Misery Bay is a freshwater

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

Manitoulin Island Manitoulin Island ( ) is an island in Lake Huron, located within the borders of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, in the bioregion known as Laurentia (bioregion), Laurentia. With an area of , it is the Lake ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. It is noted for its

alvar An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie ...

s and large dolomite

pavements Pavement(s) or paving may refer to: Surfacing * Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways * Sidewalk, a walkway along the side of a road, called a pavement in British English * Asphalt concrete, a common form of road surface * Co ...

ground flat by

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s. It also contains

gryke A limestone pavement is a natural karst landform consisting of a flat, incised surface of exposed limestone that resembles an artificial pavement. The term is mainly used in the UK and Ireland, where many of these landforms have developed dist ...

s and ecologically significant

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

History

Misery Bay was covered by the Laurentide Ice Sheet 20,000 years ago. It was only exposed 10,000 years ago, with most of the area being inundated with

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

water 4,000 years later. The land has been slowly rising since then as it is no longer weighed down by the glacier. The land surrounding Misery Bay was privately owned, purchased by the Sifferd family in 1959. A visitor's centre was built in 1982, and the land was donated to

Ontario Parks Ontario Parks is a branch of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks in Ontario, Canada, that protects significant natural and cultural resources in a system of parks and protected areas that is sustainable and provides opportuni ...

in 1989.

Provincial park

In 1989, Ontario created a provincial park containing Misery Bay and the surrounding forests. It covers 1,079 hectares and features 15 km of coastal and inland trails. A volunteer group, th
Friends of Misery Bay
runs the visitor centre and maintains the park. Misery Bay is the only provincial park that is entirely volunteer-run.

References

{{Reflist Bays of Ontario