The Killarney Traverse
A 72-hour ski and snowshoe trip across Ontario's Killarney Provincial Park
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The fire roars, crackling and melting the snow around it. In our nook of tall hemlock and pines the breeze of the wind is a far away thought. We hear the howling and yipping of a wolf pack in the near distance. Around us the temperature is dropping as night advances, but we’re closely embraced by the light and warmth of the fire, swapping stories of adventure and reminiscing on the last three days of travel across frozen lakes and snowy ridge lines. Conditions have been perfect and travel relatively easy. All that’s left is a short ski to our pickup location in the morning to complete our traverse of Killarney Provincial Park.
Killarney is revered as one of Ontario’s most beautiful parks due to the stunning white quartzite La Cloche Mountains. Believed at one time to have been higher than the modern rocky mountains, these ancient hills are a fraction of the height they were, but still boast some of the steepest terrain and highest elevations in the province. Where elevated exposed sections of rock intertwine with picturesque northern forests, lakes, bogs and sugar bush, people from across the world explore the many facets of the park each year in the summer, but only a seldom few explore it in the winter.
Killarney is revered as one of Ontario’s most beautiful parks due to the stunning white quartzite La Cloche Mountains.
Eric Batty, a former professional mountain biker, arborist and adventurer, has been drawn to Killarney’s topography for years. He’s paddled the many lakes of the park with his family, ran the 78km La Cloche Trail in 9 hours and 25 minutes (which was at the time the FKT), and even skied select lines down various hills and cliffs in Killarney’s backcountry. For years he’s eyed a route across the park from West to East in the winter. Intrigued by compelling contours and a sense of adventure, Eric worked on a route that navigates large sections of trail-less bush as opposed to conventional portages to connect both sides of the park - something a bit more off-the-beaten-path.
In 2021, Eric and his Expeditions Ontario teammate, multi-sport athlete Ryan Atkins attempted the route. With wet, heavy, slushy snow sticking to their skis and open water making the route impassible, they bailed and opted to head to an other area of the park to find skiable lines.
Four-years later, it’s time for another attempt.
We keep an eye on the weather as we drive north. We’ve already postponed the trip by a day in order to avoid starting in the rain. We’re hopeful that the rain will flatten this year’s heavy snowpack, build a hard crust on top of it, and then turn to light snow before we strap our skis on in the morning. We’re already off to a rough start. Buck Miller, one of Eric’s Expedition Ontario teammates, is sick with the flu. That shrinks our team down from four to three, leaving myself, Eric and Kevin Ashforth to complete the journey.
Buck is waiting for us in Gravenhurst with a set of Altais Hok Skis. Despite how he’s feeling, he's still making the trip to make sure ours starts out smoothly.
We pick up the skis, pick up Kev, and make our way north to the town of Espanola. The night is spent packing, rearranging gear, reading maps, and getting everything ready for three nights in the bush.
In the morning we look outside. It’s much colder out than the day before and yesterday’s rain has turned the ground into a sheet of ice. Wet ice will be a huge hinderance for our skis. A light dusting of snow is coming down, hopefully enough to prevent the skins on our skis from getting soaked.
Day One: 20km Frood Lake to the East end of Nellie Lake
Across lakes and through portages…
After a reconnaissance trip to Willisville where a friendly local gave us a place to park the truck for a few days, it’s time to set off. We load our toboggans, strap on our skis and hit the trail down to the lake. The good news is that the deep snow that sat on top of the lake a week earlier is gone, the bad news is, it’s been replaced by slush.
We remove our skis and start trekking across the ice. The sun peaks out every now and again from behind the clouds. Spirits are high, the terrain is beautiful, and we make good time pressing forward. The slush gives way to more solid ice and snow and we swap to snowshoes. Not much further, the ice is covered by a thin coating of snow and we swap to skis. The going is fast, fun and easy. We clear Frood lake in no time.
