What to do and see in Northeastern Ontario, Northeastern Ontario: The Best Hidden Gems Things to do

March 23, 2022 Velvet Champine

Discover the best top things to do in Northeastern Ontario, United States including Board's Honey Farm, Off the Beaten Track, Perivale Gallery, Bearly Used Books, Temagami Fire Tower, Kicking Mule Ranch, Bay Used Books, Killarney Provincial Park, French River Provincial Park, Cup and Saucer Trail.
Restaurants in Northeastern Ontario

1. Board's Honey Farm

6866 534 Hwy, Restoule, Ontario P0H 1W0 Canada +1 888-363-2827 https://www.facebook.com/BoardsHoneyFarm/
Excellent
79%
Good
21%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 14 reviews

Board's Honey Farm

2. Off the Beaten Track

Excellent
88%
Good
9%
Satisfactory
3%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 33 reviews

Off the Beaten Track

Develop a taste of the beautiful escarpments, hidden beaches, local trails, as well as indulging in local cuisine and drink. Off the Beaten Track adventure tourism packages will focus on exploring Northeastern Ontario located in North Bay Ontario in a way that is authentic, affordable and unique.

1320 Perivale Rd E, Spring Bay, Ontario P0P 2B0 Canada +1 705-377-4847 [email protected] http://www.perivalegallery.com
Excellent
92%
Good
4%
Satisfactory
3%
Poor
1%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 164 reviews

Perivale Gallery

Follow Perivale Road East from Spring Bay. Perivale Gallery offers a feast for the senses along the beautiful southeastern shore of Lake Kagawong. Representing exceptional contemporary Canadian fine artists, sculptors and artisans for over 38 years, this eclectic exhibition of original work in a variety of media and styles, is ever-changing and evolving and worth several visits over the season. Open weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) from the May holiday until mid June, then DAILY (10-5) until mid-September.

Reviewed By 598cathym - Britt, Canada

What a treasure Perivale Gallery is! We have been wanting to visit for some time now, and finally had the opportunity yesterday. Well curated and represented, the gallery provides the work a host of diverse artists and artisans. The North is prominently on display in various forms: wall art, sculpture, jewelry, pottery.... all worthy of a second, third look, and even permanent gazing in the perfect spot in your home. The gardens at Perivale are equally impressive. Stroll through and the peaceful serenity will envelop you. If you are on the beautiful island Manitoulin, stop in. If you are not, make the trip ... it is so worth it!

4. Bearly Used Books

15 James St, Parry Sound, Ontario P2A 1T4 Canada +1 705-746-4731 [email protected] http://www.bearlyusedbooks.ca/2009/08/welcome-to-bearly-used-books-only-place.html
Excellent
94%
Good
6%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 67 reviews

Bearly Used Books

175,000+ Used Books All On One Level In The Heart Of Downtown Parry Sound! Fiction, Non-fiction And Everything In-Betweeen!

Reviewed By jennifercY3539QN

Our kids look forward to stopping into this amazing & magical book store in Parry Sound. Since they were small we’ve been making the trip on the way to our camp site at Killbear. Absolutely worth the trip!

5. Temagami Fire Tower

Caribou Mountain, Temagami, Ontario Canada http://www.temagami.ca/pagesmith/66
Excellent
77%
Good
23%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 43 reviews

Temagami Fire Tower

Reviewed By carolcC4661IE

While camping at Marten River provincial park, we took a drive to Temagami and climbed the fire tower in town. We'll worth the effort. A spectacular view of the area.

6. Kicking Mule Ranch

101 Gauthier Rd, Tehkummah, Ontario P0P 2C0 Canada +1 705-859-1234 http://www.manitoulin-island.com/kmr/
Excellent
87%
Good
11%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
2%
Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 53 reviews

Kicking Mule Ranch

Reviewed By bebetanne

Animals for petting:Rabbits,Goats,Mules,Chickens And some exotic Birds. Horseback riding with Instruction available.Staff is great.Entertaining for young and old.

7. Bay Used Books

124 Elm St, Sudbury, Ontario P3C 1T6 Canada +1 705-673-9311 [email protected] http://bayusedbooks.com
Excellent
78%
Good
22%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 27 reviews

Bay Used Books

8. Killarney Provincial Park

960 Highway #637, Killarney, Ontario P0M 2A0 Canada +1 705-287-2900 http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/killarney
Excellent
78%
Good
17%
Satisfactory
3%
Poor
1%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 363 reviews

Killarney Provincial Park

Reviewed By ItsaSunshineyDay

Great Provincial Park with awesome hiking trails with gorgeous panoramic views!! Fall colours are spectacular!!

