Kinomagewapkong, the rocks that teach, is the largest known concentration of Indigenous rock carvings in Canada. Roughly 900 figures were pecked into soft marble with harder granite between 500 and 1,000 years ago. It is a National Historic Site, an active sacred site, and most people in Toronto have never heard of it.
Pick your date below. The bus leaves from 34 Asquith Avenue, just north of Yonge and Bloor.
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Cancel 14 or more days before you go and you get 90% back.
A Parkbus guide is with the group for the whole day. You are not expected to know the trail, the route or the plan, and nobody gets left behind.
Flat and short, on even ground, with no climbing and no rush. This is a walk rather than a hike, and you set the pace.
The site is called Kinomagewapkong in Anishinaabemowin, which means the rocks that teach. The carvings were made between 500 and 1,000 years ago by Algonquian-speaking people, pecked into soft white marble using harder granite.
They sit inside a glass panelled pavilion with a seven sided ceiling and a circular walkway around the outcrop. It is a National Historic Site and it is an active sacred site for the Nishnaabe community. No photography is permitted inside. You look, you listen, and you remember it.
A short walk away is McGinnis Lake, one of roughly a dozen meromictic lakes in all of Canada. Its layers of water never fully mix, which turns it a startling turquoise green against pink granite and white pine. You cannot swim in it, because the sediment on the bottom is scientifically significant, but you can stand on the rock and watch the light move.
Nine hundred figures, five hundred to a thousand years old.
Everything is within walking distance of the Visitor Centre.
We pick you up
Just north of Yonge and Bloor subway station. Come up the Asquith exit and look for the coach.
A circular viewing walkway around the marble outcrop, inside a glass panelled pavilion. Ontario Parks staff share the stories and the cultural context, informally, and you can ask anything.
Good to know:
Note: The no-photography rule is one of the conditions that allows the site to be open to visitors at all. Please honour it. You can photograph anywhere else in the park.
One of about a dozen meromictic lakes in Canada, where the layers of water never fully mix. Turquoise green against pink granite and white pine.
Good to know:
Three loops run from the Visitor Centre through red and white pine forest, marsh boardwalks and granite outcrops.
Good to know:
We drop you back
The bus returns to the same place it left from, so you go home the way you came.
This is our estimated return time, not a guarantee. Traffic can change it and some trips do run late, so please leave yourself some room afterwards rather than booking something tight against it.
Easy walking on uneven ground, mostly outdoors.
The site remains spiritually significant to the Nishnaabe community, and the no-photography rule inside the pavilion is one of the conditions that allows public visitation while respecting cultural protocols. It is strictly enforced, and we ask everyone to honour it.
You can photograph anywhere else in the park.
The Park Store inside the Visitor Centre sells coffee, tea, cider and snacks, but nothing that amounts to lunch. There are picnic tables and stone fireplaces near the centre, and flush toilets at the Visitor Centre.
This one runs in the warmer months. Dates appear here when they open in the booking system.
Placeholder dates · the real ones come from our booking system
We're Canada's outdoor bus service. Since 2010 we've taken more than 300,000 people to parks and trails without a car. You bring a lunch. We handle everything with wheels.
A Parkbus guide runs the day. At the carvings, Ontario Parks staff take over, because the cultural interpretation belongs to them.
Roughly 900 figures: turtles, snakes, canoes, human figures with antlers.
McGinnis Lake is one of about a dozen meromictic lakes in the country, and it is an extraordinary colour.
Two hours back after a long day on your feet.
★★★★★ 4.6/5.0 on Google
“I just recently went on my first guided tour with a friend of mine from work. And man, was it amazing! Speaking from someone who doesn’t drive. This is a must!!”Linda Ann · Facebook · Jun 2024
I have always had excellent experiences with Parkbus. I have been to many of their destinations, and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. The ambassadors have been knowledgeable and friendly. The drivers drive safely, and with the passengers’ comfort in mind.Sharlene Haye · Google
Came with my friend in April, our guide Mike did a great job! Nice tour, small group, everything was great! Will go again!Natalia N. · Tripadvisor · Jul 2025
Cancel more than 14 days before departure and you get a 90% refund, with 10% withheld for payment processing. Inside 14 days refunds are not available, except for a medical emergency in the 48 hours before departure, which needs a signed doctor’s note within 14 days of the missed trip and returns 50%. Tickets are transferable: you can change the passenger name up to 48 hours before departure.
If Parkbus cancels a trip, you get a full refund. We decide no later than 48 hours before departure and only on confirmed conditions: the park closed or the park authority asking us to stand down, an evacuation order or alert, an area restriction order, the highway closed, or the trip judged unsafe to run. A forecast is not one of those things, and trips run rain or shine.
Two hours out, several hours on the ground, and two hours back that you sleep through.
Not quite the right fit? These all leave from the same spot downtown.
