Silver Lake forms a portion of the boundary between the geographic townships of Somerville and Bexley.

[3][5] It is the southernmost lake in a chain of reservoirs feeding the Trent-Severn Waterway at its highest point.

The primary outflow, at the southeast, is also the Gull River, which flows to its mouth at Balsam Lake.

[2][3] The lake sits atop the dividing line between the Precambrian granite Canadian Shield to the north, and the Paleozoic and Ordovician limestone to the south.

[9][10] Large areas of forest were destroyed on either side of the lake, but no injuries or substantial damage to cottages was reported.