Photo: Paul Vincent Dimaranan · CC BY 3.0Carling has more protected land around it than nearly 9 in 10 Canadian towns
Georgian Bay Islands National Park is the closest national park, 22 km from town. Within 5 km are 20 beaches; Day Use Beach is the nearest. Protected areas take in 16% of the town itself.
What Carling has going for it outdoors
Each figure against Canadian towns of 2,500+; tap a tile for the detail.
Out of doors, Carling leads with protected land around it, with its beaches close behind.
Each figure for Carling, set against Canadian towns
Each figure against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (not city hubs or reserves), with the town marked and the typical one’s line. This page carries no grade, because Canada’s grading doesn’t cover the outdoors; the comparisons are the point.
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
Carling comes 5th of 40 towns its size for protected land around it
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (1,609 to 2,587 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
Among its peers, Carling’s strong point is protected land nearby, where 4 of 39 top it.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anmore BC | 22% | 47% | 16 | 5 | 98 |
| 2 | Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska QC | 19% | 0% | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Gracefield QC | 19% | 19% | 34 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | East Preston NS | 16% | 6.3% | 20 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | Carling ON | 11% | 16% | 23 | 0 | 20 |
| 6 | Clearwater BC | 7.7% | 4.1% | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | Roberval QC | 6.1% | 1.2% | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague QC | 5.8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | North Frontenac ON | 5.7% | 5.2% | 13 | 6 | 4 |
| 10 | Cap-Chat QC | 5.3% | 0.4% | 13 | 0 | 10 |
| 11 | Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards ON | 4.4% | 1.5% | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| 12 | Saint-Polycarpe QC | 4.2% | 0% | 11 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | Macassa ON | 4.1% | 0% | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | Saint-Damien QC | 4% | 3.2% | 22 | 1 | 9 |
| 15 | Unity SK | 3.4% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Sherwood ON | 3.4% | 0% | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 | McNab SK | 2.6% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | Mandeville QC | 2.5% | 1.8% | 19 | 4 | 7 |
| 19 | Esterhazy SK | 1.8% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | City Commercial Core ON | 1.8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Caswell Hill SK | 1.4% | 0% | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 22 | Fossambault-sur-le-Lac QC | 1.3% | 7.8% | 15 | 0 | 14 |
| 23 | Pembina MB | 1.1% | 1.8% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Burrows-Keewatin MB | 1% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Elmwood AB | 0.8% | 0% | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | Hatley QC | 0.7% | 0% | 9 | 0 | 5 |
| 27 | Munroe West MB | 0.4% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Brooke-Alvinston ON | 0.3% | 0.2% | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Rosedale AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Minchau AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 31 | Lunenburg NS | 0.1% | 0% | 19 | 0 | 5 |
| 32 | Salisbury NB | 0.1% | 2.1% | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Dufferin MB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Ekota AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 35 | Satoo AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 36 | Saint-Éphrem-de-Beauce QC | 0% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 | Magrath AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Nanton AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Rimbey AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Sexsmith AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Where the green is in Carling
Green space, woods, protected areas and footpaths in and around the town.
Few people in Carling live near a park
Residents of each 2021 dissemination area, at a point inside it, within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of a park or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap.
About 1,600 residents live further than 400 m from one. The usual figure for a Canadian town is 83%, above this.
23 protected areas around Carling
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
Of those 23, 11 are public and the remainder private. Biggest of the named areas: The Massasauga Provincial Park, 13,264 ha. 12 areas belong to private owners or land trusts and aren’t named here.
1 more named area within 10 km is in the comparison figures.
Source: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Georgian Bay Islands National Park, 22 km off
National parks (Parks Canada) and provincial or territorial parks by direction and distance from the town’s edge: every one within 10 km, and the nearest of each within 100 km.
