A Fall Trip to in the Kawartha Highlands

On September 28th my partner and I ventured into the Kawartha Highlands for several days. We intended to spend some time exploring the northern portion of the park. Neither of us had visited this section of the park before and were quite excited to visit. Traveling between Anustruther Lake and Serpentine Lake there is an elevation gain of nearly 50m, more than the height of the Statue of Liberty! Along the second portage there was a beautiful waterfall that ran along the trail.

Some of the coolest sightings along our trip were in a small wetland between Copper Lake and Rathburn Lake. As we crossed the lake on the way back there were several dozen young ducks fluttering in the water and kicking up water, it seemed as though they were learning to fly. We also saw numerous spiders that had cast sails made from silk and were flying across the lake. I’d never noticed this before while I’d been out paddling but it was quite splendid to see! As a final showstopper, on our way out of the lake, a belted kingfisher shot down from the trees to splash into the water right in front of us and emerging moments later with fish in beak! It was a great trip with the fall colours starting to appear throughout the highlands. Fall is truly one of the best times to go camping in Ontario!

Leave a Reply