Ignace Parks - Day Parks and Provincial Parks

Ignace has two day parks in the community. Both have pristine beaches, change rooms and picnic pavilions. Just north of the town is Sandbar Lake Provincial Park and south of the community is the Turtle River/White Otter Wilderness area.

Sandbar Lake Provincial Park

Sandbar Lake Provincial Park is located off Highway 599, just north of Ignace. The park has a beautiful sand beach with spotted sandpipers and has excellent fishing for walleye and northern pike. The park is a starting point for canoeists seeking challenging routes. The campground has 74 campsites including 37 sites with electricity. All campsites are close to comfort stations and showers. You can view a map of Sandbar Provincial Park here. There are two group camping sites at Sandbar Lake that can accommodate up to 100 people. The group camping area is within walking distance of comfort stations, the beach and hiking trails. The fees and the opening and closing dates of Sandbar Provincial Parks can be downloaded from the Ontario Provincial Parks website. Click on the Northwest Region. View any special events at Sandbar Lake Park on the Special Events page of the Ontario Parks website. Select the park you are visiting to find any events.

Other facilities a Picnic and Day Use area, park store, showers, flush toilets, laundromat, play area, boat launch and canoe and kayak rentals. Day visitors can spend the day at the beach, swim in the lake and have a picnic. There are also restrooms and a playground in the day-use area. The park store has firewood and other merchandise available. If you are bringing your boat to go fishing or boating, the boat launch is in the center of the park, west of the beach.

Sandbar Lake Park Activities

Hiking
The Silhouette Trails is a 1.5 km (1 hour) moderate hike that takes you through jack pin woods, aspen forests and wetlands. There is also a short side trail (0.7 km) that leads to Savitsky Lake.

Fishing
The lakes in and around the Sandbar Lake Provincial Park are teeming with northern pike, walleye and smallmouth bass. A fish-cleaning station, with lights, running water and cutting tables is located by the boat launch.

Canoeing
From Sandbar Lake, you can paddle numerous challenging canoe routes, including the 160-km Sandbar-Press Lake Loop, which takes between nine to 12 days to complete and passes several pictograph sites. You can rent canoes and kayaks in the park.

Wildlife Viewing
Keen-eyed visitors have glimpsed the elusive lynx as well as the more conspicuous moose, white-tailed deer, beaver, otter and painted turtle. Watch for spotted sandpipers darting across the beach, loons on the lake, grouse underfoot and Canada jays, red-winged blackbirds and woodpeckers above.

Boating
All boats are allowed on Sandbar Lake with this caveat: high winds turn this shallow lake into choppy waters.

Swimming
A sandy beach, shallow water and a buoyed area make Sandbar Lake ideal for family swimming. Sandbar Lake, the largest of 10 lakes within the park's boundary, has a fine sandy beach -- courtesy of a postglacial outwash plain. Over many, many years, much of the deposited material has eroded away, leaving the beach long and narrow.

For more information on Sandbar Lake Provincial Park, visit the Ontario Provincial Parks website or call 1-888-668-7275 for reservations. To contact the park directly please call 807-934-2995 in the summer or the office in the winter at 807-223-7535.

Turtle River/White Otter Provincial Park

The Turtle River/White Otter Provincial Park is considered a waterway class Provincial Park and there are no facilities. The waterway extends from the mouth of the Turtle River at Little Turtle Lake to Agimak Lake, south of the town of Ignace. The area includes a 200 metre deep strip of land on each side of the Turtle River, White Otter Lake and other waters included in the park. A portion of the Eagle/Finlayson moraine in included within the park. Backcountry canoeing and fishing are the main recreational activities. There is great walleye, smallmouth Bass, northern pike and lake trout fishing. Consisting mainly of a chain of interconnecting lakes, the waterway includes several drops in elevation and some whitewater opportunities. Surrounded by a transitional forest zone, the land features some old-growth pine, as well as the Eagle-Finlayson moraine. White Otter Lake is the home of the "White Otter castle" which was built by one man (Jimmy McOuat) near the turn of the 19th century. The rugged landscape of the park features some of the oldest rocks on earth. A large moraine and many pictographs are also found within the park. White Otter Lake has 250 kms of shoreline with amazing cliffs and many wild life viewing opportunities.

Outboard motors may be used in the park, although most people choose to paddle the area in a traditional canoe. It is not necessary to pre-registration for entry into the White Otter Wilderness. In order for non-residents of Canada to camp, you'll need "Crown Land Camping Permits". There are certain restricted areas. "Green Zones" have been established near access points to White Otter. Non'residents of Canada are not permitted to camp overnight in an area designated as a green zone. Lakes & Waterways that are in a restricted Green Zones include Pekagoning Lake, Grey Trout Lake, Manion Lake, Petit Lake, Clearwater West Lake,Turtle Lake, Crowrock Lake, Dashwa Lake, Eye Lake, Marmion Lake and sections of the Turtle River and Little Turtle River. Many canoe outfitters in Ignace or Atikokan will help you plan your route so that you will pass through these areas in the daytime and you will not have to stay overnight inside them.

There are many different cane routes in the area. Outfitters can fly you to many different destinations for one way trips or any number of loop trips can be enjoyed without the use of a floatplane.

For more information on Turtle River/White Otter Provincial Park, visit the Ontario Provincial Parks website or call 807-223-7535.