Story
Gibson River Provincial Park is another one of Ontario’s minimalist parks. It’s classified as a nature preserve and offer’s few facilities other than a parking lot. The Five Winds Backcountry Ski Club maintains a trail network throughout the park and beyond, and thanks to the lack of snow this winter it was possible for us to hike the trails without skis or snowshoes in January. The recent freeze/thaw cycles made for some hidden ice in spots, and the warm temperatures meant that the ice wasn’t safe to walk on anywhere, but for the most part the conditions were ideal for hiking.
I wasn’t able to find a map of the trails prior to our trip, but the Five Winds club does make a map available to their members. I believe that I met one of the members last fall as he was marking the trails from the Nine Mile Lake access point, and he showed me his map then. The trails are quite extensive and I wouldn’t consider my GPS track log representative of the network at all. Furthermore there are areas where the blazes are difficult to follow and we did bushwhack a couple of times during the course of our trip so there are a few sections that aren’t the right way to go.
I had heard reports from other hikers that the trails were at times difficult to follow, and we did have some difficulty identifying blazes in a few locations, but for the most part it was easier than I expected to stay on the marked trail. We were assisted by the trail of geocaches that I was finding (or rather not finding). We had to cross a few boggy areas but none of the trails took us over the dangerous deeper water. We crossed one beaver dam in the smaller hydro corridor, and we went through thin ice several times, once in a bog, but more frequently in puddles collected in the low points of the trail.
The terrain we traversed is similar to the nearby McCrae Lake Conservation Trail, but it has a different character. A lot of the area we traversed was swampy and boggy, but there was one section with nice granite ridge tops that were littered with light grey erratics. I would say that the trail closer to the Bay is a bit more scenic but it’s very hard to compare with a trail that I’ve only hiked in the summer.
The high point of our hike was the visit to Long Falls. Long Falls are located outside of the park along the Gibson River. The river was running quite quickly and the falls were very scenic. We followed our intended trail to the falls but we took an ATV trail on the way out that we discovered when we had made a wrong turn earlier in the day. The snow covered most of the scars left by the ATVs except for a few large puddles where the quads had really bogged out. It wasn’t quite as demanding as the way we went in, but by that time of day I don’t think any of us minded [:)].
Tips
Gibson River Provinical Park is quite remote with very little infrastructure so it is a destination if you’re looking for a wilderness experience. That said there are a few things that take away from the feeling of remoteness.
- There is a large hydro corridor adjacent to the park, and an extensive set of OFSC snowmobile trails run through this area. The hydro corridor is quite barren visually and the trails must have quite a bit of traffic at times. We heard a few sleds, but didn’t see any.
- There is a smaller hydro corridor that runs through the park.
- There’s at least one ATV trail that runs through the park itself (in flagrant disregard for the parks nature preserve status). In summer this trail is probably pretty unsightly with deep ruts cut where quads get stuck.
Other considerations when visiting the area:
- Large areas of the park are quite boggy and marshy so expect to donate a few litres of blood to flying parasites if you visit in the spring.
- No camping is allowed within the park itself, but it is allowed on the adjacent crown land. There are portages along the Gibson River around the rapids. That said I hear that the river is a difficult trip when water levels are low.