125 Nature Hot Spots in Ontario: The Best Parks, Conservation Areas and Wild Places

A guide to the best places in Ontario to connect with the natural world.

The best-selling book of Ontario wildlands now features 15 additional destinations. This reader-friendly guide explores the remarkable splendor and diversity of the province, from its soaring clifftops, subterranean caves and thundering cataracts to the province's tallest white pine, the oldest rocks on Earth and the warbler capital of North America.

The guide is organized by region, and each destination includes a descriptive profile illustrated with color photographs and at-a-glance information about special features and contact details. Regional maps showcase locations. Some of these hot spots are surprisingly close to towns and cities, some are hidden urban treasures, and many are ideal for a day trip.

The new hot spots include the following:

• Kopegaron Woods is a 1.3-kilometre loop buffered by farm fields that is a quiet haven for naturalists, botanists and bird lovers.
• SC Johnson Rail Trail offers a beautiful vista of a large oxbow on the Grand River.
• Cambridge to Paris Rail Trail follows the Grand River and is studded with river overlooks.
• Rock Point Provincial Park features a limestone shelf embedded with 350-million-year-old fossils.
• Barnum Creek Nature Reserve is mosaic of habitats from hardwood, mixed wood, grassland, marsh and swamp that attracts wildlife and birds.
• Redbridge Mountain View Trail guides hikers to a gorgeous vantage point of the wilderness surrounding North Bay.
• Parrott's Bay Conservation Area features excellent bird and wildlife viewing opportunities.
• Point Petre provides an impressive glimpse into the geological history of this part of the Lake Ontario shoreline.
• Great Lakes Waterfront Trail through Kingston offers a peek into the city's history.
• Gould Lake Conservation Area is 589 hectares of Canadian Shield wilderness.
• Charleston Lake Provincial Park has excellent trails with good wildlife viewing and a vantage point from the highest peak in the county.

These family-friendly destinations will appeal to naturalists, budding botanists and biologists, photographers, hikers, campers and paddlers.

Other destinations include:

Southwestern Ontario -- Rock Glen Conservation's fossil beds, trails and Carolinian forest; Luther Marsh Wildlife Management Area's northern flying squirrels, Butler's garter snakes, and spotted turtles; Pelee Island's breeding marsh birds and world-renowned annual songbird migration.

Niagara Region -- The dramatic lower and upper waterfalls at Ball's Fall's Conservation Area; passerine bird watching in the Woodend Conservation Area; the Niagara Glen Nature Reserve's unique microclimate and plants.

Central Ontario South -- The Scarborough Bluffs' rock formations; the Minesing Wetlands' network of sensitive flora and fauna; Toronto's unusual lakeside reserve, Tommy Thompson park.

Central Ontario North -- The towering cedars and cliffs of Bruce Peninsula Park; Flowerpot Island's orchids; Huckleberry Rock, some of the oldest rock in the world; the peaceful idyll that is Silent Lake Provincial Park; three unforgettable trails in Algonquin Park.

Eastern Ontario -- Wintertime sightings of snowy owls, hawks and coyotes on Amherst Island; geological eras collide in Frontenac Provincial Park; spectacular views of lakes and forests from Foley Mountain and Rock Dunder.

Northwestern Ontario -- The iconic Sleeping Giant in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park; windswept Pukaskwa National Park; Ouimet Canyon with rare arctic plants growing at its base; spectacular 130 feet (40 m) plummet of Kakabeka Falls.

These family-friendly destinations will appeal to naturalists, budding botanists and biologists, photographers, hikers, campers and paddlers.