Georgian Bay Islands National Park: more boaters than hikers

There might be rattlesnakes in the Georgian Bay Islands National Park (as I found out), but the one word that best describes the park is… BOATING. The boats are big and they are everywhere! This shouldn’t be surprising since the park itself encompasses 63 islands. Michel and I were staying on the largest one, Beausoleil Island, an 11-square-kilometer island located a 15 minute boat ride from Honey Harbour. Boats are anchored around the islands and may access Beausoleil Island by mooring on one of the island’s many docks. And even when you don’t see them, you can hear them. The hum of their motors is ever-present on the island.

All this boating activity, fortunately, did not translate into busy hiking trails. The trails were empty! During our first five km hike, we saw one person on a mountain bike. And during our 12 km hike, we only saw one couple and they were walking back to their boat which was moored on one of the docks.

One of the park officials explained to us that the boaters moor at the island but do not explore the park as they prefer remaining on their boats. That’s unfortunate because the hiking trails are beautiful!

The northern part of Beausoleil island is typical Canadian shield terrain with rocky shorelines and windblown juniper and pine forests and the southern half of the island is more hardwood trees such as maples, beech and oak. Michel and I explored both sides of the islands and were able to take in some amazing scenery!

We had a great stop for our quintessential hikers’ lunch of salami, pita, hummus, cucumber and cheese. Food tastes so much better outdoor.

And here was the view while we were lunching.

If you enjoy hiking (and boating) then this park is worth a visit!