On Georgian Bay

In the heart of Georgian Bay's "30,000 islands" lies an oasis for wilderness lovers. Ontario's newest provincial park offers nearly 50 square miles of wilderness seclusion for tourists. By restricting use of its inner lakes to non-motorized transport, Massasauga Provincial Park promises a wild experience on its many lakes and unique trails.

Paddling from the mosquito-infested inner lakes to the wind-swept Georgian Bay shoreline takes you through a part of Ontario like no other. The variety and importance of the life and landforms Massasauga protects places it second only to Ontario's famous Algonquin Park.

Massasauga Provincial Park gets its name from two of its most prized features: the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, and its placement at the mouth of the Moon River. In Ojibway the language of one of the area's indigenous peoples "massasauga" means "mouth of the river."

Within the park's boundaries, travelers can find Atlantic coastal plain flora, maple-beech forest, dry oak barrens, mixed pine-oak forests. Massasauga preserves wilderness, history, and several rare species - including significant populations of prairie warbler, fox snake, eastern massasauga rattlesnake, and Ontario's only lizard, the five-lined skink.

The park was established to protect this environment. Only passive, low intensity activities like canoeing, canoe-camping, sport fishing, hiking and cross-country skiing are allowed. Even a long-standing snowmobile route has been phased out of the area. You'll find minimal services pit privies and designated campsites within the park. And the 135 campsites will only be used on a rotational basis in order to keep the park wild.

It's not hard to cover the park by canoe or skis in a couple of days, yet there is enough here to fill a week with exploration. The park is accessible by motor along the Georgian Bay coastline, but self-propelled travel is the only way to see the interior. Bounded to the south by the Moon River, the park extends 13 miles north to Parry Island. Of interest along the park's trails: lookouts, abandoned mine sites, bogs, a fen, old growth forests, a field of tiny pink-and-yellow wildflowers known as Virginia meadow beauties, beaver ponds, and two great blue heron rookeries.