Part 1

Part 2

The La Cloche Silhouette Trail is considered one of the most difficult hiking trails in Ontario. This is because of the steep ascents and descents, river crossings, waterfall traversing, and trail surfaces. It was pretty dry on our hike, but I imagine in the spring that the water crossings would be much more challenging. In addition to the hazards, the rocks are quite smooth and slick even when dry. The layers of fallen pine needles and leaves added another slipping danger.

Most people do this trail in 7-10 days. We did it comfortably in 7 days.

There seems to be different distances listed for the loop. We recorded it as 86.6km. This included a side trail to look out over Topaz Lake as well as our to and from campsite trails, which were at times 500m from the main trail.

We didn’t pass many through hikers on any of the days. This was due in part to several reasons I believe. The time of year. I was mid to late October, which can be quite frosty. The limited amount of campsites available. There are 54 sites along the trail, but they are spread apart and not all are suitable for large groups – 6 is the maximum allowed at a site. If you can’t book sites that are evenly spread out over your days on the trail, it can make the trail extra challenging. Hikers may need to pull longer than ideal days. Our group was larger than 6 so we had to book 2 sites as close together as possible for two large parties.

In my opinion, we picked the most ideal sites in the clock-wise direction. We chose to go in this direction for two reasons. The first was because we would be going from easiest to hardest (or so we thought). This would allow us to lighten our pack weights as we approached the more difficult terrain. The second was because we wanted our last day to end on a high note with “The Crack”.

Day 1: Tuesday, October 15 ( approx. 7.3km)

We drove from Toronto, stopped for a brunch at the Hungry Bear and made it to Killarney about 12:30pm. We checked in, we parked at George Lake, which added about 1.5km to our hike, but meant that we would complete the full loop.

We passed a sight with 3 men on it, either at Acid lake. We stopped for a snack a little after this. The 3 men and a couple passed us at this time. The couple had taken the dam short-cut.

We booked both campsites on Cave Lake. I stayed at H6. In addition to the defined tent pad, there is plenty of great places to setup a tent or hammock. There is a main fire pit, as well as, other fire pits that previous hikers created.

It was supposed to rain that day. Thankfully the rain didn’t begin until we arrived at camp. The rain was light and short lived, but made for a dramatic scene over the lake. We watched it rain again at dusk. The shower hung over the lake, with the curtain of water staying at the shoreline. We also watched the sunset, the near full Hunter’s Moon rise and the 80,000 year old comet hung in the sky. This was our coldest night of the hike.

Day 2: Wednesday, October 16 (approx. 11km)

We woke up at 6:00 and left camp by 8:30. We soon reached the portage known as “The Pig”. This is a long steep portage over rolly rocks. We detoured part way up the pig to checkout Topaz lake, which is supposed to be a stunning view of blue. This was a lot of up and down – mostly up that provided a beautiful view of the lake. The water wasn’t as brilliant as we had hoped due to the overcast sky- I guess. We saw the couple that had taken the dame short-cut the day before enjoying their coffee down at Topaz lake campsite H7. It is the only site on the lake and looked to be a beautiful spot.

Not long after this we descended a very steep crack, but not “The Crack”. This one was actually more challenging! At the bottom was a fantastic creek. We lingered there to take in what we just hiked down and to regroup.

We stayed on Threenarrows Lake, H17 – West facing. Our other site was H18. I didn’t check it out. Though the day was in theory warmer than Tuesday, there was humidity and wind. It felt colder to everyone.

Day 3: Thursday, October 17 (approx. 12km)

The next day started off with a steep ascent and descent before we reached the H18 turn off. We came upon some more hikers on top of ascent after H21 campsite. They commented on our shorts and wished they had thought to pack some.

We booked 2 Moose Pass campsites, H22 & H23. I stayed at H22. It’s a lovely site directly on the trail, overlooking a large pond. It is speckled with with quartzite rock, making it a pretty place to stay. Unfortunately, it was West facing, meaning our site didn’t get much afternoon sun, but the sun did illuminate the other side of the pond. We saw several hikers pass us. A young couple that we travelling in the same direction as us, with small packs and looking much too happy and clean. A dusk a young man who was walking on mission, paused to ask if there was a water source before H21. We recommend he get water at the pond where we were. He had quite a distance to go to the next campsite and likely would arrive in the dark.

