2007/09 Ontario trip - Killarney Park |
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We headed west to Parry Sound and Lake Huron again, and retraced the previous week’s route towards Sudbury. However, we turned off before Sudbury onto a very quiet road down the peninsula to Killarney park. There had been few colours on the main road, but this road was almost as beautiful as Algonquin. There is only one town, Killarney, at the far end of the road, and we met almost no traffic.
We found a dark and shady camp site just back from Lake George. The 
lake shore was beautiful, a mixture of pink granite and glossy white quartzite. We’d caught a glimpse too of the tops of the white La Cloche Mountains as we entered the park but they weren’t visible from the lake. I could hear loons out on the lake, and I found this solitary merganser.
Wednesday September 26th
The list of hikes for the park included one to “The Crack”, supposedly the most 
rewarding, but with warnings that it was strenuous. Sandie agreed to sit and knit while I gave it a quick try. If I wasn’t back by 4pm she was going to call in the park rangers!
It began easily enough, with a wide trail through the woods past Kakakise Lake with its views of white mountains. Then, abruptly, it became a climb up a slope of white boulders, and the trail markers changed from blue-blazed trees to rock cairns and red ribbons. Somewhere on the slope I lost the trail and then spotted a cairn high on another ridge. I climbed up to it and found two cairns but no clue as to where the trail continued. Then I took a closer look and realized that the cairns were actually inukshuks, or human statues made from rocks, so I went all the way back to the last good trail marker and started again. This time, I saw the ribbon I’d missed, almost hidden by branches, and I was back on the trail.
Most of the rest of the trail was across white and shiny quartzite, pretty to look at 
but easy to slip on and sharp to land on. I lost the trail again, but by now the Crack was clearly visible on the horizon, as a gap in the ridgeline, and I was able to pick the trail up again. The Crack required a climb up a pile of boulders, and the trail came out on the ridge to one of those views where you just go “Wow”. I could see the view on the front page: lakes, islands, white mountains, and the distant shoreline of Georgian Bay, with the valleys a riot of red, gold, and green foliage. I could hear loons and geese on the lakes far below. The only thing missing was the sunshine; the day was warm but cloudy with some mist in the valleys.
I ate lunch on the highest rock I could find, but Sandie’s deadline was approaching, so I couldn’t stay long. Coming down was harder than going up, with lots of knee bending and jumping.
Close to the descent into the forest I met a couple who asked me where the trail was. “We climbed up to a couple of inukshuks but couldn’t find the trail there!” I pointed them to the ribbons they’d missed and then I climbed up to the inukshuks and flattened them. On a good, warm day they were just a nuisance but in bad weather they could cause someone to get seriously lost.
Sandie was waiting patiently at the trail head. As she couldn’t walk far we 
just drove around on the park’s side roads. These took us to a number of pretty lakes, but no views of the mountains. Killarney is a park for hikers and paddlers, not really for motorists. We drove down to the end of the peninsula and the town of Killarney. The town’s waterfront faces the cliffs of close-by George Island, so it has no direct view of Georgian Bay.
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