Parking
Use the Jack Pine Trail parking area at Achray Campground; the trail area lists parking and toilets. A valid park permit is required.
Overview
About Jack Pine Trail
Why go
- An easy 45-minute walk ends at Grand Lake and an interpretive exhibit.
Heads up
- Regrowth obscures much of the scene, and the exact painting site is disputed.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Algonquin map
Full mapElevation225–248 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
4 active Algonquin alerts
- ClosureProvoking Falls Bridge ClosedThe Provoking Falls bridge on the Highland Backpacking Trail is closed because of safety concerns; the bridge has been removed. - Use the posted reroute, which adds 2.5 km.Official details
- CautionLow Water on Backcountry Canoe RoutesOntario Parks currently lists low-water alerts for six backcountry canoe-route sections: - Varley Lake from Carl Wilson Lake - Latour Creek north of Rosebary Lake - Carcajou Creek north towards…Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Algonquin Tour Guide
Your drive to Jack Pine Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Algonquin Provincial Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Algonquin audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Achray and the Jack Pine Site0:00 / 0:34
“You're coming up on Achray, with sandy beaches on Grand Lake and a short walk into Tom Thomson's painting story.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Algonquin Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Turtle’s Shell Through Winter
- When a Pond Becomes a Meadow
- When a Lake Mixes
- High Falls Trail Access
- 107 audio storiesacross Algonquin’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Moose, Eastern Wolf, Black Bear, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 39 trails, 66 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Jack Pine Trail
A quick walk from AchrayJack Pine Trail is an easy 1.6 km (0.
Jack Pine Trail is an easy 1.6 km (0.99 mile) out-and-back from Achray Campground to the Grand Lake shore. Allow about 45 minutes. It suits visitors who want a short walk tied to Algonquin’s art and park history; the payoff is the lakeside stop, not a long route.
Follow the path to the shoreWalk the mapped dirt footway toward Grand Lake, then return the same way.
Walk the mapped dirt footway toward Grand Lake, then return the same way. The park rates the trail easy. Its published distance counts both directions, while the map here shows the physical corridor once.
What the plaque can and cannot showThe shore plaque is stop 6 of the Achray Historic Site Exhibit, whose panels cover the area's…
The shore plaque is stop 6 of the Achray Historic Site Exhibit, whose panels cover the area's history from 1914 to the present. Algonquin identifies this as the site associated with Tom Thomson's The Jack Pine, though the exact source location remains disputed and regrowth has obscured much of the scene. The plaque, pines and lake make a good composition, but expect a changed shoreline view rather than a match to the painting.
Access and practical detailsStart at the Jack Pine Trail parking area at Achray Campground; parking and toilets are listed…
Start at the Jack Pine Trail parking area at Achray Campground; parking and toilets are listed at the trail area. A valid park permit is required. Dogs are allowed on most park trails on a leash no longer than two metres; no specific Jack Pine restriction is listed. Achray Campground operates from mid-May to late October, but the trail's access outside that season was not established, so check before a winter visit.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Algonquin
1,237 sightingsMooseMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
245 sightingsEastern WolfMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
331 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
604 sightingsLoonMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
110 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
192 sightingsRiver OtterMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Algonquin. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
