Frontenac County: Trails, Water and Nature

In Frontenac County, long trails, wooded landscapes and experiences on the water shape your trip. The 90-kilometre Frontenac K&P Trail follows a historic railway corridor; in Frontenac Provincial Park, interconnected loops wind through an extensive hiking area. If you enjoy spending your vacation outdoors, you’ll find a range of ways to spend your days here.

Exploring the Frontenac K&P Trail

The Frontenac K&P Trail runs through South Frontenac, Central Frontenac and North Frontenac. Access points are located in Harrowsmith, Verona, Godfrey and Sharbot Lake. This means you can explore individual sections rather than planning to cover the entire trail in one trip. The trail is suitable for cycling, walking, hiking and horseback riding. ATV use is also permitted with a permit; in winter, it is used for snowmobiling. It follows the historic Kingston & Pembroke Railway corridor, connecting a modern multi-use trail with the history of the railway route.

If you’re looking for a vacation rental, first consider what kind of days you’d like to spend: the K&P Trail offers several ways to get active, while the trails and lakes in Frontenac Provincial Park offer different possibilities. The trail access points are in various communities, helping you choose a convenient base within the county for the activities you have planned.

Hiking, Canoeing and Wildlife Watching

Frontenac Provincial Park has more than 100 kilometres of hiking and trekking trails, which form interconnected loops. There are also numerous canoe routes, with launch points on 22 lakes and portages. Other activities include snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and wildlife watching. You can shape your stay around whether you’d rather explore on foot, take a canoe trip or set aside time to observe nature.

The park is also home to one of Ontario’s largest populations of Cerulean Warblers. This distinctive bird makes the area interesting for visitors who want to focus on wildlife. Another wooded landscape is the Meisel Woods Conservation Area: this 130-acre area lies on the Canadian Shield and surrounds a spring-fed lake known as Beaver Lake or Bass Lake.

Pictographs and Trails by the Water

In Bon Echo Provincial Park, the 21-kilometre Kishkebus Canoe Route is a loop that passes Indigenous pictographs. Mazinaw Rock is 100 metres high and features more than 260 Indigenous pictographs. This makes the canoe trip an opportunity to experience a striking cultural landmark. The Cliff Top Trail offers a different experience: the 1.5-kilometre trail is accessible only by water and leads to three lookout terraces overlooking the lake. Keep this access restriction in mind when planning your activities.

Nature at Big Sandy Bay Beach has its own distinctive character, too. The beach is in the protected Big Sandy Bay Conservation Area, whose rare dune and wetland ecosystems support a diverse range of plant and bird life. A trail through forests and wetlands leads to the beach, where you can swim, watch birds and hike. If you’d like to combine a trip with beach time and nature watching, this offers a different focus from the longer forest and loop trails.

Communities, Waterways and Getting Your Bearings

The Rideau Canal National Historic Site, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, runs through the southeastern part of South Frontenac Township. The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve covers parts of Frontenac County and includes Harrowsmith, Verona and Godfrey, among other communities. These names also appear among the K&P Trail access points, while the reserve offers another way to orient yourself within the county.

The Wolfe Island Ferry operates year-round between the village of Marysville on Wolfe Island and the foot of Queen Street in Kingston. These endpoints are useful if Wolfe Island and Kingston are part of your travel plans. The Frontenac Farmers Market was scheduled to run from May 8 to October 30, with opening hours from 3 to 7 p.m. on Fridays at Centennial Park in Harrowsmith.

For more information about local communities, you can also visit the pages for Battersea, Mountain Grove, Cloyne, Sharbot Lake, Sydenham, Wolfe Island and Kingston.

For the broader travel overview: Ontario.

More destinations

More places in the same destination:

Lambton County.