Devil Lake's campsite cluster is located in a grove of Maple Trees, making it one of the best places to enjoy fall colors.
Frontenac is always a superb location for late fall camping, significantly south of Ontario's other camping gems, such as Alqongonqion or Killarney. Frontenac enjoys beautiful weather deeper into the season and a prolonged period of gorgeous fall colors. This year, however, we were particularily blessed; summer-like weather in late October is unheard of as far north as Ontario.
I have been in love with Frontenac since the first time I visited and thus try to plan a trip or two every year through it. I love making it the last trip of the season as it is a bit more lackadaisical and luxurious compared to the other parks. Frontenac campsites have fire pits, benches, and outhouses making the camping experience more comfortable. The routes through the park are pretty straightforward, making for a fun, lower, effort trip to close out the season.
Devil Lake is about the longest route you can take, but even it is only an 11km route or so. For me, that represents about four hours of travel time which I'd peg as the perfect season closing weekend. This particularily trip is also bittersweet as it is the last trip with Ana and Marcus before they move back to Austria, and it will be much more challenging to plan portages from now on.
Fortunately, Frontenac delivered a wonderful swan song! Clear blue skies, fiery fall foliage, and uncharacteristically warm weather were the story of this particular journey from start to finish. Everything went perfectly accordingly to plan, which was a strange experience for me! I usually have plenty of anecdotes about ridiculous challenges or things I messed up along the way. Still, for this trip, the entire story is that we paddled and portaged through breathtaking fall scenery, enjoyed a spectacular evening and a gorgeous campsite, and then did it in reverse the next day.
A great end to a great season!
