Silent Lake- A 7.5k Paddle Near Bancroft, ON

Silent Lake Provincial Park has basically everything you could ask for! Paddling, winter camping, hiking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and mountain biking are all options, and I love it.

We hadn’t been back to Silent Lake since winter, when we tried out winter camping for the first time! We decided to head out and Paddle Silent Lake on the August long weekend. I don’t think I’ve EVER seen a park, or a lake, so crowded with paddlers! Silent Lake doesn’t allowed motorized boats (with the exception of one that staff have access to). But, they do rent kayaks and canoes there so there were a TON of people out paddling. And there were a ton of people on the beaches too.

Silent Lake Provincial Park has two beaches. One is intended to be for the people who are camping at the park, but there’s also one that’s a “day use” area that anyone can come in and use. All you have to do is pay the park entry fee.

Getting There

Silent Lake is (not shockingly) inside Silent Lake Provincial Park, near Bancroft. You can use these coordinates to get there: 44.924738, -78.072640.

The entrance to the park is just off Highway 28. We drove through Bancroft and approached the park heading west. There were signs along the side of the road letting us know we were approaching, and a big sign at the entrance to the park that let us know we had arrived.

Driving into the park, the main office came into view almost immediately. We parked just behind the office and headed in to purchase a day pass. It was $14.50. Silent Lake has a ton of extra stuff that’s available for purchase at the main office, including camping supplies, hiking gear that you might have forgotten about (like bug nets), and awesome provincial parks merchandise. They had really cute Provincial Park buffs, T-shirts, water bottles… You name it, it was there!

We grabbed a map of the park to help us while we were driving around, and then we were off!

The Beach at Pincer Bay

Originally, we thought we would put in at the beach near the Pincer Bay Campsites. We had the idea that it would be less crowded than the day-use area. We were wrong.

There were two small parking lots near the beach, and they were both full. In each lot, there was space for at least 25 cars, but there was no extra space for us.

There WAS temporary parking close to the beach that we could stop off at and unload our kayaks, but since we had no where to park after that, we decided to just stop for a quick look around.

There were actually two “beaches” along this section of the shoreline. One was a real beach, for use by the campers. The second beach, where we parked, was really more to facilitate the canoe rentals. There were tons of canoes there, and it looked like a really easy spot to put in. There was a big dock that lead out to the water, but the slope of the beach was so gentle that the easiest way to get in would have been just to walk your canoe or kayak into the water. The sand on the beach and the lake bottom made it really easy on the feet!

Renting a Canoe or Kayak

Renting a canoe or kayak at Silent Lake is a great way to get out on the water if you don’t own your own boat. All rentals are sorted out at the main office, where they’ll want you to pay first.

The cost of a rental is actually pretty reasonable. For 1 hour it’s $10.00. But you should definitely go for more than one hour! For 6 hours, it costs $25.00, and for a full 24 hours, it’s $50.00. They also ask for a $60.00 security deposit.

Rentals and returns can be made any time the park office is open, which is from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

There are a few canoes that are stored at the day-use area. If you wanted to rent one of these and put in at the day-use beach, you would be able to get all your gear from the main office. When you rent from the park, they provide everything you need! This includes paddles (obviously), life jackets, and a bailing bucket that has a rope and a whistle. The park staff ask that you not open the bailing bucket unless there’s an emergency. Like, you know, you have to bail out your boat.

There are a lot of really great places to pull up one shore along the lake and stop for a little break, lunch, or sun tan though. If I were renting, I would bring along my own rope so that I could tie off on the shore if I wanted to.

There’s a second spot in the park that canoes and kayaks can be rented from, close to the Pincer Bay Campground walk-in sites. Here, there’s a little hut on the beach with a park staff who is available to hand out life jackets, paddles, and the bailing buckets.

All the canoes looked like they were in great shape. Every single kayak had been rented, so we weren’t actually able to see one up close. Maybe next time!

There’s also fishing gear that you can borrow for free. We didn’t ask about this because I have no desire to fish, ever. BUT, its still cool to have the option.

Putting in at the Day Use Beach

Ultimately, we headed back to the day use beach to snag a parking spot and put in. We pulled up on the side of the road and unloaded our kayaks unto the grass before parking, just so that we could carry them a shorter distance.

