Day Hikes In Algonquin Provincial Park

Canada Jay. One of Algonquin Provincial Park’s earliest nesting birds, its had quite the few name changes over the last century. Examples include the more recent Gray Jay, Whiskey Jack, Meat Bird, and Camp Robber to name a few. (click image to enlarge)

To our knowledge, Algonquin Provincial Park has 18 interpretive trails with all but 2 along the main highway 60 corridor. The trails range from easy to difficult, two are wheel chair accessible, and they vary in length from 1 kilometre to almost 11 kilometres.

For us there is the extra bonus that once we finish a trail we go purchase that trail’s sew on crest! We enjoy hiking the trails in the fall or winter months. In fall we go in October and in the winter we hike the trails that remain open. We have found that September is the worse time to venture out on the trails as there are too many Leafers; This makes even parking somewhat of a nightmare.

Besides getting the chance to see wildlife such as Moose, Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpecker, and Pine Marten, there are also trails that depict the human history of the park.

The Friends of Algonquin Park has interpretive trail booklets that you can take with you on your hike. They are an interesting read on their own and we ended up buying all of them. Also don’t forget those sew on crests!

**Algonquin Provincial Park crests. We only allow ourselves to purchase one after we have completed a trail. (click image to enlarge)**

For being such a popular park there is actually very little garbage along these trails. This is all thanks to the Adopt-A-Trail program where volunteers walk a trail once a week while cleaning up litter and reporting any sections of the trail that are in need for repair.

So what trail is our favourite so far? It has to be Centennial Ridges. At 10.4 kilometres it’s a challenging trail with elevations that reward us with multiple scenic lookouts.

What trail in Algonquin Provincial Park is your favourite?