Thirty Thousand Islands

The Thirty Thousand Islands are described as the world's largest freshwater archipelago, stretching about 200 kilometers along the eastern shore of Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada, from Beausoleil Island in the south to French River Provincial Park in the north. The islands expose the wind scoured granite and gneiss of the Canadian Shield, dotted with wind bent pines and large glacially deposited boulders. In 2004 UNESCO designated the surrounding area the Georgian Bay Littoral biosphere reserve, covering 347,000 hectares of coastline. The archipelago's rugged rock and water scenery drew repeated attention from the Group of Seven, Canada's influential landscape painters.