Field Guide / 025 / 134

RegionDysart et al, Ontario

Best WindowLate May through October for hiking,…

Verified2026-05-03

Dysart et al.

45.05° N78.50° W28 activities▲ 2 signature7 strong23 named places

01 — Abstract

Dysart et al is the amalgamated Haliburton-County municipality that combines nine geographic townships around the Village of Haliburton on Head Lake. Glebe Park, on Head Lake's north shore, holds 175 acres of trails plus the Haliburton Sculpture Forest's 40 sculptures and six benches in a maple woodland alongside the Haliburton Highlands Museum and Fleming College's Haliburton School of Art + Design.

The 35-kilometre Haliburton County Rail Trail runs south from the village to Kinmount along the former Victoria Railway corridor, where it joins the Victoria Rail Trail toward Lindsay. North of the village, the privately owned Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve covers 80,000 acres, with the Wolf Centre's resident timber-wolf pack visible through one-way glass and over 400 kilometres of mountain bike trails and gravel roads.

Sir Sam's Ski/Ride at Eagle Lake, founded in 1965, offers 12 groomed alpine runs in winter and 23 kilometres of cross-country and downhill mountain biking in summer. Most of the municipality sits within a few hours' drive of the Greater Toronto Area via the main highway corridor north through Haliburton County.

02 — Conditions

Today's read.

Air Quality

6

aqhi · moderate

UV Index

5.8

scale 0–11

Humidity

29%

relative

Wind

16 km/h

West

Temp

+26°

H 26° · L 7°

Sun

05:29 / 20:55

15h 26m daylight

A+

GOOD DAY TO BE OUTSIDE

Real-time conditions updated; AI field notes unavailable.

9-day high · 7° → 26°

03 — Claims

On the record.

Every claim sourced. Click through to the original.

04 — Featured

9. activities
worth your time

▲ signature · 2strong · 7also available · 19

Strong

01May through October; year-round walk…

Hiking

Glebe Park's 175 acres on Head Lake hold the most accessible network in the village — multi-use loops including the ~5-kilometre Glebe Park Loop, all reachable from the trailhead at 297 College Drive next to the Sculpture Forest. South of Haliburton, the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust's Barnum Creek Nature Reserve at 1118 Gould Crossing Road carries seven kilometres across three named routes (Heritage Hike 5 km, Waterfall Way ~0.75 km, Ridge Trail 1 km) through mature maple, marsh, and mixedwood forest. Sir Sam's Historical Interpretive Hiking Trail at Eagle Lake, the 2-kilometre High Falls Trail, and the village's Head Lake & Drag River Trail round out the named municipal options.

Read field guide arrow_outward

Strong

02May through November (non-motorized…

Cycling

The Haliburton County Rail Trail runs 35 kilometres south from the village of Haliburton to Kinmount along the former Victoria Railway corridor, an 1878 line abandoned by 1992 and converted to public trail. At Kinmount it joins the Victoria Rail Trail south to Lindsay and Bethany, giving riders close to 120 kilometres of continuous rail-trail connecting cottage country to the Trent–Severn corridor. Surface is gravel and stone dust through Gelert and Kinmount, with rivers, waterfalls, and heritage bridges along the way; the trail is non-motorized exclusive April 2 to May 1 and shared with permitted ATVs and snowmobiles by season.

Read field guide arrow_outward

Strong

03Victoria Day weekend through the wee…

Mountain Biking

Haliburton Forest's mountain-bike network covers over 400 kilometres of trails and gravel roads across the 80,000-acre private reserve, with day-use riding offered from Victoria Day weekend through the weekend after Thanksgiving. Sir Sam's Ski/Ride at Eagle Lake operates a separate bike park with 23 kilometres of cross-country and downhill trails accessed by chairlift in summer; the resort has run as a ski-and-bike destination since 1965. Glebe Park's multi-use trails inside the village offer a third, smaller set of cross-country options on Head Lake's north shore.

Read field guide arrow_outward

Downhill Skiing & Snowboarding in Dysart et al

Strong

04Mid-December through mid-March, snow…

Downhill Skiing & Snowboarding

Sir Sam's Ski/Ride at 1054 Liswood Road operates 12 groomed alpine runs above Eagle Lake — the alpine anchor of Haliburton County since the resort's founding in 1965. The hill is family-scale rather than resort-scale: short lines, hilltop views over Eagle Lake from the Eagle View Observation Tower, and a chalet-centred operation. The same chairlifts run for fall-colour rides and summer mountain biking, making Sir Sam's a year-round destination on a single property.

Read field guide arrow_outward

Strong

05Mid-December through early March

Cross-Country & Nordic

Glebe Park's Nordic ski trails wind through 175 acres of maple woodland on Head Lake's north shore, offering both classic and skate-ski options on the same network that hosts walkers and the Sculpture Forest in summer. Haliburton Forest adds a separate groomed network inside the 80,000-acre reserve. Glebe Park's village-edge access (297 College Drive, free parking) makes it the easier base for visitors without a vehicle deep into the township.

Read field guide arrow_outward

Strong

06December through March; outdoor rink…

Snow Adventure

Haliburton Forest's snowmobile network runs roughly 300 kilometres of double-tracked trail up to six metres wide, with guided tours and machine rentals on site. The Haliburton County Rail Trail opens to permitted snowmobile use December through March. Glebe Park keeps a separate snowshoe network where fat-biking is also permitted, and the municipality maintains three outdoor skating rinks during the freeze. Together this is a genuine winter recreation stack — bigger than most cottage-country municipalities offer outside dedicated alpine resorts.

Read field guide arrow_outward

▲ Signature

07Year-round; daily wolf-howl programm…

Wildlife Viewing

The Haliburton Forest Wolf Centre, opened in July 1996 inside the 80,000-acre private reserve, holds a resident pack of timber wolves in a 61,000-square-metre enclosure visible through a one-way observation window. The Wolf Centre carries the Ontario Signature Experience designation and remains the public-facing wolf-viewing facility most associated with central Ontario. The companion museum and interpretive program covers wolf biology, pack behaviour, and Algonquin-region wolf research, and the property's evening wolf-howl events are scheduled around the resident pack's vocal cycles.

Read field guide arrow_outward

Strong

08Late May through October

Aerial Experiences

The Walk in the Clouds canopy tour at Haliburton Forest carries visitors along a treetop boardwalk through the privately managed 80,000-acre reserve — one of the few canopy-walk experiences in Ontario, run as a guided seasonal program with naturalist interpretation. The route covers a section of mature mixed forest at canopy height; the same property hosts ground-level forest hiking and mountain biking, so a canopy tour can be paired with a longer day in the reserve.

Read field guide arrow_outward

▲ Signature

09Year-round; Sculpture Forest trails…

Heritage & Culture

Glebe Park, on Head Lake's north shore at 297 College Drive, holds the Haliburton Sculpture Forest's 40 sculptures and six benches by Canadian, Indigenous, and international artists, arranged along trails through a maple woodland that has been growing the collection since fall 2001. The same 175-acre park houses the Haliburton Highlands Museum and Fleming College's Haliburton School of Art + Design, making it one of the few Ontario sites where an outdoor sculpture gallery, a regional museum, and a credit-bearing arts campus share a single trail network. The Haliburton Forest Logging Museum adds depth on the forest-history side, north of the village.

Read field guide arrow_outward

04b — Also available