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Sleeping Giant Provincial Park 2000
Photo courtesy of Tourism Ontario
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Niagara, Oakville, Hamilton, Jordan, Campbellville, Branford, St. Thomas, Kitchener, St. Catherines, Port Stanley, London, Windsor |
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| Black Creek This tract of shoreland along Lake Huron, part of which is dominated by a beaver swamp, has a good beach for swimming. Owen Sound |
Bronte Creek View living history demonstrations in an 1890s farmhouse. Take the children to the playbarn to pet the animals or romp in the outdoor playground. Camp overnight, swim in a huge outdoor pool, stroll along nature trails, and pedal your bicycle. In winter, skate outdoors, go tobogganing and cross-country skiing. Hamilton - Google Map |
| Cabot Head Cabot Head is a geologically significant area, featuring many interesting landforms. One of these is a section of limestone bedrock that geologists have called a superb example of a "karst pavement." The rock in such a pavement has weathered through naturally occurring acids. Outcroppings of Queenston shale and Manitoulin, Fossil Hill, Amabel and Guelph limestones are also found here. Owen Sound |
Craigleith Fractured plates of shale that form this Georgian Bay shore tell an ancient story. The rock contains invertebrate fossils 455 million years old. Now, the flat rock is ideal for launching a sailboard, fishing or watching a spectacular sunset. Owen Sound - Google Map |
| Darlington From the bluff, watch for migrating birds - warblers in spring, waterfowl and raptors in fall - or resident terns and plovers. In winter, skate on McLaughlin Bay or toboggan down the hills. Toronto |
Duncan Escarpment Due to seasonal extremes in temperature and the forces of gravity, large blocks of rock have broken away from the main face of the Niagara Escarpment. The gradual shifting downwards of these huge blocks has produced the crevice caves of the Collingwood-Blue Mountain area. The park's range of microclimates supports interesting cliff face vegetation communities. Owen Sound |
| Forks of the Credit Forks of the Credit is on the famous Bruce Trail. The park features the excitement of the Credit River, as it narrows and rushes through a deep gorge, plunging over a falls. Geological features that were deposited or carved out by retreating glaciers, such as kame hills and kettle lakes, surround the river. The park also includes some of the upland, rolling pasture land that is typical of much of southern Ontario. Toronto - Google Map |
Hockley Valley Hockley Valley is part of the Niagara Escarpment, created by a long process of erosion. Between Lake Erie and Ontario, the escarpment gives rise to Niagara Falls, then curves around Lake Ontario and reaches northward to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula and beyond, ending at Manitoulin Island. The Nottawasaga River cuts a picturesque gorge across the escarpment. Forested moraines and open meadows lie upstream, and swamp and bottomland forest spread across the valley floor, stretching for several kilometres. Toronto |
| Ipperwash Most will come for the long, sandy beach and Lake Huron sunsets. Others will seek out rare flowers that thrive in treed sloughs between the dunes -- blue heart, nut rush and lobelia. Yet others will arrive in fall for a chance to see migrating jaegers, scoter, grebe and Brant geese. Windsor - Google Map |
Inverhuron Inverhuron includes wetlands and a young hardwood forest. The diverse habitat nurtures rare plants and protects many woodland animals and birds. Owen Sound. 125 private, well-treed campsites are available for reservation. All sites have electrical service; the convenient comfort stations have municipally-supplied water; the trails are improved and a large picnic shelter is available in the day-use area of the park. Google Map |
| Ira Lake The features preserved in this small tract of land, clearly demonstrate the progression of natural succession from the open shallow waters of Ira Lake to deciduous forest. Owen Sound |
John E. Pierce From bluffs high above Lake Erie, you can see lake freighters, fishing tugs, sometimes a bald eagle and migrating hawks. Woodland trails blooms with unusual flowers in the spring -- yellow mandarin, stiff gentian, beech fern. Nearby the Backus Page museum celebrates the history of the Talbot settlement. Windsor |
| Johnston Harbor - Pine Tree Point The area has an extensive jack pine forest that shelters deer in the winter. Owen Sound |
Komoka This near-urban park is located along the Thames River. Much of the park is former agricultural land now succeeding to meadows, the river portion is located in mature forests. Windsor - Google Map |
| Lion's Head Some 400 million years old, these Cabot Head, Amabel, and Guelph formations of bedrock are exposed in the cliff face. Glacial outwash and eroded potholes lie on top of the escarpment, while mounds of rock debris overgrown with vegetation, lie along the bottom. This park is part of the Niagara Escarpment Parks System, and the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve. The Bruce Trail passes through here. There are no visitor facilities. The purpose of this 526-hectare nature reserve is to protect the rock formation and the plants unique to the area. The area is best suited for hiking and nature appreciation. Owen Sound |
