Kirkland Lake – Cross-country Skiing and Mining History
Accommodation in Kirkland Lake
Kirkland Lake is a mining town whose history comes to life at the museum and the Miners’ Memorial. At the same time, it offers cross-country skiing, ice skating and outdoor activities, as well as a market featuring locally grown food and handmade products. If you’re considering whether Kirkland Lake is right for your trip, these different highlights may help: are you looking for a destination for winter activities, are you interested in gold-mining history, or would you like to combine both with other recreational options?
Cross-country skiing, ice skating and winter activities
The Joe Mavrinac Community Complex and the Kirkland Lake Cross Country Ski Runners provide free groomed trails, as well as affordable use of snowshoes and cross-country ski equipment. Volunteers with the KL Cross Country Ski Runners Club also offer free cross-country ski lessons for all ages and skill levels. This gives you a distinct option to consider when planning, whether you already have experience or are looking for lessons.
The Community Complex also has an indoor ice rink. It is used for hockey, figure skating and public recreational skating. If you want to get out on the ice, you can distinguish between these options: hockey and figure skating are offered alongside public recreational skating. Also at the Complex is a free public loop trail of about 200 metres. Its length gives you a concrete sense of scale for this route, so you won’t confuse it with the longer trails in town.
Outdoor activities and water play
The Extreme Park is intended for skateboarders and people using bicycles and scooters. The Kirkland Lake Splash Park adds an outdoor water-play area for all ages. If you’re travelling with children, the water play may be a separate reason to consider this option.
At Kinross Pond, a paved 1.2-kilometre loop trail has benches and 12 outdoor exercise stations along the way.
Gold mining and local history
The Kirkland Lake Miners’ Memorial is a 40-tonne, 10-metre-high monument. It honours all living and deceased miners who worked at Kirkland Lake’s seven major gold mines: Macassa, Tough-Oaks, Kirkland Lake Gold, Lakeshore, Wright-Hargreaves, Teck-Hughes and Sylvanite. The names clearly link the monument to the town’s gold-mining history and to the people it commemorates.
The Museum of Northern History is located in the Sir Harry Oakes Chateau and preserves the geographic, cultural and economic history of the mining town of Kirkland Lake. If you’re interested in how the town developed, the museum offers another way to explore this history alongside the memorial. The Toburn Gold Mine is also connected to mining: free self-guided tours are offered there seven days a week from May to the end of October. The season and tour format set it apart from visiting a museum or viewing a monument.
Food and crafts
The Kirkland Lake Food & Artisan Market offers fresh, locally grown food and handmade products from artisans. It adds a focus on local produce and craftsmanship to the picture of the destination. If these kinds of discoveries matter to your trip, you can consider the market alongside the outdoor offerings and mining history as another reason to shortlist Kirkland Lake. Your interests in local activities and attractions can also help guide your choice of a vacation rental in Kirkland Lake.
Other destinations: Eganville, Deep River, Schreiber, Mount Forest.
For the broader travel overview: Ontario.
