This is one of my favourite parks since childhood. My dad used to bring us here to watch the hummingbirds, visit the nature house for info on different wildlife, and stroll on the wide boardwalk and the beautiful bog forest trails. So when my boys wanted to go to a new place for biking today, we decided to visit this park and go down mommy’s memory lane.
Trail Condition
We followed the 1.8km Bog Forest Loop Trail and then circled the 0.4 km Pond Trail a few times as per Junior’s request. The whole loop is stroller friendly.
Starting from the Nature House, the trail starts with a section of boardwalk, passing a few birdhouses hanging on the trees. It was raining when we were there, so it was hard to spot hummingbirds. During nicer weather, you can see several hummingbirds surrounding the birdhouses and bird feeders. In the past there were several wildlife educational talks around this section of the trail as well. As a kid, my dad used to bring us to these talks and we would discuss about them while strolling the trails. COVID-19 has temporary paused all these programs.
The Bog Trail soon splits up from the boardwalk and continued into a narrow tree surrounded path. This trail takes you deep into the park and explores the old bog structure. You can see sphagnum moss and a few wild blueberries and cranberries along the way. We also spotted some bog laurels like the ones seen in our previous biking trip at Burns Bog.
This mostly tree covered trail is all covered with wood chips, making it ideal for Junior to practice “mountain biking”. He absolutely enjoyed biking on this trail despite the rain getting stronger towards the end of our walk. When we looped back onto the pond trail Junior asked to do more laps, so we circled the pond trail a few times before calling it a day.
Other Activities
The Nature Park is famous for its several wildlife programs for adults and also kids. There is a preschool program for younger kids and day-camps for older kids. However, with the current COVID-19 situation, all programs are temporarily canceled.
Besides guided programs, you can also do a self guided trail walk on the short Time loop trail (0.8km). There are numbers on wooden stakes at certain sections, indicating a specific description in the self guided pamphlet.
There is also a covered picnic area by the parking lot beside the Nature House. On the other side of the trail is a big playground with a covered canopy.
Traffic
There was light pedestrian traffic when we were there on a Saturday afternoon, probably due to the rain that day.
Pets
Dogs are not allowed on the trail.
Breastfeeding
There are a few benches along the way.
Washroom
Flush toilet washroom available close by the Nature House.
Parking
There were several spots in the parking lot when we were there on Saturday afternoon. All spots are free parking.
This is a very interesting park. Not only does it have educational values, but also is perfect to practice mountain biking on junior’s bike. in fact he is already telling us to go back here for more biking again.
- Difficulty: very easy
- Pedestrian traffic: light
- Facilities: well equipped
- Overall Score: 7/10