Lion's head trail and lookout is known as one of the most beautiful trails and lookouts in Ontario and it is a must to do hike when you visit the Bruce peninsula. If you are going from Toronto, like we did, wake up as early as you can. It is around 3.5 hours drive and you need to be there before 9:00 am on week ends to be able to find a spot in the parking lot. On weekdays however it is less crowded. We went on a weekday at 10:00 am and there was several parking spots available.
Currently, you only can reach the Lion's head lookout from the McCurdy parking lot. When you park there, you will find the entrance of the trail just in front of you. The parking is $5/hour with max $30/day. If you are planning to hike until "the" lookout point, I recommend you pay for at least 3 hours.
Following the white lines on the trees, keep walking along this trail for about 2 km. The trail is mostly rocky so it might take longer than expected. Nonetheless, it is LOVELY ! Even though it was raining when we went, which made the trail more slippery and fairly difficult, we enjoyed every minute of this hike.
Along the way you will find lots of side trails marked by blue lines on the trees, unless you are planning to spend the whole day in this area, I suggest you stick to the main trail heading to the Lion's head lookout.
After about 2 km, you will reach a crossroad, you will take a left there and walk through a paved trail for a short while (0.5 km) until you reach another fork from which you will take right to merge into the main Lion's head lookout trail. A full map for the trail is shown at the end of the this article.
You will continue moving north (another 0.5 km) until you reach the lake where you will find the first lookout. No words can describe the serenity and beauty of this place. All I can say is, go and see for yourself.
You can now head back if you are really tired. However, I strongly recommend that you continue walking to the second lookout. Keep in mind that the distance from the first to the second lookout may seem small (a little more than 0.5 km) but it is the most challenging part of the hike. You will have to do some minor rock climbing to pass some areas and you need to be fairly fit. Still, it is an enjoyable hike and the destination is totally worth it. You will finally be rewarded by being on top of the Lion's Head.
And now, you can head back along the same trail to the parking again, and you get to re-enjoy every part of this gorgeous trail one more time. It rained even more heavily on our way back and it was still extremely enjoyable.
Below is the path of the trail. What you need to follow is the white lines on the trees, this trail is just to show you roughly the general direction. You can open it in google maps here or click on the star in the map below to save it in your own maps in google maps. You can also checkout the trail on Alltrails which is more accurate, but it is outdated and does not include the part from the parking until you merge to the main Lion's head lookout trail.
I hope you enjoy this hike as much as we did. Let me know what you think about this hike in the comments below and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Checkout more hiking trails in Tobermory and our complete itinerary.
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