Planning Your Unforgettable Vacation to Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes, and it spends most of its life being underestimated for it. The name comes from a Wyandot word often translated as "lake of shining water," which is closer to the truth. It is deep, it is busy, and it is the only Great Lake that never touches Michigan. Here is how to plan a trip around it.

Small on the map, deep in the water

Ontario covers the least surface area of the five, but do not mistake that for shallow. It drops to 802 feet at its deepest point, which is enough water to keep the whole lake from freezing over in winter the way its shallower siblings do. Even in January you will find open water and the strange, steaming quiet of a lake that refuses to ice up. It sits at the bottom of the Great Lakes staircase, the last basin before the water heads down the St. Lawrence River and out to the Atlantic.

That position at the end of the chain is the key to everything else about it. Ontario is where the whole system finally empties, and it carries the weight of it.

Where the water comes from

The lake is fed by the Niagara River, which pours in from Lake Erie, along with the Trent, the Oswego, and the Salmon rivers. Prevailing winds and currents push sand along the eastern shore, building bars and spits that close off lagoons and shelter long, quiet beaches. Behind those beaches sit some of the largest freshwater wetlands on the Great Lakes, and those wetlands are why the birds show up. Ontario's eastern marshes are a major stop on the Atlantic flyway, so spring and fall bring waves of migratory birds through the reeds and shallows.

The Falls are the headline act

You cannot talk about Lake Ontario without talking about Niagara. The Falls are what feed it, the last dramatic drop as Erie's water falls roughly 170 feet and then runs the last stretch of the Niagara River north into Ontario. Stand on the observation deck at Niagara Falls State Park (the oldest state park in the country, opened in 1885) and you are watching the source of the lake you came to see. The sound arrives before you do. It is worth building a full day around, and it works from either country, though the wide panorama of the Horseshoe Falls reads best from the Canadian side.

Two shores, two countries

The lake belongs to New York on the south and Ontario, Canada on the north, so the first real decision is whether you are packing a passport. Both answers are good ones.

The New York side

The American shore runs from the Niagara River east toward Rochester and the Thousand Islands, and it leans rural and quiet. This is cottage-and-cabin country, the kind of place where lodging comes with a dock and a view of the water instead of a lobby. Small towns like Wolcott, Sodus Point, and Oswego make easy bases, close to the lake and the rivers that run into it.

The Canadian side

Cross the border and the mood changes. Niagara-on-the-Lake trades cottages for wineries and grand old hotels, and an hour east the Toronto waterfront brings the full city version of the lake: harbor patios, ferry docks, and a skyline that treats Ontario as its front yard. It is a genuinely different trip depending on which shore you wake up on, which is most of the fun.

State parks, trails, and open water

If the goal is fresh air, the New York park system stacks a dozen parks within a short drive of the lake and the Falls. Three worth the stop:

• Whirlpool State Park, where the Niagara River takes a hard turn and churns into a genuine whirlpool below the gorge rim.
• Devil's Hole State Park, with stone stairs down into the gorge and trails along the rapids.
• Golden Hill State Park, home to the 1875 Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse right on the lakeshore.

Between the parks you can hike the gorge, cast a line (Ontario's salmon and trout runs are the stuff of fishing-trip legend), or sit on the grass and do a productive amount of nothing. Over on the Toronto side, the Humber Bay parks give you butterfly gardens and miles of waterfront biking trails, and both pair well with an early start and a sunrise over the water.

Eat like you crossed a border

Lakeside menus on both shores start with the catch: salmon, bass, and trout pulled from the same water you have been staring at all day. From there the Canadian side earns its reputation. Order poutine at least once (fries, cheese curds, and gravy, and no, there is no light version). Chase it with a BeaverTail, which is fried dough and not what the name suggests, and pick up real maple syrup and a basket of wild blueberries before you go. It is honest, generous food served with a fair amount of national pride, and it will have you planning the next meal before you have finished this one.

Bring the water home

The thing about a trip built around a lake is that the lake keeps its shape long after you leave. That is what a wood chart is for. Every layer of birch in a Lake Ontario wood chart is a real depth contour, so the 802 feet you read about above is carved into the piece, stacked layer by layer to the true shape of the basin. Prefer the whole system? The Great Lakes wood chart holds all five in one frame, Ontario included, right where the water finally spills toward the sea.

When you are ready to put your stretch of shoreline on the wall, explore the full Great Lakes collection and find the water you know best.