Explore Algonquin at its best; a vast landscape of maple hills, rocky ridges, spruce bogs, and thousands of lakes, ponds, and streams. By paddle and portage - more than 2,000 kilometres of canoe routes and over 1,900 campsites await those who seek the rugged beauty of Algonquin Provincial Park. Additionally, Algonquin has three backpacking trails which also probe the heart of the backcountry.

In the 1800s pioneer loggers pushing up from the Ottawa Valley reached Algonquin in search of the great White Pine trees, whose prime wood was increasingly in demand by an expanding British economy. Living in remote, primitive camps, they felled and squared the giant pine, and when spring came, drove them down swollen rivers to the Ottawa River and the outside world. Algonquin was established in 1893, not to stop logging but to establish a wildlife sanctuary and, by excluding agriculture, to protect the headwaters of the five major rivers which flow from the park. Algonquin Provincial Park lies in a transition zone between deciduous forests typical of areas to the south of the park, and coniferous forests, more typical of areas to the north. The result is that both forest types are found, and there are five major habitat types within park boundaries, supporting a diversity in plant and animal life. Over 1,500 lakes, 1,200 kilometres of streams, and countless smaller ponds and bog are home to 54 different species of fish in the park, including brook trout and lake trout, as well as other species such as smallmouth bass, lake whitefish, yellow perch, northern pike, muskellunge and walleye. There are 31 different species of reptiles and amphibians in Algonquin. Among the reptiles are five species of turtles, and nine species of snakes (none venomous) and amphibians include seven species of salamanders, and ten species of frogs and toads. The meeting of southern hardwood forests with northern coniferous forests within Algonquin Park results in the presence of 272 bird species from both forest zones. Such northern birds as the gray jay, boreal chickadee and spruce grouse can be found at the same time as such southerners as the indigo bunting, brown thrasher and wood thrush. Fifty-three species of non-domestic mammals have been recorded within the boundaries of Algonquin. Of these, several are large, impressive mammals that many people hope to see while they are here - moose, white-tailed deer, beaver, black bear and wolves. Algonquin is unequalled in Ontario, perhaps even in North America, as a location for seeing moose. The other species, although common, are usually more difficult to find in Algonquin's heavily forested terrain.

Recommended stays