Camping.
Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park is the township's camping product — a 37,587-hectare interior network of designated backcountry campsites accessed by canoe and short portage from Long Lake, Anstruther Lake, and Wolf Lake. Petroglyphs Provincial Park, the township's other major Ontario Parks property, is day-use only.
There is no operating provincial-park or municipal frontcountry campground inside North Kawartha — paddle-in or it isn't camping in this township.
The brief.
Backcountry sites in Kawartha Highlands are reservation-only through Ontario Parks (advance and same-day) at https://reservations.ontarioparks.ca; the system reserves a specific designated site for the night. Permit fees apply per night per person.
Standard backcountry rules: pack-in / pack-out, designated fire rings only when fire bans aren't in effect, bear-aware food storage. Cell coverage inside the park is unreliable — plan navigation and emergency contact accordingly.
The standard window is late May through Thanksgiving; ice-out timing in late April / early May and freeze-up timing through November shift the shoulder seasons. Reservations are tighter on summer weekends (especially the long weekends) than on weekdays.
1. places.
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Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park backcountry
Designated interior campsites accessed via Long Lake (off Highway 28 north of Apsley), Anstruther Lake (Anstruther Lake Road), and Wolf Lake; reservation-only through Ontario Parks.
Map ↗
Today's read.
Cool but comfortable for layered effort · light winds.
