The 255.8-kilometre (158.9 mi) highway serves as the primary corridor through Algonquin Provincial Park, where it is dedicated as the Frank McDougall Parkway.

The triangle-shaped area bounded by Highways 11, 17 and 60 is largely uninhabited wilderness dotted with lakes and muskeg.

It travels northeast from there, briefly passing through Haliburton County before crossing into Nipissing District and entering Algonquin Park.

Moose and deer are very common through Algonquin, especially at night and in the morning, and present a major driving hazard.

[4] The 56-kilometre (35 mi) journey through Algonquin Park offers some of the most famous scenery in Canada, including vistas of numerous lakes and geological formations that have been captured in the arts of Group of Seven painter Tom Thomson among others.

It passes through Madawaska, encountering Secondary Highway 523, then curves southeast into Renfrew County.

The route enters Barry's Bay, where it turns east and meets the southern leg of former Highway 62, where a concurrency with it began prior to 1998.

[2] At that time, the highway ended in Lake Dore, north of Eganville and was 218.2 km (135.6 mi) long.