Book excerpt: "Fabulous excursions via backroads explore and celebrate Ontario in special ways. Backroads of Ontario gives travelers the information and maps they need to explore Ontario in a new and creative way. It invites them to exit the noisy busy highways and take a trip through Ontario's countryside and its history: silent ghost towns, charming villages, century-old mills and farmhouses, dramatic cliffs, prime picnic spots, architectural curiosities, an amethyst mine, an underwater graveyard of shipwrecks and so much more. This guidebook has been used by thousands of travelers as they have discovered some of the province's most unexpected places. In this fifth edition, new information updates the old, including new attractions and the most current routes and directions. There are 26 trips, each illustrated with photographs and accompanied by an easy-to-follow map. Trips range in length from afternoon outings to weekend excursions and all lead to out-of-the-way places within easy driving distance of Ontario's major cities."--