Petroglyphs

Date: Saturday August 13

Hike Leader: Howard Gibson

Petroglyphs Provincial Park features hiking trails, and the largest known collection of aboriginal rock carvings in Canada.

Directions

These directions are from Google Maps.

  1. Take Highway 401 east, to exit 436 and Highway 115.
  2. Take Highway 115 north towards Lindsay and Peterborough.
  3. Continue to follow Highway 115 until you reach Highway 7.
  4. Turn left, north, onto Highway 28. You should see signs for Lakefield/Highwasy 28 north to Bancroft. To your right, south, is County Road 34, Heritage Line.
  5. After about 15 kilometers, you should pass through South Beach and cross a bridge. Turn right to stay on Highway 28, going north. There should be signs to Bancroft.
  6. You will cross the bridge at Burleigh Falls, then pass Julian Lake on your left. Immediately after this, turn right onto Northeys Bay Rd, Regional Road 56.
  7. Continue to follow Northeys Bay Rd for 11 kilometers.
  8. Turn left into the park. Hopefully, the signs in the park will lead us to the visitor's centre.

The Google Maps directions seems to vary from day to day. It might be worth checking them Saturday morning.

Remarks

Petroglyphs has 14 kilometers of hiking trails of moderate difficulty.

The petroglyphs themselves are in an enclosed area near the visitor's centre. Native people have requested that photographing and videotaping the rock carvings not be permitted for spiritual reasons. You can photograph and video everywhere else.

Après Hike

Dinner in Peterborough.

On the way home, we will stop somewhere to check out the Perseid meteor showers. Out in the country, it will be dark, so we will have a good view of the stars. Bring binoculars.