Going to Bruce Peninsula National Park from Toronto takes about 3.5 hours. Thankfully, Adam had gotten into a habit of sleeping until 7, eating quickly, then going back to sleep until 11, so the drive up was smooth. We were on the road by 8 AM with the baby comfortably asleep in the back seat next to the cooler. As we’ve learned on past trips (and later on this one), sitting in the back with the baby is NOT comfortable or fun – it is cute though.

 

We went to the visitors’ centre first, which is a few km past the entrance for Cypress Lake, where parking for the Grotto is, arriving at around 11:45. If you have reservations (which you need in the peak-months), there is really no reason to go to the visitors’ centre – the gatekeepers at Cypress Lake can answer any questions you have about the Grotto and provide you with a map. Your time slot for parking at Cypress Lake is 4 hours, so you should have an idea of what you’re going to do before arriving. We were told at the visitor centre that you can enter the grotto parking lot about a half hour before your time slot if you wanted.

At the grotto parking lot, before heading out, we gathered everything we thought we’d need – food for Adam (he is bottle-fed breast milk), extra diaper and wipes, water, Gatorade, sunscreen…everything but an extra outfit for the baby, which we would later regret! We used the baby sunscreen and “outdoor cream” (essentially bug spray) on Adam (we really should’ve used sunscreen and bug spray ourselves) and dressed him in short sleeves and long pants (to avoid a rash on his legs from the baby carrier).

We opted for the most strenuous hike to the Grotto, the Marr Lake Trail. This trail starts off on the Georgian Bay Trail, then turns out to the Marr Lake Trail, where it will eventually meet the Bruce Trail. This is NOT a stroller-friendly path – if that’s what you want, stick with the Georgian Bay Trail. The baby-carrier was really necessary, as the path climbs and dips over rocks and roots, giving it a really cool jungle vibe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first body of water you pass is Marr Lake, and there’s really not too much to see here. The path then comes out on a rocky shoreline separating Marr Lake and Georgian Bay, your first real view. You should be careful as it’s pretty easy to turn an ankle, especially if you’re not wearing good shoes or you are the one carrying the baby. Follow the path to the right to continue towards the Grotto (the left is the Bruce Trail and you can go to Overhanging Point if you want). The path is well marked until that point, but not so well marked from then on. The basic rule is following the shoreline as much as possible – the path often goes into the trees but always try to stick to the direction where the water is close on your left. There will be white trailblazes for the Bruce Trail (which you are now on), so those help. A useful tip we learned after getting lost a couple times is how to read the trailblazes – one rectangle means go straight, a second rectangle above to the right means go right at the next split in the trail, and left go left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a nice area for swimming shortly thereafter, but it’s not the best one we saw, but it has a grotto feel (rocky cliffs with the turquoise water) with much less crowds. The Grotto is just a bit beyond this point, following the path upwards until you reach the top of the Grotto.

 

The Grotto is not the most child-friendly place, to say the least. To get to the water, you need to climb down the side of the cliff. Doing so with a baby strapped to you was not easy, and an extra set of hands was needed in more than a few instances. It’s beautiful when you’re there and pretty cool to climb into, but if you’re going for a swim, this isn’t the place to bring your little ones. There’s a great spot for kids to swim later on. However, Georgian bay is notoriously cold, even in the middle of the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Grotto, you can hop back onto the Georgian Bay Trail (stroller-friendly) and head back to the car, or continue on, which we did. Just a few minutes past the Grotto you’ll get to Indian Head Cove, a large rock-beach which is much better for kids than the Grotto. While not stroller-friendly, the climb isn’t nearly as difficult as the Grotto.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right before Indian head cove there is a cool Natural Arch, something to see before heading to the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just past Indian Head Cove, following the Bruce trail markings, the path takes you to the best view of the day, where you get a great view of where you just came from along the Peninsula.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not far along the path after this is the best swimming – much less crowded than Indian Head and the Grotto, very easy access to the water, and a great spot overall.

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If you have an infant/toddler, just a few minutes after this is a bench, right before what we heard referred to as “Boulder Beach”. Here is where we stopped to feed and change Adam – we’ve learned that planning a halfway point to feed the baby is key to keeping him happy, hydrated, and comfortable – just be ready for some spit up all down your front when the baby is back in the carrier. Adam ate, but here’s where we realized we hadn’t brought a change of clothes – he’d peed right through his diaper and his clothes got soaked! We changed him, put his pants on the other way so less wetness would bother him, and kept going. There were two paths to choose here – meet up with the Georgian Bay Trail and head straight back to the parking lot or continue to the Horse Lake Trail, which would eventually reach the parking lot as well. We decided we wanted to extend the hike, and went towards Horse Lake, still on the Bruce Trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always remember to keep following the white trailblazes until you get to the Horse Lake Trail. It can be a bit confusing and tough to spot, but you should be able to do it without getting lost. The Horse Lake Trail was the easiest part of the hike and went rather quickly (our pace picked up when we saw 3 snakes – all the safe kind!) and we made it back to the car in about 2 hours and 15 minutes overall. This would have been longer had we gone swimming, so plan accordingly!

 

Doing this hike with a baby is pretty similar to most – make sure you’re prepared sufficiently (we’re still learning what that means) and always monitor your baby’s hydration level (if they’re not peeing, you need to get them out of the sun!). Our baby carrier also has a mesh that can cover the baby’s head so Adam stayed out of the sun and away from bugs for the most part, but we still made sure to apply sunscreen and outdoor cream according to the instructions on the bottle. The most difficult parts were by the Grotto and Indian Head Cove, where there is some wall-scaling required. This is tough with a baby carrier for a few reasons, so be prepared to lean on your partner to help you if you choose to be overly ambitious (like we were).

 

We left the National Park and decided to go explore Tobermory. The main part of the town is the port. Paid parking is in effect during the summer. It costs about $3 an hour. There are some restaurants and gift shops here. It s a nice quant little town. Not very stroller-friendly either. Most stores require you to walk up a few stairs to get in. From here there are cruises to Flower-Pot Island and the Fathom Five National Park, but we did not have time to do this. There are tickets for boat rides that take you around the ship wrecks in the water there then drop you off on the island, or there are boat rides that you stay on the entire time – I believe these are glass-bottom boats. These boat rides take about an hour (spends most the time getting to the island and only spends about 20 minutes getting back – skips the ship wrecks on the way back). We drove around Tobermory a little and came to the light house. There is not many directions you can go at the tip of the peninsula so everything is easy to find. The lighthouse was quant, but not a necessary stop. You can’t go inside the lighthouse, but there are some rocks around it in the bay that you can climb on. If you have time leftover on parking from the port, you can use this – you have to drive here though, it’s a long walk from the port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to go to another area of the park – Singing Sands – to eat dinner. There is a short boardwalk that is stroller-friendly. It’s a nice area for a picnic (and free if you’ve paid for the Grotto) and pretty, but not nearly as impressive as the area we had just been. Also – there were LOTS of mosquitos, so don’t forget the bug spray and net to put over the stroller to protect the baby. There are also decent bathrooms here with a baby changing station!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left Singing Sands just after 8:00. We had heard that sunset at singing sands is beautiful, and star gazing is quite popular up in the Bruce Peninsula, but we wanted to be on the major highways before it was too dark. Adam lost it as soon as we hit the road, so one of us sat in the middle seat between him and the cooler the entire way home. We got home around 10:30 PM. It was really a great day – not super strenuous, our Fit Bit said we walked about 14000 steps the entire day. we weren’t feeling physically exhausted, just tired from a long but great day.

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