I passed through H23 the next day as it is also right on the trail. This site is very different to our other sites as it is in a forest valley next to a creek. The temperature was noticeably cooler and damper there. The creek was slow and full of fallen leaves. Not the most ideal place to camp for water and warmth.

Day 4: Friday, October 18 (approx. 12km)

After passing the campsite 31 trail, we came across a couple of men. They had stayed at campsite H34, where we were now heading to. They described the site as very private. We learned that “very private” in hiker speak means a long, challenging hike off the trail that no one else will stray off-trail to visit.

We booked H33 on Little Mountain Lake and H34 on David Lake. Little Mountain Lake looked really pretty, but I carried on to David Lake. David Lake is a large lake that is part of the portage system. There are several cottages on it that we could see from our site. Again our site was West facing – but this didn’t stop one of our campers from going swimming.

Near dusk two young women canoed by past us. They were returning from hiking Silver Peak. They were staying at portage site 196.

Day 5: Saturday, October 19 (approx. 11km)

We debated adding a trek up Silver Peak to our day, but since 4 of us had already experienced the lookout, we decided to carry on. It was a warm day and the prospect of having a site with sun exposure and swimming was enticing.

We booked both sites on Bunnyrabbit Lake, H45 and H46. I stayed at H45 and did not check out H46. We did have some sun. Our cold water swimmers went in. I waded. I also rinsed my hair for the first time on this hike and enjoyed it immensely.

We didn’t cross paths with any hikers on this day. However, I did hear hikers either ascending or descending just North of Bunny Rabbit Lake.

We believe we saw a bald eagle flying over lake.

Day 6: Sunday, October 20 (6km)

The day’s hike provided stunning views, including that of Manitoulin island. We also passed by Heaven Lake campsite H47. I found this area stunning, but I could see it being windy and cold due to it’s elevation and exposure.

We booked H48 at Proulx Lake and H49 at Little Superior Lake. I stayed at Little Superior. Though it was windy, we had sun exposure. Our cold water swimmer went in several times. I put on my poncho and splashed myself. In the middle of my bathing I heard voices that didn’t belong to our group and then saw two men and their dog swimming off the rocks that were beside our site. This was creepy as they would have had to come through our site to get there. We said hello to each other. They said they were just stopping for a swim. In all fairness our site wasn’t far from the trail, but proper etiquette would have been to let us know of their presence prior to swimming.

I went with two others to explore Proulx Lake. We could see how beautiful its colour was when we passed by it on the main trail. The campsite trail is long and challenging, but the site is gorgeous and so is the lake view. Our swimmer took a dunk there too:)

Because the main trail isn’t too far away from our camp we could hear hikers coming and going and for some reason much regular chatter from the end of the lake where the trail passes along the perimeter. Later, that night we could see lights, hear men’s voices and see poorly lit campfire that they struggled to keep going.

We had a beautiful night stargazing before the clouds came in and were able to see the comet again.

Day 7: Monday, October 21 (approx. 14km)

On our last day, we mobilized and were out of camp by 8:00am. We passed the area where we saw the lights and fire the night before and found 3 men had camped there. They said they were going counter clock-wise and that it had taken them 2 days there (not a campsite). It shouldn’t have taken them 2 days to get to that point, nor should they have camped there. We guessed that they were not registered hikers.

We made it to the famous landmark, “The Crack” and spent some time exploring and admiring the view before heading down the crack- challenging with a 40lb pack. It was good timing. The first of the day hikers had just reached the base of the crack. Even on this off-season Monday, it turned out that the Crack was very busy. We were fortunate to have had it to ourselves and make it to the bottom before the crowds. Later, we passed a large school group among many others.

We still had 7 km to go to reach our car and even with the main attraction behind us, there were still some highlights to be found, including crossing a beaver dam and a beautiful view of Little Shequiandah Lake.

It was 20 degrees when we reach our cars at George Lake. The park had closed the showers on Thursday so we did what most hot, sweaty hikers would do – we jumped in the lake!

We stopped at the Hungry Bear for burgers and milkshakes to fuel our drive back to Toronto.