in town should also be let in on one of Bobcaygeon’s most well-known secrets—the Kawartha Dairy, whose ice-cream parlours are famous across Ontario cottage country.

Coboconk
A short 40-minute drive to the northwest of Bobcaygeon is Coboconk, which, besides having an unusual name, is also the highest point of navigable freshwaters in the world. What this means is that thanks to Coboconk’s position on a bay of Balsam Lake, you can set sail from here to circumnavigate the world. Balsam Lake is the only place where it’s possible to go east to the Atlantic Ocean, west to the Pacific Ocean, south to the Caribbean Sea, or north to the Arctic Ocean without ever setting foot on land.

This natural wonder and the many others described above are only small portions of what the Kawartha region has to offer. For instance, check out Ontario’s biggest collection of ancient rock carvings at Petroglyphs Provincial Park; fish one of the best trout and salmon streams in Ontario on the Ganaraska River; educate yourself about First Nations culture at the Whetung Ojibwa Centre—or just simply relax by the water and take in the scenery and sounds of Kawartha.

NORTHUMBERLAND
A cousin county of Kawartha and Haliburton, Northumberland runs roughly along the north shore of Lake Ontario, and its unique location allows for all variety of organic outdoor activities in the communities that call this region home. Claims to fame in the area include:

•   Continued national praise for the best-maintained main street in Ontario, in Port Hope, a town that is also an heirloom hunter’s haven, with its 19th-century homes and numerous antique shops.
•   The eerie but thrilling experience offered at the Cobourg Jail that was built in 1906 and was one of the largest prisons of its time, with room for up to 100 jailbirds who paid their dues within its walls until 1998. Guests at what is now a country inn and hotel can spend the night in an actual jail cell, as well as explore other cells in the attached museum.
•   The Brighton Applefest, a significantly large local event that takes place over the last full weekend of every September, and that celebrates the apple harvest.
•   The Giant Toonie in Campbellford that was designed by Canadian wildlife artist Brent Townsend and that stands 20-feet tall.

Also in Northumberland County is the Big Apple Theme Park on Highway 401 (it’s the world’s biggest apple structure), and Presqu'ile Provincial Park, where birders love to spend their time scoping out the more than 300 species that live in the park’s trees. Northumberland also boasts an active geocaching community, which, if you’re not sure what this means, is an active group of people who come from all over the province with map and GPS in hand to seek out the area’s "caches." These "caches" are waterproof boxes containing a logbook, paper, and assorted trinkets that are hidden along trails, in parks, etc. that you can locate with co-ordinates that are posted online. The logbooks and trinkets left behind in the caches are often amusing, and geocaching offers a fun, free way to explore the Northumberland outdoors—and it’s an activity that’s open to everybody!

HALIBURTON
Outdoor Attractions
In addition to Kawartha and Northumberland, the Land O’ Lakes area of eastern Ontario also includes Haliburton. This county basically dissolves its borders into those of its western neighbour, Kawartha, which is great because that means it’s easy to enjoy a vacation in both regions, plus the lower-land Northumberland County. And, as is common with attractions in the area, the excitement of the outdoors is a consistent theme in Haliburton as well, starting with the Bon Echo Provincial Park. Flaunting gorgeous scenery, this particular park is also noteworthy due to its more than 200 ancient First Nations pictographs found along the Mazinaw Rock.

About an hour and a half north of Bon Echo lies Eganville, where another natural wonder is located, the Bonnechere Caves. These are thought to have been the bottom of a tropical sea 500 million years ago, and over 30,000 bats now live here instead. These modern-living bats have some ghostly housemates, however, because the limestone of their cavernous homes has entombed countless fossilized coral and sea creatures that were alive before even dinosaurs existed.

Be that as it may, actual live animals might be more your style, and if so, the 15-acre Wolf Centre in Haliburton’s Forest and Wildlife Reserve is sure to please. The exciting Marmora sled-dog races that take place during the Marmora Snofest over the first weekend of February are yet another way to be entertained.

Rideau Heritage Route and the Ottawa Valley
From Marmora, it’s easy to navigate your way toward more outdoor adventure, and if you simply make your way east toward Ottawa on Highway 7, you will eventually find yourself in the thick of the Rideau Heritage Route. The towns of Perth, Merrickville, Smiths Falls, North Grenville, and Westport are the pillars of this historical byway that leads travellers through Rideau Canal country, which is, in turn, navigable by car, canoe, kayak, bicycle, boat, or your own feet. Add in museums, art galleries, festivals, fine dining, bed and breakfasts, wildlife, and historic sites, and you have a cultural and natural experience that’s one of the best in North America.

Also located in the region are the Ottawa, Madawaska, Bonnechere, Petawawa, and Mattawa rivers, and these run through what is also known as the Ottawa Valley, which is the Whitewater Capital of Canada. Most of these rivers flow from March until the end of November, which gives locals and tourists alike an extended season in which to explore the 5.9-million acres of landscape that make up the Ottawa Valley that stretches from Ottawa in the east, to Algonquin Park in the west. And do you remember that little sport called geocaching? It exists here, too, in Renfrew County, where more than 300 caches are waiting to be found.

Bancroft and Area
Furthermore, close to Algonquin Park is also the town of Bancroft, where another naturally occurring phenomenon is found in abundance—minerals. Bancroft is actually designated as the Mineral Capital of Canada, and each year, the Rockhound Gemboree takes place here. The Gemboree is Canada’s biggest gem and mineral show, and interested parties can find everything from fine gemstones, to fossils, to jewelry.

And, if you want to drive about an hour to the west of Bancroft, you’ll discover the actual town of Haliburton, where the Haliburton Sculpture Forest is located. Situated in Glebe Park, the always-open sculpture park is a 10-acre reserve in which visitors can walk along trails that reveal this al-fresco gallery’s collection of 19 works by both Canadian and international artists. The aim of the project is "to provide an art experience that features sculptures that relate to the Haliburton biosphere and the forest in which they reside," and with a free guided tour offered at 10 am each Tuesday in July and August, and no charge for walking through on your own, visiting this park almost seems like a no-brainer. (Keep in mind, however, trail passes are required for Nordic skiing in the winter.)

Portions of each of the three regions mentioned above—Kawartha, Northumberland, and Haliburton—make up what is known collectively as the Land O’ Lakes, and it’s a fact that the 5,000 lakes in the area make it possible for you to visit a different lake every day for 13 years. Add into that equation the activities you can take part in around a lake, as well as the endless opportunities for exploration that lie in the Kawartha and Haliburton counties, and you just might never leave…