Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places match North Kawartha for protected land nearby: more than 9 in 10 Canadian towns
Protected areas take in 36% of the town itself. Walkers have 3 mapped routes close by, starting with the Silent Lake Provicial Park and The Legacy Trail. 4 beaches are mapped within 5 km, the nearest Chandos Lake Public Beach.
Where North Kawartha stands out outdoors
Each figure against Canadian towns of 2,500+; tap a tile for the detail.
Above all, North Kawartha offers protected land around it, with protected land inside its own boundary close behind.
North Kawartha against other 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.
Among 40 towns its size, North Kawartha ranks 4th for protected land within 10 km
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (3,298 to 3,412 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
North Kawartha beats most towns its size for protected land nearby; 3 of 39 do better.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saint-Jean-Port-Joli QC | 52% | 0.7% | 30 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Pictou NS | 24% | 0.5% | 7 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Division No. 19, Unorganized MB | 22% | 24% | 57 | 0 | 65 |
| 4 | North Kawartha ON | 18% | 36% | 20 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | Sables-Spanish Rivers ON | 14% | 9.7% | 10 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Atholville NB | 12% | 3.1% | 24 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | Kensington, Part 1 PE | 11% | 0.9% | 21 | 11 | 6 |
| 8 | Cumberland County, Subdivision A NS | 10% | 24% | 90 | 1 | 10 |
| 9 | Portneuf QC | 9.8% | 0.2% | 29 | 5 | 6 |
| 10 | Inverness County, Subdivision C NS | 8.2% | 6.3% | 181 | 3 | 13 |
| 11 | Sheet Harbour NS | 7.7% | 7.8% | 124 | 2 | 17 |
| 12 | Saint-André-d'Argenteuil QC | 7.4% | 7.4% | 46 | 0 | 3 |
| 13 | Central Okanagan West BC | 6.7% | 5.4% | 49 | 1 | 35 |
| 14 | Electoral Area E (West Boundary), Kootenay Boundary BC | 6.5% | 1.6% | 24 | 0 | 36 |
| 15 | Grande-Rivière QC | 4.9% | 0% | 9 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | Havre-Saint-Pierre QC | 3.7% | 2.7% | 29 | 0 | 12 |
| 17 | Rankin Inlet NU | 3.5% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Merrickville ON | 2.9% | 5.8% | 12 | 5 | 2 |
| 19 | Saint-Jean-Baptiste QC | 2.2% | 2% | 35 | 0 | 3 |
| 20 | Wellington AB | 2.1% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier QC | 1.8% | 3.9% | 27 | 1 | 12 |
| 22 | Mill Courtland Woodside Park ON | 1.8% | 0% | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | North St. Boniface MB | 1.4% | 7.7% | 20 | 4 | 0 |
| 24 | Channel-Port aux Basques NL | 0.4% | 0% | 1 | 1 | 16 |
| 25 | Compton QC | 0.3% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | Coach Hill AB | 0.3% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 27 | Royal Gardens AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Placentia NL | 0.2% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 29 | Lewisporte NL | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Saint-Christophe-d'Arthabaska QC | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 31 | Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes QC | 0% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Virden MB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Gibbons AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Inuvik NT | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Hay River NT | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 36 | Arviat NU | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 72 |
| 37 | Eaux Claires AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Holyrood AB | 0% | 0% | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 39 | Montrose AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 40 | Northmount AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
North Kawartha on the map: green space, protected land and paths
Green space, woods, protected areas and footpaths in and around the town; tap a number for its park or wood.
14 parks and woods to walk in, in or near North Kawartha
Largest first: Juniper Island leads with 37 ha. Numbers match the map.
43% of the area is in just two places: Juniper Island and Eagle Mount Island.
Eagle Mount Island
Long Island
Breeze Island
Pine Island
Pompadour Island
All 14 named parks and green spaces
Source: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, commons and woods with a name, in the town or within 400 m, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Sizes are the mapped outline’s.
