A Palette of Colour: Algonquin and The Highlands

Estimated distance: 305 km/190 mi.

Algonquin Provincial Park is Ontario's oldest and best known, and has been welcoming visitors for more than 200 years. The essence of Algonquin is its vast interior of maple and pine-clad hills, rocky ridges and thousands of interconnected lakes, rivers and streams, typical of the Great Lakes forest region. This is Shield Country, formed 2.5 billion years ago, and is the world's oldest exposed bedrock. Fall colour season along the Highway 60 corridor in Algonquin provides an inspiring palette to capture on canvas and the art gallery at the park's Visitor Centre features regular displays of art depicting the region. See the landscape in a new way: learn to paint and photograph, or see art displays by both renowned and lesser-known local artists.

For a different perspective, take a half kilometre walk in an old growth White Pine forest at the Haliburton Forest. Walk easily along the suspended canopy boardwalk that winds its way through the tree tops 20 meters above the forest floor.

The view from Dorset's Scenic Lookout Tower is not to be missed for great fall colours. Take an hour to hike Tower Trail, which loops through a beautiful mixed forest from the top of the lookout hill to the base, and back up again. Robinson's General Store has been in operation since 1921 and is a pleasant diversion en route.

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