9. French River Provincial Park

Ontario P0M 1A0 Canada +1 705-857-3228 http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/frenchriver
Excellent
64%
Good
30%
Satisfactory
4%
Poor
0%
Terrible
2%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 53 reviews

French River Provincial Park

Reviewed By Canadian_Guy1000 - Toronto, Canada

I’ve always considered the French River area to be one of the most beautiful places to go canoeing and camping, so my friend and I were quite thrilled to it again. It was very hot and sunny and we were aware of the fire ban—well, we had to forgo sitting around a campfire in the evenings, but it was not the first (and last) time I had to deal with fire bans. We left Hartley Bay around 4:00 pm and soon reached Wanapitei Bay and paddled towards its western shore. The campsites along that shore appeared to be vacant, but we kept paddling until we reached the ‘intersection’ of the Main & Western Channels. First, we checked out campsite #617, where I had camped 9 years ago. It was nice, offered a breathtaking view, but we could not find a good spot for the tents (except on the small beach facing east—and I really like watching sunsets). Besides, it was quite windy and we were incessantly attacked by horse flies. We saw blueberries bushes with very few tiny, dry and bitter blueberries. We paddled to campsite #618 across the river, but it was occupied. So we continued paddling on the Western Channel for several minutes until we arrived at campsite #619. The campsite was not perfect, but since it was very humid, sunny and hot (over +30 C), my friend was extremely reluctant to keep paddling any father. The campsite faced west and at least we could admire sunsets! It had nice rock formation and a fire pit already full of wood. There was a spot for at least one tent near the fire pit, but we decided to set up our tents on the small ‘beach’, farther down from the fire pit. By the way, we could see that probably during the spring thaw the width of the river increased by up to 10 meters—there were sandy deposits even in the forest. Well, we hoped that during our trip the river was not going to suddenly become as big as to flood our campsite—unless there was a huge rainfall or the dam near Lake Nipissing burst! Although we were not aware of any issues with pesky bears this summer, we still decided to hang our food. The problem was finding the right tree in the forest, not an easy task considering swarms of voracious horse/deer flies and mosquitos. Supposedly the food should be hanging over 30 meters from the tents; in our case, after almost one hour, we managed to hang the barrel with the food and the cooler about… 3 meters from the tents. I guess it’s still better than NOT hanging it at all… By the way, I again appreciated the bear-proof bins installed on some campsites in the Massasauga Provincial Park—I wish all parks had such bins. The campsite had several rock formations, which were perfect for sitting or relaxing. However, it was quite exposed and it was difficult to find shade—we had to keep relocating our chairs all the time. Another issue was boat traffic—not far from us was Atwood Lodge (on Atwood Island) as well as other cottages, so plenty of motorboats (including, on a couple of occasions, a barge carrying construction equipment and building materials) were passing by all day. From time to time we saw canoes and kayaks too. At night we could sometimes hear trains’ whistles. It was our intention to do as much fishing as possible, but the hot, sunny & humid weather prevented us from paddling during the day, it would have been too arduous. So we ended up spending most of the time sitting at the campsite, relaxing, talking and reading books. Fishing from the campsite during the day did not bring any results. A couple of times we took the canoe for an evening paddle around Atwood Island and nearby bays. In no time we caught several pikes—some of them we had to release due to the size limits (we were not permitted to keep those between 53 and 86 cm in size). Unfortunately, when we brought the fish to our campsite to clean & fry, we encountered another problem: MOSQUITOES! They became very active after 8:00 pm and while my friend was cleaning the fish, I had to wave a towel to chase them off, but due to their huge numbers, it didn’t do much good. But the worst was yet to come: when I was frying the fish (on my propane stove, of course), a huge, dense CLOUD of mosquitos appeared and they were all over me and the frying pan, it was absolutely horrendous! Even though I did spray myself with a DEET-based insect repellent, it did not help much: while the mosquitoes were not biting me, they were getting into my eyes, ears and mouth. As soon as the fish was ready, we hastily ate it, with our headlamps on, standing close to the shore and still being attacked by multitudes of hungry mosquitoes. I’ve been camping for tens of years and it was the second