The day use beach has a section of sandy beach right on the water. But it also has a nice grassy field with a few trees growing to provide some shade. There are also picnic tables in the area, and bathrooms, making it a great spot to spend the day.

The beach looked really clean, and the water was super clean too. No sea weeds at all! Lake weeds? Anyways…

We carried our kayaks down towards the dock (to the left of the beach) and walked them right into the water.

The Route

Silent Lake is not a big lake, which makes it great for an easy half day trip. But, it could easily be stretched into a leisurely full day trip if you wanted to stop off along the shoreline for a picnic.

We only had a half day, so we didn’t make any stops along the shoreline.

Silent Lake is about 2.5 kilometres long, but we were able to paddle through to Second Silent Lake, making the route a little longer.

We headed out along the north eastern shoreline, paddling past the beaches near Pincer Bay after 1 kilometre. Beyond the beaches, there were a few spots on the shoreline that we saw people laying out and catching some sun on the open rock faces. The Lakeshore Trail (a 15 kilometre hiking trail) runs along and around the shoreline of Silent Lake, and this is likely what people were using to access these great spots along the shore.

Silent Lake became thinner as we paddled, and basically funneled us towards Second Silent Lake. We passed through a channel to get to Second Silent Lake. Immediately after the channel, there was a big open rock face. A small group of people had tied off their canoe here. Some were swimming, and some were just hanging out on the rock. I think this spot was probably the best in the whole area- because we had paddled about 2.7 kilometres by this point, the crowds of paddlers had thinned out. Only the REAL paddlers remained! Just kidding, you’re all doing a great job.

We came to another great hangout spot on the northeast shore after paddling 3.3. kilometres. The Lakeshore Trail ran right through this spot, and we stopped and chatted with a couple hikers we met there because this particular trail is on our bucket list. This spot is marked by the number 4 posted on one of the trees. I’m not sure why, but it also seemed like a great spot to tie off and hop in for a swim.

We were able to scoot through one last tiny little channel to paddle into a small pond that would be the end of our route. While it was a lovely spot to sit and hang out in our kayaks, there wasn’t really anywhere in the pond to pull up to shore and get out. Ultimately, having paddled 3.8 kilometres, we turned around and headed back.

Getting Back

We followed the opposite shoreline on the way back, and again noticed a few great spots to tie off and hang out in the sun. We didn’t really get pictures of any of these spots because they were all occupied and that would have been very creepy. So you’ll just have to take my word!

After reach the day use beach again, we had paddled a total of 7.5 kilometres. We were able to cover this distance in just under two hours.

Before heading out we had checked in with park staff, because I had looked at the map and thought I had a sense of how big the lake was and how long our paddle would be. But, we wanted to double check and make sure. No word of a lie, the park staff said it would take us four hours to paddle the whole lake! While that could definitely be true for people new to paddling, it wasn’t our experience.

Thoughts on Silent Lake

Silent Lake is a really beautiful spot, and is a great half day paddle. There are SO MANY great spots to stop and hang out along the shoreline. It could make for the most perfect day if you brought along a hammock and set yourself up by the waterside to lounge the day away.

In all honesty though, I can’t recommend it on a long weekend. It really was crazy busy. I was happy to see so many people out enjoying nature and trying their hand at paddling, but it did kind of take away from the peacefulness that I look forward to when on the water.

Going on any other weekend, during the week, or even as the season winds down and fall approaches would be a better bet. And there’s so much to do, that it would be really easy to spend a few days camping (or yurting) at the park, and exploring the lake and all the different trails.

Next, we’re looking forward to coming back and hiking the Lakeshore Trail!

I hope this trip report has enough info to get you there too. Let me know in the comments, or share and tag a friend to start planning your next adventure!

Map

Gear We Brought

• Swimsuits
• Kayaks
• Paddles
• Life Jackets
• Bailing Buckets
• 2 x Nalgene 32 Ounce Bottles
• 2 x Vitamin Water
• Dry Bag (for snacks)
• Olympus TG-4 Waterproof Digital Camera

Gear We Forgot

• Waterproof case for cell phone (luckily, we found a Coghlans Waterproof Pouch in the car)
• Hammock (we didn’t actually FORGET it, but it would be a great idea for YOU to bring!)