Six Mile Lake Provincial Park: Planning a Last Minute Group Camping Trip
Six Mile Lake Provincial Park 2024 Joe King's Road Port Severn, ON L0K 1S0, Canada
The Living Edge Trail has water bodies that container aquatic plants such as yellow and water lilies, pondweeds and cattails
Six Mile Lake Provincial Park is a captivating family destination nestled in Ontario's picturesque Muskoka region. This charming park boasts a scenic landscape with a teaming ecosystem perfect for plant lovers.
Trip Report:
Here’s the scene: it’s late summer and you and your friends decide on a last minute camping trip. Car camping! Easy. What’s hard? It has to be a weekend and all the popular parks are booked so you decide on what’s nearby and available: Six Mile Lake. How was this last-minute park? Read on!
| Type | Frontcountry | |
| Toronto Drive | ||
| Duration | ||
| Campground | Lakeview Heights | |
| Site | 15 | |
| Season | Summer (September 2020) |
Day 1: SEttle-In
Site #15: I’ll be honest. This site was awful. It was extremely close to both neighbors (they practically felt like they were part of our party), and there is really bad drainage which, for our rainy trip, gave us deep puddles to navigate around.
More secluded sites exist, so you can plan ahead and snag those early. Skip this site.
Camping Reservations: (here)
Campsite #15, Lakeview Heights campgrounds
Park Map: campground and hiking trails
Settling In with Kimchi Stew
Our favorite night was this night because we were neighbor-free. Swinging the hammock up and boiling some kimchi stew, we welcomed the night with a fire and spicy lips.
Hanging out in a 2-person hammock
Camp meal: kimchi stew cooked in a cast iron dutch oven over a camp fire
Day 2: Six Mile Lake Paddle
Our first morning was clean and clear so we were able to sleep without the rain fly to wake up to blue skies. W cooked up some breakfast sandwiches (brie cheese, sliced tomatoes, cold cuts with a smash of avocados) to carb us up for a quick paddle.
Sleeping with no tent rain fly gives clear sky views when waking up
Our chef preparing breakfast sandwiches
Six Mile Lake was smooth this afternoon - we did close paddle but noticed the lake goes quite further out so we bookmarked the channel for another day. Circling back, we had poke bowls (tuna sashimi with pickled vegetables and avocado on a bed of rice, sprinkled with sesame seeds) - what a seriously luxurious camping meal.
Foldable kayak on the lake
Camping meal: poke bowl with defrosted raw fish, avocados and veggies
Day 3: Living Edge Trail
We gathered our group to hike the Living Edge Trail (2.6km). Across ponds, you might come across aquatic plants such as yellow and water lilies, pondweeds and cattails. You can thank melted glacial ice from thousands of years ago for forming these water bodies.
Hiking The Living Edge Trail
Encountering pink granite as part of the Canadian Shield. Spot the Common Juniper
Going Further on Six Mile Lake
Six Mile Lake is massive, once you get past the area closest to the campgrounds, the geography gets very confusing with islands and unpredictable edges. It was part of the fun! But if you’re on paddle boards like us, follow the perimeter for calmer waters.
We ended up seeing a mysterious nearby island and decided to dock.
The waves at Six Mile Lake can be rocky due to the frequent motorboats
Mysterious Little island
There were clear “no camping” signs here so we just explored around on foot. Full of juniper bushes and towering trees, you can tell this was a popular hangout spot, especially with the illegible pinecone message left behind. After meandering, we popped our life jackets back on and paddled back.
Docking our kayak and paddle boards onto an island
You can clearly see private cottages along Six Mile Lake
Day 4: Home
It was a misty morning when we bid goodbye, tore down our campsite and headed home.
Dock at Six Mile Lake, a popular spot for fishing
Final Thoughts
Six Mile Lake has amazing natural environments and really fun paddling and hiking trails but unfortunately that traffic noise can be a nuisance! The advantage of being a short drive from Toronto could outweigh this con (especially if you’re used to big city road noises anyways) so you can make your own judgement. Definitely don’t disregard this park completely - it offers so much - just remember its caveats when planning. If we were to go again, we’d pick a better site and bring some ear plugs for sleeping.
For our camping gear list, click here.
Read another car camping trip at Silent Lake, Rockwood, or more.
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