For those of you who know me, you’ll know that I’m always up to exploring new places, especially if they offer some great landscape photo opportunities. So when I found a photo from a conservation park that I really liked, I immediately did some research and went there on the weekend. This post is all about what I found at the Island Lake Conservation Area in Orangeville, Ontario.
Island Lake Conservation Area
I found this place from a photo that someone had uploaded onto Instagram. He had taken his drone out for a spin one fine day and uploaded an overview photo of the entire lake. The lake was frozen over and you could see all the cracks and bubbles on the lake from above. I loved this view at first sight and I immediately had to know where it was taken.
Finding out that it was in Orangeville wasn’t so hard as the location was tagged in Instagram. It was about an hour’s drive away from me so the only opportunity I would have would be on the weekend.
I made it out there on an overcast Saturday but that didn’t stop me from hiking a few kms around the lake. The one thing that I didn’t realize was that it must have snowed just a few days prior because the ice was all covered with fresh snow. This was unfortunate since it was this very ice that I came to see. Nonetheless, here are a few photos to illustrate the prettiness of the park.
This long bridge that connects the north hiking trail to the south hiking trail is quite the photogenic spot. Had the surroundings been a little less “white” it would have made for more interesting photos.
You can see the vastness of the park by how long the bridge runs. This is only half the distance too since the bridge continues beyond that island you see in the distance.
I came there in the morning so there were very few people enjoying the trails. Most were actually busy on the south end of the lake where the ice fishing huts were set up.
The lone ice fishing hut near the south end of the park.
It was this part of the trail where all these blue huts were lined on the ice. You can rent these huts for a fee, or bring your own hut and make your own hole in the ice. While hiking around the lake, I heard a number of people manually drilling their holes in the ice.
While some people like to ice fish in the hut, others prefer a more open spot. I don’t know who this belongs to as nobody was near this fishing rod at the time.
The lake is quite large, but in the distance, you can see the outskirts of the city of Orangeville, so it’s not as deserted a place as you think it may be. There’s even a large area on the ice cleared away for ice skating.
The trails are surrounded by pine trees that would have been pretty had they been covered with a little snow!
There’s a $5.75 entry fee to the park—whether this is per person or per vehicle, I’m not too sure. It’s a nature conservation area so the fee goes towards the maintenance of the park and the use of its facilities.
It’s actually quite the nice area so I’ll be sure to visit it again. Only this time, I’ll be more cognizant of what the weather was like throughout the week.
For more information on Island Lake Conservation Area, you can head over to their website.
Have you ever been to this park before? Do you know of ay other parks that are picture-worthy? Let me know in the comments below.