time I encountered so many mosquitos. We quickly went to our tents and could hear the continuous buzzing outside for at least another hour. We decided to skip fishing in the evenings—even if we caught any fish, it was impossible to clean & eat them. One night we were fishing from our campsite and apparently caught a catfish—but it must have been very big because the 35 lb. fishing line snapped. Regarding horse flies, I found a perfect solution to get rid of them. Namely, I taped a sticky patch (from Canadian Tire) to the top of my hat. Because horse flies are somehow compelled to sit on the top of one’s head, the patch made the perfect landing strip… and once they sat on it, they stayed there… forever! Without exaggeration, this method eliminated 95%+ of flies. We didn’t see or notice any bigger animals on our campsite, not even a squirrel. Once I found a garter snake near my tent’s entrance—I gently grabbed it and moved to the forest. The next day my friend saw another garter snake, much bigger, near the water. As we were watching, it suddenly jumped towards a small frog, but it escaped. We also saw several birds circling above our campsite. It was mainly turkey vultures, looking for carrion. While fishing, we spotted several blue herons and loved observing them majestically taking off, flying and landing. On one occasion I saw a falcon and a blue jay. And we often heard invisible woodpeckers in the forest. On the sixth day the weather became somehow peculiar—layers of darker clouds moved in, but it did not rain and we could still see regular clouds behind them. Soon, we noticed—and later smelled—patches of smoke. Obviously, there was a fire going on somewhere! The sun, shrouded by the smoke, appeared unusually red. The next day the sky looked similar, leaden and full of smoke. We thought that the fire was very far from us and we were even planning to go fishing later afternoon as the sun was much less intense. Then before noon a park boat arrived at our campsite with an assistant superintendent (the same one that we had met 3 years ago, in 2015) and another park employee. We were told that a major fire had been raging in the Key River area for two days and that there was mandatory evacuation of all campers, cottagers and visitors, so we had to immediately pack up and head to Hartley Bay Marina. Within one hour we were on the water. From Wanapitei Bay we could see the smoke in the south. There was a chopper flying above us. Soon we noticed many other kayaks, canoes and motorboats, all proceeding towards the marina. The park boat once again approached our canoe and the warden took down our campsite permit’s number, to keep record of those campers who were safely leaving the area. Once we reached Hartley Bay Marina, we quickly packed the car, put the canoe on the car and left the loading area to let other people use it—and indeed, it was a very busy place, teeming with campers and boaters forced to cut short their vacation! At the entrance to the marina we were stopped by local firefighters who asked us to write down our names—that we had safely left. While driving on Hartley Bay road, the smoke was getting more visible. There was a police cruiser at the end of the road, making sure nobody was going back towards Georgian Bay. As we were driving to Grundy Lake Provincial Park on highway 69, the smoke became much thicker; it was like driving in a dense fog. All cars slowed down and had their lights on. Luckily, Grundy Lake Park was still open and we managed to get a campsite (it was Saturday)—and since the smoke had not reached the park, I could air out my car to get rid of the ‘burning’ smell. Sixteen days later (August 5, 2018) the fire, called “Parry Sound 33”, was still quite active and it turned out to be one of the major fires in Ontario, scorching over 11 thousand hectares. It is so sad to see so much damage! Out of my approximately 15 camping & canoeing trips on the French River, this one was the least successful due to the sweltering weather, fire ban, clouds of mosquitos and finally the evacuation that cut our vacation short. Of course, such inconveniences did not change my opinion on the French River—it was still my favorite place to come camping and canoeing! Well, it was another adventure and I’m looking forward to visiting this outstanding park again and again in the future.

10. Cup and Saucer Trail

Bidwell Road at the junction of Hwy 540 and Bidwell Rd, Ontario Canada +1 416-960-8121 http://www.ontariotrails.on.ca/trails/view/cup-saucer-trail
Excellent
66%
Good
26%
Satisfactory
5%
Poor
1%
Terrible
2%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 296 reviews

Cup and Saucer Trail

Reviewed By ian24241964 - Toronto, Canada

Great walk and beautiful view. The path is wide open with very few tricky spots for the walk. 4 or 5 great views from the top overlooking the whole north side of the island.

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