Charleston Lake Provincial Park is a Park set on Charleston Lake, which has 75 km of shoreline. I am not fond of canoeing on big lakes, I prefer smaller lakes, marshes, rivers where I have a better chance of seeing wildlife. However, if you are adventurous, give it a go and they have two other lakes you can portage to: Killenbeck Lake and Redhorse Lake. We only stayed 4 nights here but that was enough for me.
They have 1/2 dozen trails and we walked a couple of trails which were interesting, especially the Sandstone Trail. The Sandstone trail is only 2.6 km but it is a nice walk. The highlight is a rock shelter that was used over 1,000 years ago by Aboriginal peoples.
Rock Shelter 
You had to pay attention on the trails, lots of ups and downs and rocks and roots 
View from the trail 
We also did the Shoreline Trail, 2 km loop which followed the shoreline, hence the name lol.
The Hemlock Ridge Trail, 1.7 km loop was also pretty good, it followed the water for a while and we had to clamber over some big rocks. There are four other trails ranging in length from 2 km to 10 kms long. It rained a lot while we were there and also I had a knee issue, so I was not able to do quite as much as I normally would have done.
Hemlock Trail 
This was not part of the trail but I thought it was pretty interesting
They have a cute dog beach and picnic area, we always go and check out the dog beaches! I love to watch their happy faces as they romp in the water lol I can’t find any photos so I guess I didn’t take any which is too bad.
They have three campgrounds, a Group campground and a handful of back country sites. I don’t know why but I probably won’t be back to this park, although I never say never……….My husband enjoyed it.
Our campsite 
One of the Group Campsites, they were really nice but none were by water
We did drive into Gananoque one day, this is the Gateway to the 1000 Islands and basically a quaint tourist town. While there, we stopped at Gananoque Brewing Company and picked up some beer. The had an IPA I really liked.
While we were in the town, we parked and walked down to their waterfront. They have a river with a small waterfall at one end and luckily for us, we saw a heron standing in the waterfall. As I have mentioned before, we take our cameras everywhere so we were able to get some shots.
Heron blending in with the scenery
Another day we drove to Dunder Rock Conservation Area which is a 230 acre wilderness area. There are three trails and we did a shorter one, I was having a really bad knee day. The trail we did went through woods and down to water at different spots. I believe we had to pay $10 to get in and park in order to do the trails. Where we live, we purchased an annual pass to do the Conservation areas, the passes and payments are worth it. We enjoy going to different Conservation areas and hiking.
We also stopped at Jones Falls and walked around that area. This is part of the Rideau Canal National Historic Site. Lots of history here and we really enjoyed it. It was raining so one day I would like to go back and explore this area further.
So that’s Charleston Lake, off to Murphy’s Point Provincial Park tomorrow !
Trums Travels 