The Track and Tower Trail, A 7.5 km Hike in Algonquin Provincial Park

We hiked the Track and Tower Trail in Algonquin for the first time this spring, and it was gorgeous!

There was a stunning lookout, a beautiful creek, and lots of views over open water (well, ice when we went), making each of the 7.5 km completely worthwhile.

The Track and Tower Trail is open year long. In the early winter and spring, there may be ice and snow accumulated on the stairs near the final loop. Spikes for these icy times are highly recommended!

Dogs are allowed on the trail as well. Near the trailhead, there was a large map posted. There was also an outhouse.

Getting There

The Track and Tower Trail is in Algonquin Provincial Park. Highway 60 runs through the middle of the park, and there are several different attractions that branch off this highway- including campsites and trailheads.

The location of different attractions are often described as being “located at km 25 of Highway 60,” which the Track and Tower Trail is. The km increase from the West Gate (km 0) as you progress east, until you reach the East Gate (km 55.8).

We entered through the East Gate and kept an eye out until we eventually spotted a sign pointing us to the parking lot for the Track and Tower Trail. You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.560160, -78.577405.

The parking lot was big, with space for at least fifty cars. It was plowed, even though we were there in the winter.

The Trailhead

There were two trailheads that started immediately from the parking lot. Travel on the Track and Tower Trail is technically one-way, as one of the “trailheads” had a no entry sign. Plus, the trail guides published by the Friends of Algonquin provincial park correlate to posted signs along the trail, in a numerical order.

We found the trailhead with the map posted and headed off in the right direction on the trail.

Right away we felt completely immersed into the forest, with the sounds of traffic receding quickly behind us!

The trail was single track, and we walked single file into the forest. It remained this way for almost the entire length of it, with a few short exceptions. Along the way, we spotted an abundance of blue trail markers to help guide us. The trail marking remained consistent for the entire length of the trail.

Cache Lake

As we hiked along, we found ourselves on the shoreline of Cache Lake. The wind picked up a ton here, and it was fun to watch the snow blowing in huge swirls over the ice.

Since it was early March, some melt had started, and this shoreline section of trail was melted down to the dirt in some spots, but still snowy or icy in others.

We crossed over a short bridge, and around the 3 km mark the elevation gain began in earnest. Up until this point, the trail had been easy to navigate, with a few gentle hills here and there.

About a hundred meters later, we arrived at a trail split. The Track and Tower Trail went off to our left, while a portage trail headed off in a different direction. Both were well marked, so we knew exactly how to stay on Track… and Tower. Tee hee!

To the Lookout

Another hundred metres brought us to a second split. Here, we could have gone straight to skip the section of trail that would have brought us to the lookout, and instead just looped back to the parking lot.

Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen, so we turned to our right to cross another bridge over a beautiful flowing creek. This was “Point 5” on the Track and Tower trail guide, and there was a small map posted just before the bridge.

The elevation gain continued, until we found ourselves at a long set of stairs designed to bring us up the steepest section of the trail. Because of the freeze/thaw cycles that we had been experiencing, some of the stairs were icy. We were VERY happy to be wearing our micro spikes!

The Lookout

At the top of the stairs, we continued straight ahead. After hiking a total of 4.1 km we reached “point 7” on the map, and the most beautiful lookout along the whole trail!

A rocky cliff looked out over a stunning landscape of lake and forest, and we stopped for a minute to enjoy the view. But just a minute because the wind was WHIPPING in this open section. A few hundred metres later the tree line had closed in again, but we spotted another great view through the trees at “point 8.”

Then, the trail brought us right back to the top of the stairs and we began our descent. Heading back, there was a split where we turned right to finish the full loop. This brought us in the direction of point 9. It was easy to choose what direction to head in because the trail markers going “backwards” on the trail are white instead of blue- we spotted them first at this point.

Heading Back

Around 5.25 km we began to spot some old ruins in the forest. Our trail guide informed us these were old trestles from a bridge! We crossed over another little bridge, skipping the signed portage trail on the other side. Just beyond the bridge was a bike rack and a picnic table, at point 10. Here, the old Railway Bike Trail (which runs all the way to Mew Lake campground) met the Track and Tower Trail.

We followed this wide, flat path for about 300 metres before veering off to our left back into the forest and onto a single-track trail. Here, there were outhouses, but they were closed for the winter.

It took us another 2.5 km of hiking to get back to the trailhead, some of which was uphill but didn’t feel too rough after the hill we had completed to get to the lookout.

Trail Thoughts

By the time we arrived back at the parking lot, we had been hiking for 2 hours and 45 minutes. According to our GPS we had covered a total distance of 8.6 km. But I’m pretty sure the Ontario provincial Parks folks have it right and the trail is only 7.5 km long.

This trail was amazing. It felt slightly rugged, and slightly challenging. Our efforts were rewarded with a phenomenal view, which was well worth it. The trail was so well marked that we never had to worry much about where we were- which I’m a fan of.

It took me awhile to get out to Algonquin, because it always felt kind of far away from Ottawa. But turns out it’s worth it, and we’ll be heading back soon to explore more of the trails!

Map and Elevation Gain

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.