Nothing beats hitting the trails on a beautiful summer day.
It’s important to be prepared for anything, especially if you’re new to hiking at Ontario Parks or any other wilderness trail.
We teamed up with our friends at Taste of Nature to create these key tips to make sure you have a safe and enjoyable trip:
Continue reading 4 tips for a safe hike
Park-lovers are natural explorers, and we love our visitors’ passion for adventure.
Sometimes, we see our visitors create their own shortcuts by cutting through sensitive habitat. This is otherwise known as creating a social trail.
Social trails can have a wide range of damaging effects on protected areas, and we’d like to ask our visitors to always stay on designated trails.
Continue reading Why social trails are damaging to provincial parks
Black Bears live across Ontario in forested areas where they can find enough food, shelter, and denning sites. Our provincial parks are their home, and over 90% of our parks are in bear country.
A safe bear sighting during one of your adventures with Ontario Parks can be a lasting memory. Educating yourself about bears before your visit is important and the mark of a responsible park visitor.
We want to share space with bears, keeping our human visitors and all our wildlife residents safe.
If you’re planning a visit, here are some important safety tips about Black Bears:
Are you new to parks, or maybe a park veteran looking to brush up on your knowledge?
We’ve assembled a handy guide to all the terms you’ll need to know and understand before you visit the park…
Forks of the Credit Provincial Park is a beautiful park west of Toronto. It offers excellent hiking, picnicking, and fishing opportunities, as well as cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in winter.
But the secret is out on this hiking destination located close to home! Forks of the Credit can experience large crowds of visitors, especially on summer weekends.
As the park’s popularity has grown, so has our need for visitors to put extra thought into being respectful. Visitors should plan ahead to avoid large crowds, potential fines, or being turned away at the park gate.
Continue reading How to plan your day trip to Forks of the Credit
Matt Cunliffe started at Ontario Parks in 2006 and has spent over a decade working as a park interpreter and an assistant park planner, and is now a Discovery Leader at MacGregor Provincial Park. An avid trail user and self-proclaimed nature geek, when he’s not on the clock, you’re likely to find him onto a new discovery somewhere in one of our parks.
Spring has sprung and I, like many Ontarians, cannot wait hike and bike as many trails as I can.
While you’re getting your gear ready for the next adventure, here are some tips to help you prepare and minimize impacts while you are out enjoying the trails.
Continue reading Hitting the trails? Know the etiquette before you go
Pretty River Valley Provincial Park is nestled into the Niagara Escarpment, and is an important part of a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. The park is home to a multitude of species, ecosystems, and sensitive habitats, all of which Ontario Parks is trying to protect.
Your actions as a visitor can help us keep this unique park a haven for the many organisms that call it home, as well as a beautiful place for generations of park users to visit.
Continue reading What to know before visiting Pretty River Valley Provincial Park
We can definitely recommend “losing yourself” in our provincial parks by delighting in the sights and sounds of nature, and living in the moment.
We do not, however, recommend getting actually lost.
Park visitors get lost more often than you’d think. It can be a scary, stressful, and dangerous situation. It can also result in complicated and expensive search-and-rescue operations.
While we know no one sets out to get lost, there are steps you can take to make sure it doesn’t happen to you.
Today’s post comes from Quetico Superintendent Trevor Gibb.
Quetico Provincial Park is primarily known for its world class backcountry canoeing opportunities.
However, once the lakes freeze and snow blankets the forest, the park transforms into a wilderness winter wonderland.
New Year’s Day is coming up fast — have you picked out a park for your First Day Hike?
This 10-park list rounds up some top options for your first foray into 2021:
