Bon Echo is about a 5-6 hour drive from Sudbury, located in Bon Echo Provincial Park the cliff is situated on the east side of Mazinaw Lake,
offering multipitch trad climbing ranging in difficulty from really easy to scary and hard. An excellent location for beginners to complete
there first trad lead, or second on a multipitch route. It’s a long drive, but well worth it. Access to the cliff requires crossing the lake,
canoes or kayaks can be rented at the park.The Toronto alpine club operates a hut on the other side of the lake from the park camp sites, and even offers boat shuttles to the climbs in the morning and back in the evening. Which is awesome, because due to the restrictions on descent routes for the cliff, often times your canoe is no where near where you come down, and if it’s too cold too swim, or you can’t swim back to your canoe and boat shuttle would come in really handy.
The Toronto alpine club also links to a complete guide to Bon Echo, although many of the climbs are now off-limits due to the presence of Native pictographs at the base of some of the climbs.
If you’re going during the week when the TAC hut isn’t open, camping in the park and renting a canoe is a very convenient option. The other thing is you need to sign a waiver to climb there, and they actually ask to inspect your gear at the park office, which is king of weird, having somebody who’s never climbed trying to determine if what you have is safe, but hey, at least they still allow climbing.
Getting There: There’s probably a better way to get there, but here’s one way. Head west on Hwy 17 through Petawawa and turn south on Hwy 41 just as your passing Pembroke. Head south, staying on Hwy 41 for about 120 km until you reach Bon Echo Provincial Park, which will be on your left. There is some twists on turns on Hwy 41 as it merges and diverges from other highways.
Guide Books:
A Guide To Rock Climbs at Bon Echo – you can either buy it if you find it, or print it from the TAC’s website, linked below
Camping: At the TAC hut ($20/night for non TAC members) or at the Bon Echo Provincial Park (~ $25 - $35/night). The TUC hut only opens on weekends
Links: Toronto Alpine Club – Bon Echo - Information about Bon Echo and the hut
Bon Echo Gallery