silent lake provincial park

When my parents were dating, my Dad found silent lake, and would take my Mum on trips there. Once us kids came into the picture, they would pack us up every year and off we'd go. Sometimes just me and Dad and the families he worked with. I have so many wonderful memories of this place. When I was a teen we got a trailer and would still go there. Now us kinds are grown, and I've decided I'm going to keep going every year for my birthday, and now my sister always joins me! This place is so special, and so peaceful.We always stay in the Pincer Bay campground, as its closer to the water. Last year a bunch of us rented canoes/kayaks and went off and found another small lake it feeds into. It was so cool, hearing our echo, and finding the access way in the tall grass. The lake is amazing both night and day. At night you can sometimes see the steam coming off of it.The cost of firewood adds is my only complaint, but if you venture far enough you can find enough deadfall to make up for it.Using the showers (at pincer bay station) is always an adventure (temp wise), but adventure is the name of the game. I haven't hiked all the trails yet, but hopefully this year!

Swimming, hiking, skiing, snowshoeing or just relaxing at your campsite, this is a great place to be.

I have been to Silent Lake about four times now, it is absolutely beautiful & I strongly recommend it if you are looking for a Provincial Park to visit.If you prefer a drive to site I suggest Granite Ridge, that portion of the park is much nicer than Pincher Bay. The shower & bathroom area was redone in the summer of 2013. We have stayed in a walk-in site twice now, only about a five minute walk from the parking lot & well worth it for couples or friends to avoid little kids. Fishing is always great, beautiful look-outs along the hiking trails. We always bring our own canoe but there are places to rent canoes, life jackets, etc. I strongly recommend renting a canoe if you don't have one! You can't truly experience the beauty of the park without one! So nice to have a place without boats! There are sandy beaches, but they are usually over-run with kids. You're best to canoe out to an island & swim there. I've seen a few reviews complaining about bugs & unwanted visitors. I'm going to assume these people do not live in cottage country. Just make sure you have lots of bug spray throughout the early summer, they usually go away after about 9pm.

We were visiting this place for the first time and it was a blast! Crystal clear water, amazing scenery and a breath taking sunset...Adults and children alike enjoyed the sandy beach, wonderful rocky shores, fishing and amazing hiking trails.

We loved this park. We stayed in the walk-in area, but it was less than a 5 minute hike to our campsite and the small walk was definitely worth being a little further away from the main campground and a little closer to the water. Our campsite was on the edge of a marsh but we weren't bothered by bugs (maybe because we visited end of August). You could hear families with kids, but that's to be expected when you're basically car camping.The beach was small but did the job - if you're looking for a large beach then this might not be the campground for you.The closest toilets were port-a-potties, but after a further 2 minute walk there were flush toilets (literally right across the road from the parking lot). The lake was beautiful. Little islands with benches for those who can get to them, a good size for paddling around (it didn't feel crowded albeit we mainly went out early in the morning or closer to sunset - likely after most of the rental canoes/kayaks had been returned), and since motorboats aren't allowed we could paddle until late dusk and not worry about being hit. Really looking forward to returning and checking out the hike that goes around the lake.

Great welcome by the lady at the office. We were stopping for a short while and she was happy to let us park up. Beatiful lake with amazing views/ Wish we had known how pretty it was as we would have stopped with the RV for the night.Information provided for the local area, even provided us with bin bags to cover us when the heavens opened when we'd left the jackets in the RV.

We spent two nights there and we definitely will come back. The sites are quite large and a second car would easily fit there. We like the fact that it is very easy to access the beaches ( there are two of them). We rented a canoe for an hour and spent time hiking through dense forests. The staff is friendly and helpful. The store is open until 10 pm, which is very convenient, especially if you run out of fire wood or ice.The washrooms are clean and there is a shower facility as well. There is a lot of wild life there including chipmunks, deers, loons and other birds. We even heard an owl at night time. There are no motor boats allowed on the lake, so it is really relaxing to be there. The only feature that needs to be improved are better trail markings. We spent on one of the trails much more time then we expected because there was no indication on the map nor at the trail entrance about the length/difficulty.

I had stayed in a yurt here a few years ago and wanted to show it to my boyfriend and his father since we were in the area. We drove up, I explained (to the very friendly and understanding) ranger that we just wanted to look around for a few minutes. He was very helpful and gave us a complimentary pass so we could take a quick drive through. I'd forgotten how large it is. Lots of families camping, biking, going to the beach. Beautifully quiet and green. We took a drive down to the water and walked over to the beach. It's a small, shallow beach, but nice for what we like. You could see the rocks across the way, with a bench overlooking the water. Peaceful and tranquil. Will definitely be back - even if for just a day trip!

