Part 3 of 4: Bruce Peninsula National Park

From the rocky limestone cliffs and frigid, turquoise waters of Georgian Bay to the sandy beaches and warm, shallow waters of Lake Huron, the Bruce Peninsula offers intense ecological diversity in a narrow, 15 km wide piece of land. I (Gully) fell in love with this section of the Niagara Escarpment as a child when my family would spend weeks on end camping at the Cyprus Lake Campground. Now, to us, the lure of the area is in the sheer number of things there are to do. I get seriously stoked for this place every time we go.

Setting up camp on Cyprus Lake makes for a good base to get to the area attractions, although spending a few days just in and around the campground alone would make for an epic trip! The small lake has a sandy beach with great swimming and there are short hikes to neighbouring lakes. (Side note: as far as any campground we’ve ever been to goes, Cyprus Lake is easily in the top three!).

The crown jewel of the peninsula has got to be the Georgian Bay shoreline which is accessible via several hiking trails that meet up with the famous Bruce Trail (an 800 km long hiking trail that follows the Niagara Escarpment, starting near Niagara falls in the south and ending at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in the north). The shoreline here is truly unique: the beaches are bouldered, the high cliffs are gnarly and water-carved, and the crystal clear turquoise water looks almost tropical. But beware – it’s butt-freezing cold! Jumping off the cliffs at Indian Cove (aka the best picnic locale on Earth) reminds me of that every time. Around the corner from Indian Cove is another favourite place of ours – the aptly named Grotto. It’s a semi-submerged cave that actually has underwater tunnels connecting it with the open water. I’ve never been brave enough to access the Grotto through these so I settle for a scramble down the cliff face. Various other hikes that we get giddy over include Cave Point and Halfway Log Dump which follow the shoreline along other sections of the Bruce Trail. There you can crawl through caverns in the cliff face and see 800 year old cedar trees growing out of the limestone.

On the opposite side of the peninsula the landscape is startlingly different. Sandy beaches and warm water are characteristic of this part of Lake Huron, and the forest is different, too. It honestly seems like a different world compared to the Georgian Bay side. Just a short hike from Dorcas Bay and you can find yourself your own secluded sandy beach. We love to wade out for hundreds of meters in the warm, shallow water or just lie in the sun soaked dunes and have our lunch.

At the tip of the peninsula is the quaint, cozy town of Tobermory and the harbour, Little Tub. This is the perfect place to spend a rainy day when camping. Crow’s Nest Pub is our refuge with its ice cream and beer. Other rituals include a stroll around the harbour to see the Chi Cheemaun ferry whose horn you can actually hear from the campground over 10 km away! This is also where we leave for famous Flowerpot Island where we like to hike around and, of course, pack a lunch and have a picnic.

We scuba dived once in Tobermory, too. Fathom Five, a national marine park, is basically the Mecca of fresh water diving in Canada. We saw 120 year old ship wrecks just outside the harbour (which we’ve also seen by way of glass bottom boat) and the water is so clear that it makes for quite an eerie feeling when you look below your dangling feet into the dark, cold abyss.

With so many incredible sights and activities that are unique to this part of the country, it’s no wonder we keep going back year after year.