Snowmobiling Guide For Eastern Ontario

Eastern Ontario's lakes, forests and farmland beckons snowmobilers who come for the crisp, old-fashioned winters and the warm hospitality that make Eastern Ontario famous. Encompassing a huge triangular area located between Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in the south, and Algonquin Park and the Ottawa River on its northern edge, Eastern Ontario also borders on Quebec and boasts approximately 10,000 km (6,600 mi.) of groomed OFSC snowmobile trails.

From the Greater Toronto Area, snowmobilers can trailer to staging areas as close as Port Perry, where TOP Trail E108 heads east toward communities as diverse as Campbellford, Pembroke or Smiths Falls. For out-of-province riders looking to get on the snow sooner, this gateway region is a great place to start. It is most easily accessible by trailer from New York, Pennsylvania and New England via various crossings along the St. Lawrence River. Quebeckers can cross by snowmobile at several designated Ottawa River ice crossings. Once there, both Trans Ontario Provincial (TOP) trails and regional trails fan out to points north and connect to the rest of the vast OFSC trail network.

Eastern Ontario features the Rideau Lakes, one of Ontario's most popular cottaging and tourism destinations, as well as some of the province's most historic and established communities. Snowmobile trails are an integral part of winter here, where fuel, food, service and lodging are plentiful, but trails remain uncrowded.

Whatever your pleasure, Eastern Ontario offers great riding opportunities among many rural communities and around the nation's capital, Ottawa. And because Eastern Ontario is so close, you do less trailering and more riding.