This was first time to this park. Drive was beautiful and through small roads but I prefer highway drive to camping. Staff was great and helpful. Watch for wet firewood. Firewood was soaking wet! beach was very small but fairly clean. Now the bugs: we were on sites 59, 60, 61 & 65. These had dense trees, bushes, small streams, and small puddles all around. Bugs were very very nasty, even during the day as there was very little sun coming through the trees. Overall great park but try to avoid area around these sites.

No Grass Lots to be had !!!Lots of Standing water and swamps around multiple lotsMosquitos GaloreVery little parking at the beach for the number of available sites so couldn't visit the beach on 3 attempts since I couldn't park and I couldn't walk with all beach stuff !!!Beaches areas are way too small for the number of sitesVery Hilly campground... Very difficult to bike or walk Two flush comfort stations not near campsites.. the other are NO Flush.. but cleanDo not go if there is rain in the forecast.. you trip will be a disaster !!!

I keep coming back to Silent Lake over and over again. The park is about a 3-hour drive from Toronto, and even the drive is enjoyable. The lake is great for paddling; ban on motorized boats makes it quite (hence the name). Hiking is great too. The trail around the lake is fairly challenging, with a few good look-out spots. Although there are a couple of places along the trail that need some maintenance.The new bathroom in the day use area are such an improvement! Individual stalls are big enough to work as changing areas after swimming.

I've been to quite a few provincial parks, and camped at most of the parks I've visited. This park is very beautiful and the fact that it's a motor free lake is wonderful because it is so quiet. The lake is great for paddling a canoe or kayak on and they are both available for rent through the park at very reasonable rates.The sites themselves are very nice. Generally well treed, without too much sunlight and are nestled away in lovely forested slopes.Unfortunately, as lovely as this park is I think it needs a little TLC. When I was there last year there was a boil water advisory notice that said the park would be installing filtration systems "soon". Well, it's a year later and "soon" still hasn't happened yet. The washrooms for the walk in sites 74-84 are out of order. There are port-o-potties at the parking lot and it's not too far a walk to the washrooms for the other walk in sites, but in the dark it is a very far walk.On top of that the parking lot for the walk in sites doesn't have clearly marked parking spots. Sadly, people cannot be trusted to park with any sense what so ever. There was one giant truck that was parked over a meter away from the curb and with about a half car space on either side making it difficult to get to the back few spaces in the lot. Most of the cars parked there left about a half car space between each other. If people parked more efficiently it would really make everything easier for other guests. I saw one couple have a very hard time getting in around the previously mentioned truck and eventually they gave up and parked at the lot for the other walk in campsites. The other thing that was annoying was that I rented a kayak from the front gate at the park (the kiosk by the lake is only open in the summer) and when I got to the lake the lock marked "Kayak 1" was empty, and the kayak marked "K1" was locked in the "Kayak 8" lock. I had to return to the front gate and exchange the key. Obviously this is not a problem with the park or it's staff but the guests, but either way it is annoying. The gate staff were very understanding and the time spent going back and forth was not reflected in the cost of the rental.I had booked a walk in site since I had read that it's generally quieter than the regular campsites. This was definitely not true of the weekend I was there. I'm not sure if that's the norm, or if I just got lucky.Overall, it's a lovely park that's very easy to get to from Toronto. The staff were all friendly and very helpful, and it isn't even very far to run into town if you've forgotten anything. Despite the parks issues I'd still say it's worth a visit even just to paddle around on the lake or visit the beach.

We've been going to Silent Lake for over twenty five years now. The lake(s) are all motor-free, the noise limits are for the most part enforced at night and the property is all-around Ontario at it's best. Whether you take advantage of the walk-in sites or use one of the vehicle accessible ones, the Lake is never far away. The water is absolutely fantastic, so if your family loves the water you won't find many provincial parks within a 3 hour drive from the GTA that can equal Silent Lake for it's overall offering.

I've been to several parks (approaching 60) in Ontario as we are hitting all of them up. Anyhow I can honestly say I was less than impressed. I guess I was expecting more since all of the reviews were positive and I've even read good reviews in blogs and books about this place. I just don't get it... Not that great!The park itself seemed like they were mostly walk ins, lots of sites were surrounded by marsh and the bugs were horrific!The park looked like it was dying, so much broken trees, soggy ground cover, it just felt old withered and dated.Perhaps I'm missing something. It was indeed rustic, but not pretty on the eyes at all. Most un appealing parks I've been to yet since Presquille.

The Lakeshore Hiking Trail at Silent Lake Provincial Park is absolutely beautiful, especially in the late summer/early fall. I went in September for a hike when the leaves were just changing, for a few hours. I enjoyed a relaxing hike on the moderately rugged trail, which was not crowded. You can do all 15 kilometers or do a portion and turn around. You can enjoy wildlife, a waterfall and several scenic lookouts onto Silent Lake. I recommend bringing a camera, as I saw a crane, squirrels, chipmunks and various birds. Whether you like photographing the rugged Canadian Shield landscape, wildlife or both, you'll love Silent Lake Provincial Park!