The Dorset Scenic Tower was constructed in 1967 for public use and stands 100 feet or 30 metres off the solid rock of the Canadian Shield, overlooking the town of Dorset, Ontario and Lake of Bays. On the same spot, a functioning forest fire lookout tower stood since 1922. That tower stood 82 feet high and was part of massive system of towers built to protect the Muskoka and Central Ontario from the threat of forest fires.
Dorset, Ontario Scenic Tower
The Dorset Tower is a simple steel structure that was surplus from the DEW line – the series of towers in the Arctic that comprise the Distant Early Warning line to stop those damn Soviets from blowing up North America.
It now costs $6 per vehicle to enter the park surrounding the tower. That is very good bang for the buck, especially if you’ve got a minivan load. Not so long ago, it was free to visit and was completely unsupervised.
My first experience with the Dorset Tower came in 1992 under unfortunate circumstances. A friend of mine had died in an accident near the end of October that year. It came as such a shock since the friend, Doug, was so active, vibrant and full of life.
The following month, at the end of November, Doug’s father asked a few of us to help him out for a weekend, closing up their family cottage on Lake of Bays in Dorset for the winter. There were four of us that took the drive up. Two had been to the cottage several times. Myself and another were going for our first time.
I don’t think we actually did anything that resembled closing a cottage for the winter. However, I think Doug’s father appreciated the company. I’m sure that was the intent from the beginning.
We were young and determined to celebrate Doug’s life. We drank and tried to enjoy the peace and quiet only the month of November could really bring to this area. The vacationers from the summer months were long gone and the snowmobilers and ice fishermen were still a ways away.
But, we all seemed to be waiting for something. We talked about it after, and we all agreed that in the back of our minds, we were all waiting for Doug. He worked through his teen years in the town of Dorset and it seemed like we were waiting for him to get away from work for the evening, walk through the door and get the party started.
Finally, after enough drinks and enough time, the four of us decided to get dropped off at the short road leading to the Dorset Tower. There was no gate attendant back then. There was no gift shop at the foot of the tower. Certainly, there were no washrooms. Just a tower.
Today, the tower creaks and moans and slightly sways in the wind. It somehow seems safe because you paid to get in. Back in 1992, half drunk and with night rushing on, it certainly had a risky feel about it.
However, we climbed it and enjoyed the view. I believe we engraved something into the steel rafters of the observation level. If we did, I’m sure it’s still there. Nothing has been erased from this graffiti board of time.
The real adventure came on the way back to Dorset and the cottage. It was getting dark fast and walking back by the road and highway 35 would be a long time walking at night. We decided to find a way down the cliff face in front of the tower.
We found, if you go a little to the left, it was still steep but somewhat manageable. The alcohol helped and we mastered a technique of sliding in the dirt and grabbing onto trees. Soon, we were covered in dirt but back at the cottage.
The next day, we decided to conquer the cliff again. This time in broad daylight and up instead of down. This time, we didn’t take a shot or two or three of bravery. We made it more than halfway up before trouble began, for me anyway.
I lost footing on a slightly sloping rock ledge, not enough to fall but enough to lose my nerve. At around that time in my life, I’d been experiencing nearly crippling panic attacks for the first time in my life. Standing on that rock ledge with what suddenly looked to be no way up or down, I was experiencing one in full force.
I won’t drag it on, Hollywood style. I hummed and hawed for several minutes and may have even whimpered a bit. Eventually, I was able to take the step I needed to take and somehow got my courage back. I was able to climb the rest of the way to the top.
Having just lost his only son a month before, Doug’s dad wasn’t completely impressed by our antics. When we later went to a set of rapids on a nearby river with rock walls on either side, he quite approved when I opted out of some tight rock climbing done by two of the others.
So, that’s my tale of my first visit to Dorset, Ontario and the Dorset Tower. The town is located about a half hour east of Bracebridge, Ontario and a half hour south of the southwest entrance to Algonquin Provincial Park.
The following HD Video was taken on the same day in August, 2013 as they above images. Take a look. Switch to the highest quality settings. Hit the ‘Like’ button!
Dorset Scenic Tower Video
Just a side note. I wrote this for you. I wrote this for Doug. Mostly, I wrote this for me. While sitting at the funeral back in 1992, I promised Doug that I would ensure his spirit of adventure and his love of life would live on in me. Often, I have kept that promise. Other times, including lately, I have not. This digital file taking up a relatively minute amount of space on the internet is here to be a constant reminder of that promise I made.
