Looking to tackle one of the best hiking trails in Ontario and most beautiful short thru-hikes in North America? You’re in the right spot! From securing permits and packing to what you’ll actually experience on trail, continue reading for a deep cut guide to the Killarney’s La Cloche Silhouette Trail.

Why this blog? Hi there! My name is Maddy and I’ve been working as an outdoor guide since 2018. I’ve tackled 70 day sea kayaking trips on the British Columbia Coast, guided countless women’s trips and adventures, and been lucky enough to hike some of the coolest treks in North America. I completed the La Cloche Silhouette Trail in July 2026, and I’m happy to help you in your planning process.

Oh hey there! This blog uses affiliate links. That means if you choose to make a purchase based on my recommendation, I make a small kickback at no additional cost to you.

Backpacking the La Cloche Silhouette Trail, Killarney Provincial Park:

The La Cloche Silhouette Trail is a gorgeous 78 kilometer (48.5 mile) thru-hike through Killarney’s La Cloche Mountains, just off the Northern portion of the Georgian Bay. The terrain is challenging but rewarding, the campsites are bucket-list worthy, and the swimming is incredible. Here’s a quick look at the La Cloche Silhouette Trail:

• 78 kilometer (48.5 mile)
• 2,800 metres elevation (9,186 feet)
• Considered strenuos
• Recommended 7-10 day timeline
• Campsites must be booked up to 5 months in advance through Ontario Parks (campsite reservation is required and functions as your permit)
• Some steep scrambles; trail can be challenging to follow at times
• Intermediate+. This would not make a good first backpacking trip for most folks

I hiked the La Cloche Silhouette Trail from July 20-25 (six days) with a group of friends, getting a noon start on Monday and finishing by 11am on Tuesday. Our group ranged in experience from relatively new backpackers with less than five nights under their belt to one friend with ultra running experience. This trail is challenging, but certainly doable for the average backpacker with experience, depending on how hard you like your days to be!

Permits and route for La Cloche Silhouette:

There are three key things to consider when planning out your route for the La Cloche Silhouette trail: how many days you’re looking to do it in, whether you plan to head clockwise or counterclockwise, and what campsites are actually available for your ideal hike.

Here are a few key notes and things to consider for your route planning:

1. You’ll need to get permits through Ontario Parks. For the best selection of campsites, you’ll want to be online at 7am ET the day permits for your desired dates release. Keep in mind that popular campsites (Topaz Lake) fill nearly immediately.
2. The online reservation system will actually prevent you from booking a trip shorter than five days, and will flag if your campsites are too far apart. If you’re planning on less than five days, call and make your reservation over the phone.
3. The traditional route is clockwise, however you may find you have better permit and campsite options going counter clockwise (this is what my group did).
4. Most hikers chose to hike clockwise to tackle the more challenging (and more scenic) section of the trail in the second half of their trip with a lighter pack. We chose counter-clockwise due to permit availability and so we could see exactly how hard the trail was up front and gauge our own ability while having bailouts available. This lead to the trail getting increasingly easier as we hiked, but a bit of an anticlimactic finish on the flatter, buggier section of trail rather than the dramatic crags of the western part of the loop.

How many days do I need to hike La Cloche Silhouette Trail?

Great question! So when I first started researching this trail, I repeatedly ran into the recommended 7-10 day number. Given that the trail was less than 50 miles, I figured there was no way I needed more than five days to do this trail even if the terrain was challenging. I had recently hiked the Trans Catalina Trail, 40 miles in four days with similar elevation gain, with no training and no issues. Due to permit availability, we booked for six days total.

Our group absolutely could have done this in four days with a longer first day and a long last day, but it would’ve meant most of the days spent hiking and on camp chores and less time swimming, enjoying the peaks and enjoying camp. I’m in decent shape (work as a sea kayaking guide on Lake Superior) and have probably close to 30 nights of backpacking under my belt, but I’m not a runner and this was my first hike over four miles of the entire summer.

That said, footing is challenging, the trail can be hard to follow and there were huge sections of trail where I averaged less than a mile an hour. Yikes.

