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Frontenac Provincial Park has such a vast, intertwined network of trails that it used to be a little intimidating to me. But slowly, I’ve been getting out and exploring them. And the more time I spend out there, the more I understand what the heck I’m looking at when I look at the map.
Near the beginning of June, I headed out with a few friends to hike the Little Salmon Lake Loop.
The last time I was in Frontenac I was backpacking, and hiked the Arkon Lake Loop out to campsite 7. So I was happy to be back and heading a little bit deeper into the park.
Getting There
On my way out to the park, I lost cell reception. Reception inside the park is also spotty, so it’s a good idea to download maps or directions or anything you need ahead of time! Driving into the park, I followed the road to my right to get to the main office so that I could buy my parking pass for the day.
After, I headed back the way I had come and stayed straight to get back on Salmon Lake Road. In the winter, this section of road isn’t open. A few kilometres down the road I passed the Arab Lake Parking Lot (Address: 6631a Salmon Lake Road). Next up was the Big Salmon Lake Parking Lot, where we needed to stop (Address: 6631b Salmon Lake Road). The entrance to the parking lot was on my left hand side as I drove along, and I found myself turning into a massive parking lot.
You can use these coordinates to get there: 44.525486, -76.530849.
Salmon Lake Road ends at a boat launch on Big Salmon Lake, so if you reach there you’ve gone too far.
Map of the trails in Frontenac. The Little Salmon Lake Trail is the brown loop.
The Trailhead, Kinda
We parked, then followed the trail on the northeast end of the parking lot to get started. 200 metres along the trail, we passed by a set of outhouses, and came upon the boat launch. On our left hand side there was a huge map posted, as well as a sign that indicated the north side of the Big Salmon Lake Loop started right beside it.
We knew from reading the map that the Little Salmon Lake Loop shared part of the north side of the Big Salmon Lake Loop, so we headed off confidently in that direction.
The trail quickly thinned out and got a bit rocky. We crossed over a bridge, and after hiking just .75 km we came across a sign that said campsites 3 and 6 were to our right, while the East side of the Arkon Loop was off to our left.
Signs at the end of the parking lot directing us to the trail.
Our Route
We decided we were going to head to our right, so that we could hike the Little Salmon Lake Loop counter clockwise.
Soon, we found ourselves up on a ridge, and crossing over some big open rock faces. After hiking about 1.5 km, the trail began to skirt the shoreline of Big Salmon Lake for just a bit. We used a little footbridge to cross a swampy section, and then crossed a bigger bridge further along the trail.
After this bridge there was a sign indicating that the portage to Little Salmon Lake was off to our left. The Little Salmon Lake Loop/Big Salmon Lake Loop Trails to campsites 3,6,9, and 12 were straight ahead of us. Naturally, we stayed straight. After hiking just 2.5 km we spotted campsite 3 off on our right hand side.
Signs like this were posted at every trail junction, so it was easy to use the map to sort out where to go next.
The trail continued to be fairly easy to traverse. There were gentle hills and a grassy forest floor for much of it. This sounds really lovely, but the grass is probably one of the reasons people find so many ticks on them when hiking in Frontenac. It’s a good idea to wear pants. We didn’t see any the whole time we were out though!
Trail Markers
The trail markers were also really easy to spot and keep track of. At no point during our hike did we wonder if we had gotten off trail. In a handful of spots, it might have been easy to veer off trail, but there were arrows posted to make it really clear what the right direction was.
At the 4.35 km mark we came upon another sign, which said that the Little Salmon Lake portage was off to our left. Since we didn’t see anywhere else to go, we began to follow the portage. The trail markers here were the same shape, but yellow instead of blue. They were also placed lower on the trees. Likely so that someone carrying a big boat on top of their head would still be able to see them.
We headed uphill, then came to a split in the trail. Here, the trail for campsite 6 headed off on our left hand side. The sign said that to our right was the Little Clear Lake Loop, and the north side of the Little Salmon Lake Loop. Off to the right!
Classic Ontario Provincial Park trail markers.
Easy Backcountry Campsites
So far, it was cool to see that both campsite 3 and 6 were not too far from the trailhead and would make great spots to try out backcountry camping without having to hike too far.
