Restoule Provincial Park, 8818 Highway 534, Restoule, ON P0H 2R0

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Restoule Provincial Park’s 2 kilometre River Trail was an interesting, if not buggy hike. The somewhat hilly trail started along the river and then turned to take us through the upland mixed hardwood forest. There were a large variety of mushrooms in the forest but not many wildflowers, at least not at the beginning of July. We saw quite a few different species of ferns and even spotted some deer during our hike.

From the parking lot, we walked across this bridge to get to the trail head. The bridge had a lot of open slots that would have been quite dangerous for Maya but luckily there were walking paths made by boards that ran parallel with the bridge’s length.

From the bridge there was a wonderful view of the Restoule River. Bring your binoculars to spot some interesting boards the live and feed along the river.

The newer trail signs are quite colourful and informative. They show you a few common animals you might spot along the trail, as well as landmarks to help you determine where you are in relation to other things.

Another view of the river from the trail head.

The trail started by running parallel to the river.

We could see some of the group camping sites across the river and spotted a sandy swimming spot for Maya, which we took her to later in the day.

This White Admiral Butterfly was enjoying a patch of sun on this beautiful day.

We found some unripe blueberries along the trail before it turned into the upland forest. We didn’t try any while we were at Restoule because it was just too early in the season for them to be ready.

There were mushrooms growing out of the side of trees, on rotting woods and out of the forest’s rich humus. There were so many mushrooms along this trail that I had to do a separate post just for them.

The deciduous, hardwood forest was quite lovely but it was very buggy. It had rained quite a bit earlier in the day while we were traveling between Arrowhead and Restoule so the forest was ripe for the biting bugs. You will definitely need some good insect repellent.

River Trail joins up with Gibs’ Trail, which is a long linear trail that is suppose to be quite difficult. The trail goes through undeveloped Crown land and is said not to be very well marked or maintained. This is the only trail we didn’t do because we didn’t have enough time during our stay and because we aren’t particularly found of linear trails.

There weren’t very many wildflowers along the River Trail but near the trail head we did spot some Yarrow (picture above) and some St. John’s Wort.