Notable features of the park include the site of the former Fort La Cloche trading post and diabase dykes cutting through older Lorrain, Gowganda, and Bruce formations, as well as ridge and terrace forests, and various wetlands and shoreline vegetation.

The approximately 40-kilometre (25 mi) long Heaven's Gate Trail stretches from Fort La Cloche in the park through the conservation reserve to Highway 6 at Willisville.

[1] Fort La Cloche (46°6′48″N 82°4′36″W / 46.11333°N 82.07667°W / 46.11333; -82.07667[7]) was established probably around 1790 by the North West Company along the fur trade route, about 10 miles (16 km) east of the mouth of the Spanish River.

The factory consists of a large log-house and extensive store to contain the goods bartered with the Indians, and huts inhabited by work peoples, hunters, voyageurs and others; a small village in short."

[5] The English military officer and scientist John Henry Lefroy visited Fort La Cloche in May 1843 as part of his journey northwest from Toronto to attempt to locate the north magnetic pole.