Few people in North Kawartha 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.
A median Canadian town manages 83%. About 3,400 residents live further than 400 m from one.
The 20 protected areas near North Kawartha
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
Of the 20, 8 are public land; the others are privately held. Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park is the biggest, 37,587 ha. 12 more areas within 10 km are private land, held by landowners or conservation groups: counted here, not named.
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.
From the edge of North Kawartha, Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park begins
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.
Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park
Petroglyphs Provincial Park
Silent Lake Provincial Park
Quackenbush Provincial Park
Wolf Island Provincial Park
For a national park, people in North Kawartha travel more than 100 km. There are 5 provincial parks within 10 km.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
98 km of paths in and around North Kawartha
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
For woods, it beats 97% of Canadian towns. For path density, 86% 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.
3 walking routes near North Kawartha
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
Among local routes, the Silent Lake Provicial Park is longest at 28.1 km.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
Get out in North Kawartha in May to September
Daylight at the town’s latitude and ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals (Haliburton, 49 km away). Good months: long days, highs of 15–30 °C, light rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°C) | -4 | -2 | 3 | 10 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 24 | 20 | 13 | 5 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 98 | 71 | 76 | 87 | 92 | 98 | 91 | 94 | 99 | 102 | 103 | 95 |
July is the warmest month, with highs around 25 °C; January the coldest, at -4 °C. For dry weather, February is best (71 mm); November gets 103 mm. Expect around 278 cm of snow over a winter. The climate in North Kawartha →
North Kawartha has 4 beaches close by
Beaches on OpenStreetMap within 5 km of the town’s edge, nearest first, with directions.
3 more are mapped without a name. No national or provincial register of beach water quality is published as open data, so check the local health unit before swimming.
Source: OpenStreetMap (natural=beach), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Near North Kawartha: 3 waterfalls on the map
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
119 campsites top the list.
Every named place, with directions
Nature reserves 2
Picnic sites 6
Plus 6 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Campsites 119
Plus 111 campsites without a name on the map.
Slipways 11
Plus 7 slipways without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Next to North Kawartha
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page. No closer places have figures: these lie 26–29 km from North Kawartha.
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Kawartha | 18% | 20 | 3 | 4 |
| Trent Lakes 26 km | 14% | 18 | 1 | 5 |
| Curve Lake First Nation 35 27 km | 2.9% | 7 | 0 | 4 |
| Douro-Dummer 29 km | 2.3% | 17 | 2 | 3 |
No neighbouring place reaches twice North Kawartha’s protected share.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- National and provincial parks. A park at 0 km touches or overlaps the town’s outline; directions point from the town’s centre.
- Beaches. Beaches are OpenStreetMap’s, named or not; in the north many are unnamed shoreline imports.
- Walking routes. The list is OpenStreetMap’s, so a missing trail may just be unmapped. The Trans Canada Trail appears where OSM maps it.
- Protected land. The share is of the land and water within 10 km of the town’s outline, from CPCAD’s mapped areas; marine areas count, so a coastal town can score high on water.
- Private land. Private conservation land is in the totals, not the lists. Many such areas are easements on working farms or woodlots.
Questions about the outdoors in North Kawartha
Which is the biggest protected area near North Kawartha?
It is Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park, a provincial park covering 37,587 ha.
What is the nearest national park to North Kawartha?
None within 100 km of North Kawartha.
Are there hiking trails near North Kawartha?
OpenStreetMap maps the Silent Lake Provicial Park, The Legacy Trail and Blue Trail close by, with others.
Is there a beach near North Kawartha?
Try Chandos Lake Public Beach, in town, first of several.
How much land around North Kawartha is protected?
Within 10 km, 18% of the land lies in protected areas.
How far is the nearest provincial park from North Kawartha?
Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park touches the town.
What is the best season to get outdoors in North Kawartha?
May to September, on the 1991–2020 normals and the daylight: long days, highs of 15 °C or more, light rain for the place.
Sources for this page on North Kawartha
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).