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Algonquin Provincial Park
What Canada Looked Like Before Man Arrived
By Julia Rosien
Step into a world filled with echoes from the past. Sit by your campfire and listen to the mournful cry of a wolf, or wake up to the haunting call of a loon across a crystalline lake. Algonquin Provincial Park offers urban people a place to experience what Canada looked like before man arrived.
Algonquin, the oldest and most famous Canadian park, covers 7,725 square kilometers of forests, lakes and rivers. The Highway 60 Corridor slices through Algonquin, serving as its link to civilization. Each summer, more than 300,000 people trek to the park and explore for hours, days or weeks at a time.
Whatever time of year you decide to visit the park, you'll have plenty to do. Late September offers the most concentrated and flamboyant display of color in Algonquin's hardwood hills. Vast stretches of sugar maple, in concert with white birch and dark green firs, celebrate summer's end.
Winter arrives early in Algonquin. After the last tourist and mosquito have lit out for distant parts, a world of white silence awaits. The snow-shoer, cross-country skier, dogsledder and winter camper carve their paths in a barren, white world.
Or come in the spring to watch the greening of Algonquin. Keep your eyes open for moose along Highway 60. May is the best time of year to spot them. Although less known than their autumn counterparts, the colors of spring stun visitors. Pastel greens of the trembling aspen and the pink wash of the red maple reflect in the frozen lakes until mid-May.
Summer is by far the most popular time of year for visiting the park. However, far from being crowded, Algonquin seems to spread its forest and make room for everyone. Walk the hidden pine trails and watch closely as green becomes more than just a color.
Algonquin Park operates eight organized campgrounds, most with showers, flush toilets, electricity, laundry facilities and beach. Operating dates vary between April and October, and all campgrounds are accessible from Highway 60. Reservations are available and recommended because of popularity. Mew Lake Campground offers yurts – semi-permanent tent-like structures equipped with furniture – for the novice camper with no equipment.