Just off the 7 · 15 min north of Kaladar on Hwy 41
Northbrook
The Land O' Lakes service hub — and the best stock-up before Bon Echo.
Why detour
If Kaladar is the crossroads, Northbrook is what the crossroads leads to: the main service village of the Land O’ Lakes country up Highway 41 — groceries, gas, hardware, food — and, with neighbouring Cloyne just up the road, the smart place to load up before Bon Echo Provincial Park.
That makes Northbrook the practical anchor for the corridor’s biggest side quest: anyone camping at Bon Echo, cottaging on Mazinaw, Skootamatta or the surrounding lakes, or riding the trail network north of the 7 ends up passing through, usually twice a day. Plan your ice-and-firewood stop accordingly.
Keep driving north past Cloyne and you’ll reach Plevna, home to the North Frontenac Astronomy Park — a proper public observatory with a 16-inch research telescope, in a township that was Canada’s first certified Dark Sky Preserve. It’s a different, darker, more serious stop than the L&A viewing area south of Kaladar — if one dark-sky detour wasn’t enough, this is the other one.
The fourth-Saturday open mic in the little hall at Harlowe, up Gull Lake Road off Hwy 41. Five dollars at the door, two for anyone who brings an instrument and takes a turn, and refreshments on.
Blackjack, Texas Hold'em, roulette and more at the Lions Hall on Hwy 41. $20 gets you $1,000 in play money, there are prizes to play for, and a light lunch follows.
An afternoon of live music at the Lions Hall on Hwy 41 — kitchen and cash bar open, 50/50 draw. $5 for non-musicians, everyone welcome. Last Sunday of the month.
Thursday nights at the Land O' Lakes Lions Hall on Hwy 41 — cards on sale at six, first game at seven. The same hall that hosts the Saturday market, doing the other half of its week.
The Land O' Lakes Lions bring Santa to Northbrook, and this year's theme is Christmas Through the Ages, so expect floats and costumes from old-fashioned Christmases through to today's. The club says the time and route will follow.
An afternoon of live music at the Lions Hall on Hwy 41 — kitchen and cash bar open, 50/50 draw. $5 for non-musicians, everyone welcome. Last Sunday of the month.
Santa first brought his North Pole Workshop to Northbrook five years ago, and it's back, with Santa, his elves and a morning of Christmas fun for families at the Lions Hall.
Logging and mining-era artifacts and a reconstructed schoolhouse in Benny's Lake Heritage Park, right on Hwy 41 in Cloyne — open daily 10–4 from late June to Labour Day. The natural culture stop on a Bon Echo run.
A public 9-hole course on Hwy 506 in Cloyne, north of Northbrook — the only golf within nearly 65 km, so it's the answer for anyone cottaging on Mazinaw or Skootamatta. Formerly Hunters Creek, rebranded under the NINE banner; full kitchen and bar, and an award-winning junior program (Golf Canada's 2024 Grassroots Junior Golf Program of the Year).
1198 Hwy 506, Cloyne · Checked Sep 2026 · the course's own site, ninegolfcloyne.ca
A serious step up from a roadside dark-sky pull-off — a public observation pad beside a 16-inch research telescope, in a township that was Canada's first officially certified Dark Sky Preserve. Free parking, accessible washrooms, electrical service. About 20 minutes off Hwy 41 near Cloyne.