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Summer Activities in Collingwood & Blue Mountain
 Beaches
Over two million people visit the Town every
summer to stroll the shores of the Wasaga's freshwater beach,
the longest fresh water beach in the world (stretching 14 kilometres/8.7
miles)
Swim in warm clean waters and enjoy the panoramic
mountain views across the Bay. There are endless recreational trails
that are used for hiking, cycling, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling.
The Nottawasaga River offers game fishing and great canoe routes to
explore.
The beach is divided into smaller beaches with the public
beaches numbered 1 to 6 sequentially from east to west. Its position
on the waters of Nottawasaga Bay means its summer temperatures are moderated
somewhat by the water, so summer days are much more comfortable than
Toronto's scorching days.
Beach Area 1
If you crave the smell of
suntan oil and the hustle and the bustle on the shore, stick to Beach
Area One, home to shops, restaurants, nightly entertainment, This is
where the crowd is younger and the bathing suits are skimpier.
 This
is also the site of Wasaga's new Special Events Venue, where you'll
find everything from exciting beach volleyball tournaments, Corvette
Weekend (Beach Cruize), Vintage auto displays to Kitefest and Fireworks.
But Wasaga Beach Provincial Park has eight beach area (entry
fees for vehicles only), each with its own washrooms, change facilities
and picnic tables. As a rule, the farther west you go, the quieter and
less crowded the beaches become. Families stake out picnic tables and
set up camp for the day, building sand castles, reading paperbacks and
relaxing in the sun. As for Nottawasaga Bay itself, remember that you
can wade out quite a distance in the shallow water and sandbars, making
it ideal for children.
Fractured plates of shale that form this Georgian
Bay shore tell an ancient story. The rock contains invertebrate fossils
455 million years old. Now, the flat rock is ideal for launching a sailboard,
fishing or watching a spectacular sunset. At the base of Collingwood's
Blue Mountain, it's a short trip to Wasaga Beach, the Bruce Trail and
historic Huronia.
On the shore of Georgian Bay, just west of the slopes
of the Blue Mountains, Craigleith is easily visited via Highway 26.
The name Graigleith comes from the Gaelic (rocky bay), probably
bestowed by an early settler of the family of Sir Sandford Fleming.
William Pollard developed an shale oil extraction works in the mid 1850s.
An Ontario's Historical Plaque at the east end of Craigleith Provincial
Park on the north side of Highway 26, dedicates 'The Craigleith Shale
Oil Works 1859' in which a growing demand for artificial light led to
the establishment, in 1859, of a firm headed by William Darley Pollard
of Collingwood.
He erected a plant here to obtain oil through
the treatment of local bituminous shales. The process, patented by Pollard,
involved the destructive distillation of fragmented shale in cast-iron
retorts heated by means of wood.
The 27 to 32 tonnes of shale
distilled daily yielded 950 litres of crude oil, which was refined into
illuminating and heavy lubricating oils. The enterprise, the only one
of its kind in the province's history, failed by 1863. The inefficiency
of its process made its products uncompetitive after the discoveries
of "free" oil at Petrolia and Oil Springs, near Sarnia.
One of the last remaining wooden CNR stations is
located here amidst acres of lilacs that blossom profusely every spring.
Craigleith Provincial Park offers visitors a carefree relaxing experience
while Northwinds Beach is home of Board Sailing in Ontario.
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Craigleith
Provincial Park