In general, I would say if you’re newer to backpacking (say less than 15 trail nights and typically under 16 km /10 miles a day), allot at least 7-8 days for the trail, keeping in mind that the trail is likely more technical than previous hikes. If you’re used to 24 km/ 15 mile days or higher and have an ultralight kit and more than 15 nights or so experience and prefer to spend more time hiking and less sitting at camp, you’ll want fewer nights to avoid sitting around.

Packing and Gear for the La Cloche Silhouette Trail

Keep it light. This is honestly the best advice I can give for any hike, but especially one like this. Every single thing you carry on your back is additive and you will regret something you carry for six+ days and don’t use. Ask me about my five bags of beef jerky, only one of which I ate 🙁

Here’s a quick list of what and how I packed:

• Ultralight 45-50 L pack. I use a custom Glow 45L from Wild Brush. Similar options include the Southwest from Hyperlite, or the Flash Air from REI.
• Lightweight sleeping bag in a water-resistant compression sack.
• Sleeping pad: I use a Nemo Tensor and a Nemo Switchback both. It’s worth it to also carry the closed-cell foam to help create level tent pads, or as just a nice place to sit and chill.
• Ultralight tent. I use the Durston X-Mid Pro 1 (gifted to me, thanks Dan Durston!) and it’s less than one pound, easy to pitch, and storm ready. I’ve also used the Big Agnes Fly Creek, which was my go to for a really long time, and the Big Agnes Copperspur, which is great if you need a freestanding tent. A somewhat cheaper options would be the MSR elxir 1.
• Camp stove and fuel: this is my weight splurge. I like the MSR switch over the pocket rocket any day.
• An Urssack (for bears) and rope
• Clothes to hike in (long pants and a sun hoodie) + a rain coat and rain pants
• A head net for bugs
• Camp clothes: Shorts, a baselayer top, a fleece layer, a puffer jacket, underwear
• Water filter
• A spork and mug
• Trekking poles
• Camp shoes
• Headlamp
• Trowel
• Socks
• External battery
• Garmin InReach
• Food, snacks, toilet paper, personal toiletries, first aid kit, permits
• Maps by Jeff’s La Cloche map
• Compass

Full breakdown of hiking the La Cloche Silhouette Trail:

We hiked the La Cloche Silhouette Trail in six days, counter-clockwise. If your’e hiking clockwise, you’ll experience this in reverse order. Here’s my full breakdown of what the trail looked like as of July 2026:

Day One: George Lake to Proulx Lake

We parked at the Western La Cloche trailhead and hiked through the campground to the eastern trailhead to get started. The start of the trail from the eastern is fairly gentle for the first section, with the beginning of the ascent of the Crack marking the shift. to rougher terrain.

Into the Crack, you’ll begin a challenging up hill climb that becomes a scramble to reach the top of the mountain. This scramble alone probably took ups 45 minutes with our fresh and heavy packs. The view at the top of the crack is pretty iconic, but in my opinion there are better views throughout the La Cloche Silhouette Trail.

Note that for day hikers a permit is required and you’ll need to pre-book a time slot. This restriction does not apply to La Cloche Silhouette hikers.

After the Crack, the trail continues to be difficult, with steep ascents and descents, including when the the trail appears to dive off the edge of a cliff near Little Superior Lake. This made me unhappy. The views however are great — I may have been too busy getting my ass kicked by the hike itself to fully appreciate it.

After a hard couple of miles, we made it to camp on Proulx Lake. The water access was steep, but the site itself was easily one of the best I’ve stayed at with great swimming and clear blue water.

Even the approach to camp (see above right) is steep and tough to tackle. On our way out, we all handed our packs down then scrambled down without a pack.

Day two: Proulx Lake to Bunnyrabbit Lake

Our second day was a shorter, 3.5-mile day between Proulx Lake and Bunnyrabbit Lake — worth noting that both of these sites were a bit off the trail via a spur trail, and both of the approaches were pretty long. In my opinion worth it given the caliber of both sites.

Our site on Bunnyrabbit was tucked a bit back into the woods but with good swimming access and an excellent rock to perch on to eat dinner. View-wise, we all agreed that this site felt like we were in the Rocky Mountains.

