This is a guide for the city-owned conservation area. For the provincial park, see Emily.

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Emily Tract

The Emily Tract is a city-owned conservation area located in Cowan's Bay, ON; near Omemee. Despite not being related, it is often confused for Emily Provincial Park, which is uncoincedentally just up the road. The tract offers unique wildlife viewing, interesting terrain, access to the shallow yet clear Chatten's Creek, and a cool place to hike/bike when visiting the area. I visited in July 2025.

History

The Emily Tract is approximately 180 acres, and has a fairly simple story to tell. The land was first used by agriculturalists in the area, clearing trees in hopes of finding fertile soil. And after failing to do so, they abandoned the "useless" land. Said land became one of the first parcels purchased by the County of Victoria, and after joining with a few other pieces of land (including some Pigeon Riverfront property), the county opened the park to the public in 1928. By the 1930s, the county attempted restoration, by replanting red, white, and Scots pine in the formerly cleared areas. You can tell which areas are which by where the pine trees are unnaturally straight (showing signs of plantation).

The Emily Tract was named after the township of Emily. This township was one of many making up Victoria County, before the county became known as Kawartha Lakes in 2001. The township itself was named after Emily Charlotte, daughter of Lord George Lennox.

Information sourced from the park entry sign, and this website.

Emily (Emilia) Charlotte Lennox Source

What the Park Offers

The Emily Tract offers very simple amenities, like:
- mountain biking on both trails
- horseback riding, permitted on all trails
- nature appreciation and study, in a unique area
- interpretive signs throughout the park
- a great place to explore while staying at Emily

There are two multi-use trails, being:

Loop 1 (Red) - 1km, easy
Starting from the parking lot, loop 1 passes numerous unique sites complete with signs, including the Ancient Pine (an old growth white pine dating back to the early 1800s), Chatten's Creek (a coldwater fish habitat offering great birdwatching), and the Frog Pond (a natural marsh with a variety of amphibious species). It also features a very cool effect where you are atop a hill, with valleys on both sides of you (see tips and advice and SPOTLIGHT). Very cool trail.

Loop 2 (White markers, blue on map) - 1km, moderate
Unlike Loop 1, this trail actually crosses Chatten's Creek on a small footbridge (that moves quite a bit when crossing). After this, you see a spot called "Fern Corner", which includes 4 distinct kinds of ferns, being the fragile, maidenhair, marsh, and lady fern. After this, you wind up and down a hill before returning.

Visiting the Park

Drive in, park and hike.

Interesting Species

Note that the photos in this section are not explicitly from this park, they are good photos of species that live here.

Old growth white pines

Red, white, and Scot's pine plantations

Coldwater fish habitat

Ferns

Tips and Advice

Visit from Emily.
Stay on a low gear while biking loop 2.
Take note of the excessive tree fall. These trees weren't cut down - they came down during the ice storms of early 2025. See bottom right.
Below is the picture of the "valley on both sides of you" I mentioned in the trail guide section. It's part of Loop 1. (see SPOTLIGHT)
When returning to Emily P.P. (if you are), stop at the Cowan Rd. boat launch, right under Peace Road bridge.

SPOTLIGHT: Valley on Both Sides

The image on the right does not do justice to how funny it feels to be on a thin hill with crevices to your left and right. It's very unique to have escarpments be so thin, but here we are. Not to mention the fact that the trail goes straight down the centre of it, letting you enjoy it easily. This may sound underwhelming by how I'm describing it, but it was pretty cool, as I've never seen such a thing before. Be sure to ride down here when visiting.

The frog pond on the right, some erosion on the left. Picture from Loop 1.

Opinions

Nash

A fun little bike ride when visiting Emily. I recommend as there truly isn't much else in the area. A solid 7/10 for what it is.

There is one map on the park sign. I made a better version below.

Emily Tract

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