Almost immediately after the last split we came to another. Here, the sign said that the south shore of the Little Clear Lake Loop was to the right. To the left was the west side of the Little Clear Lake Loop, and the Little Clear Lake Portage. We headed to our left. We knew it was the west side of the Little Clear Lake Loop that shared a portion of the trail with the Little Salmon Lake Loop.
So many loops!
The next section of trail was a portage as well, and we spotted both types of markers as we hiked along.
Some sections of the trail were hilly but overall it was fairly easy to traverse.
The Little Clear Lake Loop
We didn’t see any more signs until the 4.8 km mark. There, a posted sign said that the Little Salmon Lake Loop North through Moulton Gorge was to our left, while the Little Clear Lake Loop carried on straight ahead of us.
We continued to travel along on a skinny footpath. Along the way were huge rock faces accompanied by the forest floor rising and falling away around us.
The trail got a bit swampier in sections, and then at 5.8 km we crossed over a high bridge above a little creek. We headed uphill, following the creek for just a little while. Here, the trail was also really grown in with tall brush on either side of us. Again, I was happy to be wearing pants.
After hiking 6.6 km we crossed over a thin two plank bridge high above a small creek leading into (away from?) a beaver pond. People nervous about heights might not love this bridge, but it wasn’t too long, and it was very sturdy.
We crossed a few more small bridges, then headed uphill towards a really rocky section of trail.
Crossing the highest foot bridge on the trail. Eek! (I’m a chicken when it comes to heights).
Portages to Little Salmon Lake and Birch Lake
Just before the 7 km mark another portage to Little Salmon Lake was on our left hand side. The sign here said that Little Salmon Lake Loop west was straight ahead of us, so we stuck with that. Soon after, we passed a portage to Birch Lake off to our right.
Then we started wondering where the heck the lookout was supposed to be, because according to the map we should have come across it before the portage to Birch. Somehow, we had missed it, which we were really surprised about since everything else had been signed so well.
Unfortunately, by the time we realized this we were long past the spot where it might have been, so we decided to just keep going.
The trail got a bit wetter and swampier as we traveled along, with small footbridges over the worst spots. The next trail split was at 8.2 km where it said that to our left was the Little Salmon Lake Loop south side and the Arkon Loop south side out to Big Salmon Lake Road. To our right was the north side of the Arkon Lake Loop. We went left.
More footbridges!
Bufflehead Trail
The trail got a bit rockier, but was still quite manageable. We passed by Bufflehead trail at the 8.7 km mark. Bufflehead Trail cuts the Arkon Loop in half, so we knew we were getting closer to where we had started.
Then, at the 9.95 km mark, the trail reached “the corridor,” and we headed to our left to get back to the Big Salmon Lake parking lot. To our right was the trail to the Arab Lake parking lot.
The remainder of the trail was easy to traverse. We reached the original trail split not long after, keeping straight with the trail back to the parking lot. By the time we got back, we had hiked almost exactly 11 km. We were able to cover that distance in 3 hours and 45 minutes. While we stopped to take a lot of pictures, we didn’t stop for lunch or any other big breaks because the bugs were so bad.
Heading down a hilly section of the trail. Poles came in handy!
Trail Thoughts
The Little Salmon Lake Loop was… Nice, I guess. It was a fun walking trail, and a nice distance to cover and be in the forest for. Maybe if we had seen the lookout I’d be a little more excited about it, because there really wasn’t too much that was exciting to see a long the way.
It’s also a perfect trail for anyone who wants to do some backcountry camping without putting in too much effort. Since campsites 3 and 6 can both be reached within 4.5 km, they’re great options.
Small hills, grass and footbridges. Definite staples of the Little Salmon Lake Loop Trail.
Anyways, I promised myself after COVID I would be less of a nature snob. So let me say that any time spent in the woods on any trail is time well spent in my opinion. At the very least, the Little Salmon Lake Loop trail will have you out there for a good chunk of time.
Plus, it’s part of the Frontenac Challenge!
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 and Elevation Gain
My GPS tracked route of the Little Salmon Lake Loop.
Whenever I’m hiking somewhere new, I tend to wonder about who was on, and who took care of that land before me. I’ve enjoyed using this website as a place to start learning more about the indigenous people whose land I’m on: Native-land.ca.
Elevation gain along the trail.