The end of the lake gives way to a portage into Grace Lake. We put on our snowshoes and begin pulling our sleds through. Eric and Kev are equipped with long, light snowshoes, mine are better suited for mountaineering. Protected by the trees, the snowpack in the bush is still deep. Sometimes the crust holds our weight, sometimes we sink down to our waists. My snowshoes, which don’t distribute my weight as well as Eric and Kev’s, prove to have a tendency to sink. It makes for some good laughs. Postholing sucks, but there’s no need to let it change my mood, how many people get to do a trip like this in the winter? A few f-bombs slip out of my mouth, but for the most part, we’re all having a blast.
Out of the portage, we strap on our skis and make our way across Grace Lake. We decide to keep our skis on for the next portage into Nellie Lake, enjoying sections of smooth skiing before emerging from the bush with the wind at our backs. These are optimal skiing conditions. We make our way to camp, enjoying stunning vistas of the La Cloche Mountains as the sun begins to drop in the sky behind us.
We make camp just as the sun falls below the horizon. It’s time to enjoy a warm fire. We prepare dinner and fill our water bottles all while looking up at the steep start of tomorrow’s four-kilometre bushwhack that will take us up and over one of the La Cloche ranges.
Day Two: 17km Nellie Lake to East end of Killarney Lake
With over 6km of bushwhacking up and over the La Cloche Mountains
We eat breakfast, pack up, and prepare for what could be the crux of the journey: four kilometres of trekking on snowshoes through terrain we would have to navigate based on reading contour lines on a map. Eric has all but memorized the map over the years, and has a good idea of what the best way up and over the range is based on contour lines alone. We start up the steep, trail-less slope, following a stream until it changes directions and starts flowing down towards Three Narrows Lake.
The wolves are howling again. We’ve processed enough wood to enjoy the fire for the rest of the night. Eric asks Kev and I about our favourite part of the trip. We both pause and think back. My mind instantly returns to the four-kilometre portage we did at the start of day two. We climbed steep terrain, made our way through a beautiful gully with huge rock encasing us on either side, saw a waterfall rip down the side of the cliff deep in the middle of the trail-less bush that most people who visit Killarney may never see in their lives, and enjoyed unbelievable ski conditions through a stunning sugarbush down onto Three Narrows Lake. Once voiced, we all agreed that trek was one of the highlights of our trip. It was adventure, off-the-beaten path fun, navigating based on knowledge of the terrain. It was a type of travel that took us back to the days before most corners of the world were mapped, when part of the thrill of life was journeying into the unknown.
We stop, grab water and snacks, and begin preparing for our ski across Three Narrows Lake. The bushwhack took longer than expected, and we still have a ways to go before finishing the day.
Besides spotting a wolf off in the distance, lake travel is uneventful. We look around at the beautiful views, enjoy the peaceful heat of the midday sun, and make our way further across the park. Towards the end of the lake, we reach our first true obstacle, extremely thin ice in a narrow that would give way under our weight. We haul our sleds up and over the land and make our way onto safer ice on the other side of the narrow.
Snowshoes on, we make our way through another slow-going portage towards Killarney Lake, swapping to skis once the terrain begins to trend downwards. Eric spots a fresh wolf kill off the side of the trail.
You have the opportunity to see so much more in the winter. With less foot traffic, easy tracking and no foliage to compete with, it’s easy to get a glimpse of the hidden world around you.
The skiing is fantastic, keeping moral high as we make our way back onto the ice. Immediately we look up and see the infamous “Crack” viewpoint that visitors flock to every year in Killarney. An easy ski east on Killarney Lake brings us to camp.
We set up camp and cook with more light left in the sky than the day before. We relax as the sun goes down, waiting for stars to emerge over the La Cloche Mountains before calling it a night.
I take off my boots and socks and prop them up on sticks next to the fire to dry out. We only have one more short travel day left in the morning, but I figure I may as well dry them out as much as possible. A step in the wrong spot on the first day soaked my boots through - all part of the fun.
