Craigleith Provincial Park, Ontario

August 2013

Craighleith Provincial Park is located on Georgian Bay between Collingwood and Thornbury. It is roughly a 1.5 to 2 hour drive from Toronto. The park is very small consisting of only 66 hectares of land and was mainly established to protect the unique landscape of fossilized shale and limestone rock.

 

The area is home to many fossils dating back over 450 million years when the park was covered by a salt water sea and is considered as having some of the oldest fossils on the planet. Trilobites, brachiopods, cephalopods and gastropods spanning anywhere from a few millimeters to several centimeters long are some of the types of fossil specimens that can be found.

 

Like most beaches and parks on the Georgian Coast, Craigleith offers some amazing sunsets. Some other nearby provincial parks of close proximity are Awenda Provincial Park, Sauble Falls Provincial Park, Wasaga Beach Provincial Park and Pretty River Valley Provincial Park.

There are numerous things to do nearby such as visiting Blue Mountain, hiking the Bruce Trail, exploring the Scenic Caves, swimming at nearby Wasaga Beach, canoeing the Beaver Valley and biking the Georgian Trail. The Georgian Trail is a 35 km linear trail that starts/ends in Collingwood and passes through the town of Thornbury to  Meaford. It is a flat limestone surfaced trail that follows Georgian Bay and at certain points provides some scenic views of the Bay. The great thing about this trail is that it passes by Craigleith Provincial Park.

 



Craigleith Provincial Park