KILLARNEY PROVINCIAL PARK
Summary
This trail circumnavigates a large portion of Killarney Provincial Park. It winds its way between, over, and around the high granite ridges. I was joined by 2 of my buddies, Mike and Adam, for this 5 day adventure and we had a great time. If you’ve got a map of the trail, the plan was to stay at the following campsites…H16, H23, H35, H50, and then out.
Day #1 (Aug 4th)
We hit the george lake trail head at about 9am and made it to H16 by about 2:30pm. Today brought a little excitement when Mike, who happens to be slightly insane, decided to hike ahead of us without the map. Well, he missed a turn off and ended up getting himself lost for about an hour. Not the best way to start our hike. We did end up finding him by backtracking a bit. On the way we saw a lost dog Maggie with her new “owner” who was kind enough to cut his trip short to bring her home. Later that night, at about 9:30pm, Maggie’s real owner, was out scouring the trail for his pup and passed by our site. He ended up stopping by our site and crashed there for the evening. He was gone back in the other direction before sunrise – hopefully he found her.
Adam and Mike enjoying the shade.
Our camp for the night. Adam uses a BA Seedhouse 1 tent while my tarp and bivy sit just behind it in the background.
Day #2 (Aug 5th)
The next day was another beautiful day at a much better pace. We stopped for a long lunch at H20, even had a nap, and caught an excellent view of a deer in the marsh from up above. We made it to H23, which was our reserved site for the evening, only to find that the small creek on the map was dry as a bone. So, we made our way back to H22 (anyone who knows the terrain between these two sites knows that you don’t want to be doing this at the end of a long day.) and waited until the evening before setting up our shelters in case the assigned hikers came by. Lucky for us, no one showed up so we had a great night.
Mike taking in the view.
Branch bridges…
This one posed for a few pictures before continuing to munch on the vegetation.
The trail can get a little steep on the northern township area.
Day #3 (Aug 6th)
Today we hiked to Boundary lake. It was a long day and my knees were starting to tell me they were getting a bit beat up. On a positive note, we saw a female moose, a buck, a few snakes and absolutely nobody on the northernmost section of the trail. The Hansen Township Section was by far the highlight of the loop for me. H35 is a great site, and well worth the long side-trail trek to get there. Again, a warm and clear night.
One of the few shots with me in it (on the left). Being the camera man means lots of pictures of everyone else!
Down we go with Boundary Lake as our destination.
Boundary is a great spot. Great view out to the lake. I pitch my poncho/tarp in a way to deflect wind coming off the water.
Mike hanging around in his Hennessy Hammock.
Day #4 (Aug 7th)
The next morning we caught a really long and good glimpse of a moose just off of the site trail near H35. We finally started to see some people once we rounded the corner into the Silver Peak Section of the trail. We decided there was no way we were going to make it to H50 so we stopped at H48 – Proulx Lake – which is one of the best sites in Killarney. Again, we waited to make sure no one else showed up. This site has crystal clear water, great rocks to dive off and made the long day worth while. It ended up pouring rain all night and poor Mike, dealing with his hammock, was soaked by morning.
Here is our moose visit bright and early in the morning.
Adam doing his best “Mr. Cool”.
Day #5 (Aug 8th)
The next morning we were all feeling the wrath of the trail. A bit tired and beat up but in good spirits. We hiked out the next morning at a leisurely pace. I don’t know what I would have done without the trekking poles or if I had to carry some heavy gear. This is an extremely challenging hike. I can definitely see how much more enjoyable it would be in 5 nights. It can definitely be done in a shorter time, but with such beautiful scenery, it’s best to take your time.
