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

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Emily

Emily Provincial Park is located at 797 Emily Park Road in Omemee, ON. Lying on scenic Pigeon River, the park is known for its recreational activities - namely swimming, boating, fishing, and paddling. As a result of its location, the park is often used as a base to explore the Kawartha Lakes, or boat up the famed Trent-Severn Waterway. I visited this park in July 2025.

History

The history section will be added soon.

What the Park Offers

Emily offers:
- innumerable docks and boat slips
- a large, sandy beach near the camping section
- 2 boat launches, both well located near docks
- a large dog beach (no human swimming)
- fishing, particularly good for pike and muskie
- two trails and flat park roads, great for biking
- a gateway to the Kawartha Lakes

There are two short trails, being:

Fern Trail - 0.5km, easy

This short trail is visually similar to the Marsh Trail, just much further north. Accessed from West Cedars Campground, the Fern Trail walks along a wide, log-guided path towards the dog beach, park store, and day use area. The trail shows off unique species of ferns (see "interesting species").

Marsh Trail - 0.5km total, easy

At the southern end of the park is the Marsh Trail, offering scenic views of the Pigeon River marsh. Two picnic benches offer beautiful lookouts, while granting you access to the Marsh Boardwalk.

Marsh Boardwalk - currently 200m, easy

The Marsh Boardwalk Trail originally stretched from the Marsh Trail to a small lookout tower on the "island", yet half of the trail was closed last year. Fortunately, the trail still offers unique and scenic views. Staff are working to reopen island access.

Visiting the Park

Drive in the park. You are greeted by the park office and a choice. Head left towards the campgrounds, or right to the day use area.

Heading left, first you'll see Cedars Campground, on both your left and right. After the road curves left, you'll see a large waste disposal area and group camping, before the road curves back right. Circle Campground is on your left, Hill Campground is on your right, and Hilltop Campground is straight ahead - as is the south boat launch, Marsh Trail, and beach.

Heading right instead, you'll first see both the trailer dump and fill stations, before accessing the playground and park store parking lot. The playground and dog beach are in front of you, with Fern Trail to your south.

View from the dog beach.

Interesting Species

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

Spike the Snapping Turtle, found outside the front office.

Unique species of ferns, especially on the Marsh and Fern Trail.

Large amounts of aquatic vegetation, including lilypads

Marsh critters hiding amongst the large cattails

Tips and Advice

Visit nearby Emily Tract.
Use this park as a base to explore the Kawartha Lakes.
Book in Hilltop Campground - large sites with a great location.
Take the recommended walking/biking route (right)
Book this park as a relaxing weekend - just to sit on the dock or in your boat to fish, & not much more.
As of July 2025, East Cedars Campground and the northern portion of the Marsh Trail are closed. This does NOT affect the route pictured on the right, and barely affects your camping experience at all.
If the boat launches at Emily are being used, head across the Peace Road bridge and left onto Cowan Road - there is a free public boat launch there as well. (image below)

SPOTLIGHT: Marsh Boardwalk

Although some might be displeased with having a provincial park on such as marshy river, Emily has found the happy medium. To an extent, Emily has fought the river and created two "marinas", and a sandy beach (with very little weeds inside the buoys). But on the other hand, Emily has embraced their marsh, most notably with the Marsh Trail. The Marsh Boardwalk section of the Marsh Trail is easily the best part of it, even if half of it is closed. As previously mentioned, there used to be a lookout platform (pictured far right) on the island in the centre of the river, but it was removed due to safety and environmental reasons. Regardless, the staff have been working to fix the boardwalk, and hopefully it is back to its former glory soon.

Opinions

Nash

This park reminds me a lot of Ferris - just how it feels. Although this could easily be blamed upon them being in the same general location, it's more than that. It's the way that they're layed out, being sat on the east bank of a river with a town and bridge to the north, and more. And even though Emily offers swimming, I think Ferris was more scenic (which is my kinda camping). Regardless, great recreational park, if that's your thing. It's still a 5/10.

Map: https://www.ontarioparks.ca/pdf/maps/emily/park_map.pdf

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