Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park, Provincial park and nature reserve in Kawartha Lakes, Canada.
Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park is a nature reserve and provincial park spread across Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County, and the Muskoka District in Canada, with a landscape of rock barrens, wetlands, lakes, cliffs, and rolling forest. The park has no maintained trails, campsites, or services, leaving the land entirely to natural processes.
The land was heavily logged and burned during the 19th and early 20th centuries, which left such visible marks on the terrain that it was long known as The Burnt Lands. In 2002, it was designated a provincial park so the recovering forest and wetlands could continue without human intervention.
The park was named after Queen Elizabeth II to mark her Golden Jubilee in 2002, which gives the place a rare combination of a royal name and total wilderness. Visitors who come here find no trails, signs, or facilities, making every outing feel entirely self-directed.
Anyone entering the park should know how to navigate without marked trails and carry a map and compass, as phone signals are weak or absent throughout most of the area. Bringing enough food, water, and shelter for the full duration of the visit is necessary since there are no facilities on site.
Despite centuries of logging and fire, the park now holds over 100 different habitat types within a relatively small area, a diversity that came directly from those past disturbances. The mix of open rock, young forest, and wet lowlands that resulted from that damage now supports a wide range of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
