The Presqu’ile Provincial Park (Brighton) Trails Review

***Please click on this link Map Locations of ALL Trails on this Site to view a map with the location of every trail “2oldguyswalking” has written a review on.***

The Wife and I don’t usually do reviews of Provincial Park trails. At least not parks with camping and such. The thought of having to reserve a parking place to walk a trail, is repulsive to me. However, we’ve often walked a trail or two while attending the Presqu’ile Christmas “Art in the Park” events in the past, and found them to be quite pleasant. So, in late August we figured we’d be OK to attempt a “no reservation” visit, and we were right. Presqu’ile is rather well known, but if you need, the following link will open Google Maps at the entrance kiosk : https://goo.gl/maps/rA32cfeE6EkhFdZr9 Entry fees might change from when we were here, so you can look up prices on line (in full season, reservations will likely be needed).

By the way, if you find driving the roads around Presqu’ile to be somewhat confusing … don’t be embarrassed. So do we, and we’ve been here fairly often. On this visit, the poor fellow in front of us felt compelled to wave apologies to us numerous times as he crawled along trying to figure out how to navigate the one-way/both-way/which way? routes around the park. We just smiled knowingly, and waved back.

Presquile has five walking trails, with the most well known being :

The Marsh Boardwalk Trail (1.2 km loop with 0.8 kms of it being boardwalk)

This trail is the best known, and utilized, in the park. It starts with a two decker observation platform over-looking the marsh. The view from the boardwalk itself has become a bit blocked by phragmite infestation in places, but it’s still a most impressive effort. The boardwalk through the marsh section ends with another two decker observation platform. From there, the trail (still occasionally boardwalk) wanders through a lowland cedar forest with a patch of interesting “Horse Trees” the cause of which isn’t exactly known.

The Owen Point Trail (1.6 kms loop [?])

The parking lot and trailhead sign are past the 1^st parking lot you’ll see here. That one is for the comfort station. So continue past, to the 2^nd lot to start this trail. It has five “look-outs” to the lake, of which, four were blocked by ropes with vegetation blocking any view beyond them. The “look-outs” aren’t platforms like the Marsh Boardwalk trail. They’re just ground level openings to the lake. The 5^th look-out was open enough to get you out onto the beach for a view of High Bluff and Gull islands which are closed to the public as well.

I’m not being critical here. This stretch of beach is protected for nesting shore birds, which is a good thing that we support whole-heartedly. Quite frankly, I’d just as soon this trail be closed and abandoned for the sake of the birds. As for the trail to the “look-outs”, it was just a path through a mixture of small trees and phragmites. Not very attractive, nor interesting. Neither could we figure how to make a loop out of it, so we just walked back on the same trail. There were a coupla trails between the two parking lots which we tried, but they were blocked by windfalls.

The Newcastle (Orange) Trail (4.3 Km Loop)

Now, this is more like it. We’re familiar with this trail from our wanderings during the Christmas “Art in the Park” events. However, this time we got to see it with leaves on the trees, and dressed in light Summer clothing. It starts out as an obviously car worthy road which leads past a coupla group camping sites and even some garbage dump containers. Just keep walking and things improve considerably. You will see a sign indicating the trail goes to the right.

You’ll pass the group campsites for a few minutes again, then … the trail becomes quite lovely. A beautiful mixed forest with a clear understory stretches out before you with more boardwalks to carry you over lower spots. Even with the boardwalks, we encountered a number of rather mucky, wet spots between them. So if it’s rained recently, you might wanna either postpone this trail, or just be prepared and expect some messy stepping. This stretch of the trail is well canopied and so, is cool shadowed walking for it’s entirety.

There is a stretch of this trail that walks about 0.4 kms right on the road. This is the half-way point where you’ll be starting the return of the loop. The re-entry to the forest is quite well marked (complete with orange bubbles which are the markers for this trail) on the left side of the road. The return stretch of this trail has a bit of open to the sky meadows, which is a pleasant variation. There’s also ample boardwalks through the forested sections as with the earlier part of the trail. There is just one catch we had a problem with on this closure of the loop trail. You’ll cross a road, and then you’ll hit another road. This 2^nd road is where we couldn’t find any signage as to which way to follow the road to the trail, as it wasn’t directly across the road. You need to turn left and walk about 100 meters down the road to find the trail back into the forest on the left.

The Pioneer Trail (3.8 km Loop)

This trail is accessed from the same forest entrance road as the Newcastle Trail. We started the loop by just continuing straight past where the Newcastle trail branches off to the right, and the return for the Pioneer trail branches off to the left. The first half of this trail is more open to the sky and is single file walking. After the 1^st road crossing it wanders through meadows filled with brightly coloured goldenrod and small trees. It becomes a bit deeper into forest until you come to the campgrounds. Here you’ll be walking a campers road for awhile before plunging back into the same forest the Newcastle trail traverses.

The boardwalks begin again as you walk past huge trees blown over by storms. It’s fascinating how such huge trees could hold their ground at all, when you see how shallow their roots are.

The Jobes’ Woods Trail (1.4 km Loop)

And here I thought the Marsh boardwalk was impressive ! I actually had to stop and think about where I was on this trail. I forgot we were in Presqu’ile park. It’s almost entirely a gorgeous boardwalk above a very wet forest of huge old growth trees. And the silence. No lawn mowers, no sound of campers, not even road noise despite being rather close to it. We even disturbed a couple of walkers who felt compelled to just lay down on the boardwalk and gaze up into the canopy. I can understand why too. This was one of the most calming and relaxing walks in the whole park. Even if you’re just here for a picnic and a splash in the lake, I would highly advise you walk this short and lovely trail while you’re here anyway.

We finished this last trail and decided to play tourist, as we had time to spare. A quick visit to the observation platform at the Calf Pasture, and a lovely picnic on a table over-looking the lake on the South shore, ended a most pleasant day.

The Final Take

While I wouldn’t advise you journey to Presqu’ile just for the trails, you would certainly benefit from walking a few during your visit here for the picnic opportunities and the lake access. The Marsh and Jobes’ Woods boardwalks are both lovely and calming, and I highly recommend them. Between the Newcastle and Pioneer trails, I would consider Newcastle the superior, just because there’s no walking along camp ground roads. As you might’ve guessed, I wouldn’t bother with Owen’s Point.

There are, of course, no motorized vehicles to contend with, and even bicycles are not allowed on the trails. Though we did see a number of bicycle tracks in the muck on the Newcastle trail, the depth the wheels sank into it would’ve proven the action to be a most unpleasant experience (and also explains why they’re not allowed).

The trails through the clear understoried, canopied forested sections were wide enough for two to walk side by side, but the open sky meadows were single file. There are ample boardwalks through the forested sections over wet terrain, but there are a few spots where you might have to do some careful stepping. With the exception of the Marsh and Jobes’ trails, there will be some roadway walking, but all the roads throughout the whole park have cycling/pedestrian lanes.

By the way, you might notice some stretches of black barriers along some of the roads through the park. These are turtle protection barriers. I wrote a piece on these back in 2016. This link will open that article: Presqu’ile Park Turtle Rescue

Have a nice walk (and maybe a picnic, and a splash in the lake),

Bushwhacker