One of my favourite aspects of wilderness camping is standing on shore, looking out across the lake and enjoying the stillness and beauty of the Killlarney landscape.  Out here, you rarely encounter other campers.  Based on how hard it is to reserve sites in Killarney, I know that we are not the only campers in the park.  There have been times we are on lakes and only know there are other campers by the fires we see at night off in the distance.

During the day, while having a cup of coffee down by the shore or eating lunch around the camp kitchen, we often gaze out across the lake and admire the view.  Once in a while, usually during midday, we might see a party of campers canoeing by our campsite.  With each new campsite (even on the same lake), the view looks a little different as well.  I have spent a lot of time out on the lakes of Killarney Provincial Park.  Every day and every season, the lakes look a little different – water levels rise and fall, the sky is perpetually changing, rain, fog and snow will alter the look of the landscape.  Each lake has it’s own personality – long and narrow, wide, stone cliffs, dotted with islands, shallow and marshy or deep, clear and blue.

These lakes have probably been admired for generations, long before the inception of the place as a provincial park in 1964.  I can only imagine the trappers, surveyors and local adventurists canoeing on these lakes, before there were maps and clearly marked portage routes.  I have brought my family here many times to canoe these lakes and enjoy the fellowship of my camping companions.  I never tire of the view – no matter where in the park I might find myself.