Day Three: Bunnyrabbit Lake to Little Mountain Lake

Day three was a longer day, over ten miles and based on how challenging the hike had been so far, we opted for an early start and were hiking by 6:30 am. This ended up being my favorite day. Just after Bunnyrabbit Lake the views were gorgeous, and it really felt like we were scaling mountains.

We took a long break at Silver lake (below, left) before continuing on. For a while, the trail leveled out and things were a lot smoother and quicker going than before. Along the way we passed the spur trail to Silver Peak, the highest peak in the La Cloche Mountains which we opted to skip.

We hit another section of ups before cruising a gorgeous quartzite ridge for a while, hitting some more ups and downs before we spotted Little Mountain Lake and our campsite below.

Little Mountain Lake ended up being one of my favorite campsites — really nice water access and that swim hit so good.

Day Four: Little Mountain Lake to Three Narrows Lake

We got up early again on Day four for another 10+ mile day and made coffee and hot breakfast on a peak after hitting another steep ascent (day I say literal climb?) from camp.

Side note, the toilet situation. Here you can expect stump privies at the campsites, BYO toilet paper. As you can see this toilet at Little Mountain Lake is not all that private, in full view of camp. We had much discussion over that a simple shorter chain would’ve at least made it so that your behind is sheltered from camp view. Very funny.

It’s also worth noting that on several sections of the trail, we passed people spot camping outside of campsites, which is not allowed. Obviously do what you have to do in an emergency (ie, you’ve sprained ankle and you’re waiting for help), but the best thing you can do to mitigate your impact and leave no trace is come prepared for the hike, and wake up early enough to get to the campsites you’ve reserved. Also worth noting that falling and twisting an ankle is a very real possibility on this trail.

Keep in mind when planning your route that people do not make it to their designated site, whether they overestimated their pace or got lsot at some point and lost time that way. We passed probably around three people not camped in designated sites. Plan ahead so this isn’t you!

One of my favorite parts of day four was the view over Three Narrows Lake. I thought this was the best view in the whole of the trail. After this view, we headed down for a while before eventually hitting the “medium Cascade”, a waterfall in the forest. The trail basically runs down the waterfall, so come prepared to scale a damp cliff. It’s actually small potatoes compared to t to some of hte other things you’ll see on this glorious little hike.

After the waterfall, you’ll be treated to what I thought was the nastiest “hill” off the whole trip, complete with a loose rock ascent, and a literal climb that it did occur to me if you fell you would get super hurt. Wild.

We made it into three Narrows Lake around 3:30pm with our 6:30 am start and a few generous breaks. This was another close favorite day for me, the views were just awesome and the trail wasn’t so hard as the first few days so I actually enjoyed it a little more.

Toss your email below for more Great Lakes adventure ideas!

Day Five: Three Narrows Lake to Cave Lake

Day five was another long day for us, but the trail is a lot easier after Three Narrows Lake. A good case for clockwise would be that this part of the trail, while easier, felt nearly anticlimatic compared to the the really stunning views of the first half of the trail.

There were still a couple of nice views along this section of trail but in all honesty we tackled it pretty quickly since the bugs were bad (brutal, I’m writing this three days after finishing and I’m still itching all over. I had like 15 bites on each shoulder). Funny enough I think I would’ve also loved these campsites if they were our first sites, but since we started with Proulx, they seemed pretty average by comparison.

We also absoultely could’ve hiked all the way out this day. We made it to camp around 3, and because we had the permits decided to stay and enjoy the wilderness for ne last day, but it was pretty dang buggy, both with mosquitos and biting horseflies.

We also opted to skip the side trip to Topaz Lake — it was pretty poplar with the day hikers and being on the last night of our trip, hanging out at a popular lake seemed like a bit of a vibe killer.

Day Six: Cave Lake to the car

Cave Lake was not a super swim-friendly site, but it was actually really lovely and we had a nice time. The hike out involved a couple of beaver dam crossings and of course the bridge that’s out. I recommend if water is low crossing up where the river narrows instead of at the bridge. I didn’t even get my feet wet there.

Overall, La Cloche Silhouette was gorgeous and challenging. I’m really glad I did it, and I’d recommended it especially for intermediate backpackers looking for a challenge, or more experienced hikers.

Love reading about La Cloche Silhouette? Share this article on social media or save it for later!