Sharbot Lake is situated near the cities of Ottawa and Kingston on the southern flank of the Canadian Shield -- a billion-year-old expanse of exposed Precambrian bedrock.

Its sparse and rugged landscape supports a diverse, mixed forest of maple, oak, birch, butternut, and hickory. Red ash, sumac, cedar, and hemlock grow on top of the rocky ridges that rise abruptly above the lakeshore.

Flowering plants include sarsaparilla, trillium, hepatica, morning glory, and Solomon's seal. Much rarer are Indian pipes (a saprophytic, lacking chlorophyll), ladies'-tresses (an orchid), and delicate maidenhair fern.
Animals and birds include raccoons, chipmunks, loons, turkey vultures, and ospreys. If you're lucky, you may spot an osprey or a great blue heron. Frogs, turtles and several species of harmless snakes live in the marshy fringes and long grasses.