In the winter, once your gear is wet, it’s tough to dry it out. The freeze-thaw cycle leaves a never-ending dampness. That’s why minimizing sweat (and avoiding water) is so important. Your only available heat sources are fire, sunlight and body movement.
Sitting around the fire, we all swap stories of previous adventures, mishaps and things we’ve learned along the way.
Day Three: 13km Killarney Lake to East end of Johnnie Lake
Up and over the La Cloche Mountains again
For the second morning in a row, I save putting on my wet boots for last. Once I’m in them, it’s time to go. We make our way across beautiful terrain all morning. We cross creeks, look at the map together and choose the options we think will be the best-going. We crawl under giant fallen trees, climb over smaller ones, navigate steep hills and sections of open water.
We spot lynx tracks everywhere, and by mid-day, we’re looking up at another steep climb through the bush, up and over the La Cloche Silhouette Trail and down into Bunnyrabbit Lake. Deep snow and a steep incline make every step effortful, but the views are worth it. Slowly we reach the ridge line and get nearly a 360° view of the La Cloche Mountains. We decide to stop for lunch here and explore sections of the trail. It’s relatively deep snow all around. Full of food and water and enjoying the heat of the midday sun, I feel overwhelmingly relaxed.
Our descent into Bunnyrabbit Lake, featuring deep snow, rocks and snags, is a blast. We each take our own route, dropping down through the bush, making our way towards a stunning Hemlock grove before reaching the lake.
On the west side of the lake, we stop to admire the ice-covered rock, rock carved by receding glaciers long ago, then move towards the our final section of bushwhacking. Once cleared, with a mix of travel mostly on lakes and one short portage, we reach the end of Johnnie Lake. We still have a short way to go tomorrow morning, but for the most part, we’ve traversed Killarney Provincial Park in the winter.
The flames start to die out leaving behind only embers. We’re warm, cracking jokes and chatting about everything and anything that comes to mind. It’s one of the best moments of the trip. It’s the reason we do these sorts of things together, and not always alone. To share a journey with people is special. You share the moments, places and experiences that nobody else will completely understand. After three full-days on the trail, we have plenty of those.
Day Four: Johnnie Lake to the Highway
A relatively easy ski out to the road
Although we have a short ski left, there’s an overwhelming feeling that the adventure is already over. Despite not-yet crossing the park boundary, it feels as though we’ve already traversed the park.
Lost in my thoughts, I enjoy the ski out as I would a ski back home. I take in the sights and sounds. We locate wolf tracks, linking them to the howls we heard the night before. We notice plenty of other tracks as we make our way towards our pick-up spot.
For a few more moments I enjoy the smell of the forest, watching the tall pines sway in the breeze, listening to the sound of a bird hidden in the branches of a far-away tree.
The road comes into view. We finish the traverse, take a photo altogether, and wait for our pickup from Killarney Outfitters.
Just like that we were back in the truck.
Eric turns back to Kev and I and says, “would you do it again right now for $10,000?”
Trips like this don’t happen without the vision and planning of someone like Eric. It was a huge honour to join Eric and Kev on trail, and for Eric to take us on a phenomenal route he’s spent the time to map out. I learned a ton and have plenty of motivation to start putting together some of my dream trips/expeditions. Thanks Eric and Kev for an amazing trip!
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Killarney Provincial Park is such a gem in Ontario. If you enjoyed this story, consider making a donation to the Friends of Killarney Provincial Park. Also make sure to follow Expeditions Ontario on Facebook and Instagram so you can stay up to date on what Eric and Buck have planned. Their expeditions always support charities. So far they’ve raised over $25,000 for True North Aid. Keep up to date with Eric on instagram and check out his photography on his website.
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My good friends at Wakewater supplied us with some hydration powders for the journey. When you’re pushing for 8+ hours a day every calorie and element of nutrition makes a difference. Thank you to Scott Currie for the support.
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Thank you to the team at Killarney Outfitters for our pickup and ride back to the truck.