Paddling — Flatwater.
Long Lake off Highway 28 north of Apsley is the busiest entry into Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park's interior canoe network — a 37,587-hectare wilderness park spreading more than fifty interconnected lakes across the southern Canadian Shield. Anstruther Lake and Wolf Lake open separate routes into the same backcountry; Eels Creek paddles south from the park toward the Stoney Lake / Trent system on a documented day-and-overnight corridor.
The brief.
Kawartha Highlands is non-operating wilderness park — no staffed entry station, no drive-in campground, no day-use beaches inside the park. The interior camping is reservation-only through Ontario Parks (advance and same-day) on designated interior sites; backcountry permit fees apply per night per person.
The standard paddling window is late May through Thanksgiving — water levels and bug pressure both shift across the season, with June carrying peak black-fly pressure and July through early September the most popular paddling stretch. Routes from Long Lake, Anstruther Lake, and Wolf Lake interlink through portage chains; multi-day trips are the norm for the deeper interior, but day-paddles from each access point are easy.
Eels Creek runs south of the park toward Stoney Lake and is its own corridor, not strictly inside Kawartha Highlands.
3. places.
- 01
Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park interior canoe routes
Over 50 interconnected lakes accessed via three main put-ins — Long Lake (off Highway 28 north of Apsley), Anstruther Lake (Anstruther Lake Road off County Road 504), and Wolf Lake; backcountry-camping reservations required.
- 02
Eels Creek
Paddling corridor running south from Kawartha Highlands toward Stoney Lake; classic Peterborough-region day-and-overnight canoe route; not exclusively inside the park.
- 03
Chandos Lake
Large lake on the township's east side near Apsley with municipal Sandy Beach and public boat-launch access; flatwater paddling on the lake itself rather than backcountry routing.
Today's read.
Temperature (3.9°C) below the typical range.
By the book.
- 01Kawartha Highlands backcountry camping requires Ontario Parks reservations and permit fees; interior sites are designated.Source ↗
- 02Reservation system (advance and same-day backcountry permits).Source ↗
- 03McGinnis Lake within Petroglyphs Provincial Park is meromictic — closed to all paddling.Source ↗