Hike Haliburton 2026: Canada’s Largest Hiking Festival

Four days of free guided hikes across the Haliburton Highlands as fall colours peak

📍 Get Directions Full Schedule

Now in its 23rd year, this free four-day festival sends hikers across the Haliburton Highlands’ 2,000+ kilometres of trails and 500+ lakes, guided by local volunteers who know the land best, right as fall colours reach their peak.

🎉 FREE 🥾 35+ guided hikes 🍁 Peak fall colours 👨‍👩‍👧 All ages & abilities

💡 Online registration opens August 17 at 8:30 AM and fills fast — guided hikes require advance sign-up, so plan to register the moment it opens.

Why Go Schedule Registration Beyond Hikes Essentials Getting There Tips FAQ

✨ Why This Festival Stands Apart

Established in 2003, Hike Haliburton has grown into Canada’s largest guided hiking festival, and the thing that genuinely sets it apart isn’t the scale — it’s who’s leading the way. Every one of the 35-plus guided hikes is led by a local volunteer, not a paid tour guide, and that distinction matters. These are people who’ve spent years, sometimes decades, exploring the specific trail they’re walking you through, and their enthusiasm shows. As festival organizers put it, it’s the volunteers and leaders who make the difference, because they’re genuinely passionate about where they’re hiking and what they’re sharing.

The setting does plenty of the heavy lifting too. The Haliburton Highlands span a chunk of the Canadian Shield with more than 500 lakes and over 2,000 kilometres of hiking trails woven through forest, rock, and water — and the festival deliberately times itself for late September, right as fall colours hit their peak. Some hikes explore public trails you could find on your own; others take you onto private land you’d never otherwise access, guided by someone who has a personal connection to that specific piece of ground.

It’s also grown well beyond a pure hiking event. Farmers’ markets, arts and culture stops, live entertainment at local venues, and ColourFest in the Village of Haliburton all run alongside the guided hikes, giving the whole festival a genuine community-wide feel rather than a narrow outdoor-recreation event. The closing weekend traditionally wraps with a picnic and live entertainment at Head Lake Park — a fitting way to bring four days of trail time back together in one place.

🗓 Four Days at a Glance

Guided hikes and events run throughout the festival, with the specific hike schedule published through the online registration portal.

📝 Registration

Online registration opens Monday, August 17 at 8:30 AM and is required to join any guided hike. This year’s festival runs registration through a new platform, PheedLoop, specifically to fix a common problem: in past years, some participants reserved multiple spots for large groups or double-booked overlapping hikes without attending all of them, leaving empty spots that others couldn’t fill.

The new rules are straightforward but worth knowing before you start: one registration equals one participant, using their own email address. If you’re registering more than one person, you’ll need to log out after each registration to reset the window before starting the next one.

✅ Already registered but need to change your schedule? Log back in with the same email, and hikes you’ve selected will show a red button — click it to drop that spot and free it up for someone else.

🎨 Beyond the Hikes

Hiking is the anchor of the festival, but it’s far from the only thing happening across the Highlands during these four days. Farmers’ markets, arts and cultural sites, and live entertainment at local venues round out the schedule, alongside ColourFest, a dedicated event in the Village of Haliburton celebrating the season’s fall foliage.

For those who want a more specialized outdoor experience, paid excursions with local adventure outfitters are also available to book separately — a good option if you’re after something more technical or guided than the free volunteer-led hikes offer.

📋 Essentials

🚗 Getting There & Parking

Because hikes are spread across the entire Haliburton Highlands rather than one central venue, your exact destination depends on which hikes you register for — trailhead locations will be provided as part of your registration confirmation. Head Lake Rotary Park in the Village of Haliburton is a good central starting point and hosts the festival’s traditional closing events.

Plan for driving between sites: The Haliburton Highlands cover a large rural area, so if you’re doing multiple hikes across different days, budget driving time between trailheads and consider basing yourself centrally in Haliburton Village or Minden.

💡 A Few Things Worth Knowing Before You Go

⏰ Register the moment it opens. Popular hikes fill quickly — mark August 17 at 8:30 AM on your calendar if there’s a specific hike you don’t want to miss.

📧 Register everyone individually. The new PheedLoop system requires one email per participant — log out and back in for each person in your group.

🍁 Time it for peak colour. Late September in the Haliburton Highlands is prime fall foliage season — the festival’s timing is deliberate, so expect some of the best colour of the year.

🚗 Book accommodations early. Hike Haliburton draws visitors from across Ontario and beyond, and it’s a peak weekend for the local tourism economy — lodging can book up well ahead of the festival dates.

🥾 Choose your hikes by difficulty, not just scenery. With over 35 guided options, hikes vary widely in length and terrain — read the description carefully before registering to match your fitness level.

❓ Common Questions