Kawartha Highlands - Long Lake canoe trip

An active weekend canoe trip through the southern section of the park.

Friday: Arrived at the Long Lake Access point around 1:30 and were on the water in a rental canoe shortly after 2:00. Paddled Long Lake for about 4.5 km to a portage that is marked and visible on the south shore and is 340 meters in length. Put back in at Buzzard Lake and paddled to our campsite on the south end of Buzzard, arrived before 4:00 with plenty of time to set up camp/prepare dinner.

Saturday: In the morning our threesome did three short paddles broken up by 2 portages of 680 meters which got us quickly from Buzzard Lake to Mountain Lake to Stoplog where we set up camp while it was still the morning (the site was not booked on the previous night).

We spent the rest of the day exploring (gear reduced to a small pack with lunches) and did a loop through several lakes. North on Stoplog, portage into Compass, thru Cherry, Triangle and then hiked (no canoe) the 1,275 meter portage trail over to Cox lake. Our return route was back into Triangle and then the west side of Cherry, a medium portage in to Turtle and then a long portage back to Stoplog arriving back at our campsite around 4:00.

Sunday: Left camp shortly after 8:00, north on Stoplog to Compass, three consecutive portages into Loucks Lake, then a 5 km paddle into the wind through Long Lake to the access point and our cars (arrived about 30 minutes before noon).

Campsite reservations are required and on a busy weekend you should also reserve a canoe (if required). Portages and campsites were all clearly marked, paths were in good shape and the campsites we used were impressive.

Nice scenery, some wildlife and we had some great weather that made the trip very enjoyable.