Killarney: the length of George Lake

Launch at the canoe launch beside George Lake Campground, just inside the park gate on Highway 637, and paddle north-east up George Lake. The lake is the doorway to Killarney's canoe routes: pink granite shores and pine-topped islands on one side, and on the other the La Cloche hills, whose white quartzite ridges look like snow from a distance. The line follows the lake past a scatter of islands and narrows to its eastern end, where a short portage leads on towards Freeland Lake. Turn there and come back.

It is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) there and back; allow about 1½ hours in a canoe or kayak and 2 on a paddleboard. The grade is Moderate on our scale, because nearly all of it is open water, but George Lake is narrow and sheltered and you are never far from land.

Only canoes and kayaks are allowed on Killarney's interior lakes, so it is quiet. Day visitors need an Ontario Parks daily vehicle permit, which can be booked up to five days ahead; in summer and at fall-colour weekends the park fills early. The campsites on the lake belong to campers who have booked them, so do not land at an occupied one. Wear a lifejacket and check the conditions before you set off.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap waterways (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.