Portage Landing is where Bala’s history steps out of the water. This designated heritage property on the shore of the Moon River, between the channels of Bala Falls, has been a natural landing for well over a century — a place where the river’s eddies push watercraft toward shore and travellers have portaged around the falls for generations. Explorer David Thompson mapped the route in 1830, and in October 1881, Mohawk families carrying everything they owned portaged here on their relocation from Oka, Quebec to the Gibson Reserve.
What makes Portage Landing remarkable is how untouched it feels. Purk’s Place boat livery has operated from the landing since 1906 — the only building that has ever stood here — and the site deliberately keeps no artificial lighting, no modern structures. Precambrian Shield rock, a flat-rock resting area at the water’s edge, native wildflowers and simple footpaths frame a breathtaking outlook over the Moon River.
Stand here and you’re on one of Ontario’s oldest canoe routes, linking the Musquosh and Moon Rivers to Lake Muskoka. During the Bala Cranberry Festival, the landing hosts the farmers market — the old portage still serving the community, just as it always has.