Barron Canyon: Algonquin’s Best Easy Hike
In August of 2024, we visited Barron Canyon, known for being one of Algonquin’s best easy hikes. It’s a short loop that brings you to some of the park’s BEST views overlooking Barron Canyon. Here’s all the information you need to know about Barron Canyon before you visit!
Barron Canyon Stats
- Distance: 1.5km
- Time: 30 minutes
- Elevation: 100m
- Type: Loop
- Difficulty: Easy
- All Trails Link here
- Parking: Yes (found at the beginning of the all trails map)
- Washrooms: Yes (outhouse style right in the parking lot)
- Cost: Valid park permit for access to Algonquin Park – day use (if not staying overnight). This cost is 21$ per vehicle. If you plan on visiting the park on a regular basis consider a seasonal permit. All details can be found at this link.
- Pets: Yes – on leash
Our Experience at Barron Canyon
We visited Barron Canyon on a Sunday morning in August and expected there to be more people – however the weather forecast seemed to have deterred most people from showing up as we had the entire hike to ourselves!
The parking lot leads right to the trailhead and it’s less than 5 minutes until you’re at the first view point of the canyon. There’s really no right way to loop around – both ways will give you amazing views however we did start on the left side of the trail looping back down to the right of the parking lot.
There are numerous viewpoints along the top all with great views down the canyon – the best view being to the left! It will take you about 10-20 minutes to walk along the many different viewpoints (depending on how often you’re stopping for pictures). They are all similar, but slightly different angles of the canyon below!
For us, it was an extremely rainy day. There’s no barriers at the canyon edge, so this required some extra careful stepping along the rocks and making sure we were keeping our distance from the edge. The rain and the moody vibes of the park having it all to ourselves was so peaceful and really made for some great pictures.
Happy Hiking!
Barron Canyon is a great hike for everyone as it’s a short distance and not difficult. For those afraid of height – don’t get too close to the edge! Be sure to check out our other posts on Algonquin Park and different hikes and locations around the world. We also have more over on our thatch page for itineraries for other countries! Thanks for reading along and happy hiking!
