A wooden boardwalk that floats across the water sounds like something from a postcard, but it's real, and it sits in Huntsville, a small town in Ontario's Muskoka region. The Hunters Bay Trail has become one of the area's standout walks, especially in autumn when the surrounding maple trees turn the whole bay red, orange and gold.

The trail itself runs 4.6 km and welcomes walkers, runners and cyclists. It starts at the Centre Street bridge near Uponor and follows the river under an old railway trestle, along the south side of Hunters Bay, through Avery Beach Park, and under the Highway 11 bridge to East Airport Road. It's an easy, mostly flat route, so it works for casual walkers and families rather than only serious hikers. You can also ride it on a bike if you'd rather cover the ground faster.

The floating boardwalk section is the headline act. It carries you out over the water, and in peak fall colour it's the kind of scene that fills camera rolls. It's also not an isolated path: the boardwalk forms part of the Trans Canada Trail, better known as The Great Trail, the world's longest network of multi-use recreational trails. That system stretches roughly 24,000 km from British Columbia to Newfoundland and up into the Yukon and Northwest Territories, linking all 13 provinces and territories. Hunters Bay is a small but scenic piece of something enormous.

Getting there is simple. The boardwalk access point is at Main Street West, just off Highway 11, which makes it an easy stop if you're already driving through Muskoka. Huntsville is around two and a half hours north of Toronto, so it fits neatly into a fall day trip or a longer cottage-country weekend.

Why bother? Muskoka is famous for its lakes and fall foliage, but popular lookouts can get crowded on peak weekends. This trail offers a quieter, water-level way to take in the season, with the added novelty of walking on a boardwalk that sits on the bay itself. Combine it with a wander around Huntsville's small downtown, coffee stops included, and you have a low-effort, high-reward autumn outing. Go mid-week if you can, and aim for late September through mid-October for the best colour.

Story credited to Curiocity.