Little Cove Little Cove is distinguished by an exceptionally rugged Lake Huron shoreline. Natural features include barrens, scrub cliffs, palisade woodlands, and karst pavements. Karst pavements are limestone surfaces with potholes and twists caused by natural, acidic erosion. Little Cove contains part of the St. Edmunds Cove. There are overhangs, high rocky cliffs, sea caves, dolomite shores, and cobble beaches for visitors to explore, with the caution that much of the natural habitat is fragile. Owen Sound |
MacGregor Point |
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| Ojibway Prairie The area includes tracts of untilled tall grass prairies, open woodlands called savanna and reclaimed agricultural lands. More than 500 flowering plants are found in and around the nature reserve. Important plant families include composites, grasses, figworts, mints and lilies. About 18 per cent of these plants are considered to be rare in Ontario. Like many of its plants, the nature reserve's fauna also has southern and western affinities. Butler's garter snake, bobwhite and yellow chat are three such species. Windsor |
The Pinery Here on Lake Huron, vast waves of sand dunes roll back from the shore to meet groups of towering oaks, the largest oak savanna woodlands remaining in North America. These ancient trees preside over a mosaic of prairie grasses, wildflowers and shrubs. Sun-drenched meadows teem with rare and unique butterflies, songbirds and reptiles. Go softly here along boardwalks and bicycle trails and endless sand beaches. Come, too, in winter to camp, stay overnight in a yurt, toboggan and ski on groomed trails. Windsor - Google Map |
| Point Farms Once the site of a popular Victorian resort, this park north of Goderich is perched on a bluff that offers spectacular views of the blue waters and beautiful sunsets of Lake Huron. Enjoy the sand beach or walk one of the many trails to see remnants of orchards and cedar rail fences, and traces of other activities dating back to the late 1800s. Windsor - Google Map |
Port Burwell This park in Canada's "Deep South" is one of the best for witnessing spring migrations of songbirds and fall migrations of raptors, monarch butterflies, blue jays and dragonflies. Steep bluffs shelter stands of oak and maple. Between bluffs and warm water's edge are ribbons of dunes, beach savanna and meadow. Hamilton - Google Map |
| Port Bruce Stop for a picnic, a swim at a sandy beach, some fishing or boating at this waterfront park in the village of Port Bruce on Lake Erie. Windsor - Google Map |
Pretty River Valley This park has provincially significant geological features related to glacial and post-glacial processes along one of the highest point of the Niagara Escarpment. Features include meltwater channels, moraine and talus slopes. Over 400 species of vascular plants have been identified in the park. Hiking, nature appreciation, fishing, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling on designated OFSC trails. The Bruce Trail passes through the park. Pretty River Valley is part of the Niagara Escarpment Parks system and the Niagara Biosphere Reserve. Owen Sound |
| Rock Point This peninsula was a coral reef 350 million years ago. A platform above the sand dunes offers the best view of Lake Erie, migrating birds and monarch butterflies. Now the Carolinian forests here are home to opossum, Canada's only marsupial. Hamilton - Google Map |
Rondeau This enormous crescent-shaped sandspit features delicate dunes stubbled with hardy grasses; and marshlands where herons, bitterns and rails nest. Beech, sassafras, sugar maple, shagbark hickory and tulip trees thrive in one of Canada's largest Carolinian forests. Sunlit meadows of prairie grasses grow here among towering oaks and pines in a protected oak savanna. Rare animal species, including the endangered prothonotary warbler and the eastern spiny softshell turtle, call Rondeau home. Windsor - Google Map |
| Sauble Falls Every spring and fall, rainbow trout and chinook salmon struggle over each ledge of this cascading waterfall to spawn upstream. Flanked by immature forest, the falls used to power a timber mill and generating station. Now they are the terminus of the Rankin River canoe route, ideal for novice canoeists. Owen Sound - Google Map |
Short Hills Sedimentary deposits and glacial till once filled this valley, until Twelve Mile Creek sliced through, forming the "Short Hills." Animals living here include white-tailed deer, coyote, and meadow vole. Pawpaw and sweet chestnut trees are among the southern plants. Hiking, horseback riding, fishing and mountain biking are popular activities in the park. Hamilton - Google Map |
| Smokey Head - White Bluff The rugged shoreline rises some 50 metres above the crashing waves, exposing various gradations of the Silurian-age dolomite, roughly 400 to 425 million years old. Sea caves and other unusual rock formations have been carved by ancient waters. Karrens, which are small furrows in the limestone bedrock, demonstrate the erosive properties of rainwater. Dry upland forests predominate. Owen Sound |
Turkey Point Turkey Point is a naturalist's paradise. Its diverse ecosystem includes marshes, bluffs and oak savanna. Hiking trails lead to a fish culture station, a hatchery pond, and panoramic views of Lake Erie. Camp on the bluffs, swim and sail at the beach, fish for perch or play nine holes of golf. Hamilton - Google Map |
| Wheatley This secluded estuary on Lake Erie shelters many creatures. Migrating birds stop here, turtles sun on logs and herons wade in the shallow creeks. Watch for birds in the Carolinian forest and camp under oak and hickory trees. Windsor - Google Map |
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