Round Lake Provincial Park
Killbear Provincial Park
The Massasauga Provincial Park Addition
The Massasauga Provincial Park
Limestone Islands Provincial Park
Oastler Lake Provincial Park
6 provincial parks lie within 10 km.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
Carling and its edge hold 34 km of footpath
OpenStreetMap footpaths, paths, bridleways and steps, and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it; woods as mapped (landuse=forest, natural=wood).
Footpaths · km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Woods cover more of it than in 87% of Canadian towns. For path density, 89% of Canadian towns do better.
Source: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Mapping varies by place: a dense figure can mean keen local mappers as much as many paths.
No named walking route passes Carling on the map
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
The map shows no named route near the town. That says more about OpenStreetMap’s coverage than about the paths on the ground.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
Carling is best on foot in May to September
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991–2020 normals from Muskoka (88 km), and daylight at the town’s latitude. Good months: 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15–30 °C, little rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°C) | -5 | -3 | 3 | 10 | 18 | 23 | 25 | 24 | 20 | 13 | 5 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 92 | 56 | 72 | 79 | 93 | 86 | 100 | 82 | 102 | 111 | 103 | 87 |
Rain and snow peak in October (111 mm) and ease in February (56 mm). Daytime highs run from -5 °C in January up to 25 °C in July. The climate in Carling →
Carling has 20 beaches close by
Beaches on OpenStreetMap within 5 km of the town’s edge, nearest first, with directions.
Add 16 unnamed beaches to the count. Water quality isn’t shown: there’s no open national record of beach tests. Local health authorities post advisories.
Source: OpenStreetMap (natural=beach), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
3 viewpoints near Carling
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
The most common are campsites: 15 on the map.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 3
Plus 3 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Nature reserves 3
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Campsites 15
Plus 7 campsites without a name on the map.
Slipways 13
Plus 13 slipways without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Next to Carling
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page.
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carling | 11% | 23 | 0 | 20 |
| McDougall 14 km | 10% | 16 | 0 | 9 |
| Parry Sound 17 km | 7.1% | 7 | 0 | 2 |
| The Archipelago 18 km | 14% | 67 | 0 | 8 |
Around Carling, nobody nearby has double its protected land.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Private land. CPCAD includes conservation land held privately; the page counts it and leaves the names out.
- Beaches. Beaches are OpenStreetMap’s, named or not; in the north many are unnamed shoreline imports.
- National and provincial parks. The nearest national park and the nearest provincial park are always shown when they are within 100 km.
- Protected land. The 10 km band starts at the town’s outline, not its centre, so a large municipality reaches further than a small town.
- Walking routes. Only named route relations count; a park’s own path network may not show unless it is mapped as a route.
Questions about the outdoors in Carling
Is Carling near a national park?
Georgian Bay Islands National Park is closest, at 22 km.
What is the largest protected area near Carling?
The Massasauga Provincial Park: 13,264 ha, a provincial park.
When is the best time for walking in Carling?
On the normals, May to September: that is when days are long, highs reach 15 °C and rain is light.
Where can you swim near Carling?
Try Day Use Beach, in town, first of several.
How much land around Carling is protected?
Within 10 km, 11% of the land lies in protected areas.
What is the nearest provincial park to Carling?
Round Lake Provincial Park touches the town.
Where Carling’s outdoors figures come from
Protected areas: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2026: every area within 10 km and the nearest national and provincial parks, measured outline to outline.
Walking routes and beaches: OpenStreetMap, November 2026: named hiking, foot and walking route relations within 2 km and beaches within 5 km.
Towns: Statistics Canada 2021 Census boundaries and populations; the comparison is the Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, not city hubs or reserves.
When to go: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, from the nearest station that publishes them.
Green space, paths, woods, things to do: OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik’s Canada extract), November 2026: parks, gardens, playing fields, woods, footpaths, the coastline and things to do in and around each town.
Residents: Statistics Canada 2021 Census dissemination areas (population, boundaries), each at a point inside it.
Walking routes and beaches © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Not on this page: trailheads and trail grades, and beach water quality. No open Canadian dataset gives these for every town yet.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).