In 2018, Ontario Parks, one of Canada’s largest provincial park systems, celebrates 125 years. The birthday theme is Healthy Parks Healthy People, and connecting people to nature. Special events are planned in honour of the anniversary and campgrounds are expected to be very busy. 2018 visitors are advised to book their campsites early by taking advantage of Ontario Parks’ five month booking window. Reserve online or by phone.

A newly designed Parks Guide and a new 125th anniversary calendar will be available in early January at participating Ontario stores. Winter season permits are available online from the Parks Store.Watch for 2018 annual and summer park permits to be added too.

Keen to try a new Ontario Parks overnight experience in 2018? Ten out of 26 winter parks have cozy cabins, yurts and cottages to rent to those who love to cross-country ski, snowshoe, skate, fat bike, or dogsled groomed park trails. In summer 2018, rent roofed accommodations from one of 30 provincial parks across Ontario.

Arrowhead has five new camp cabins were added to an existing five in the park in 2017. A new four-season, multi-purpose pavilion is also being constructed and expected to open in early winter 2018-19. The park also has a 1.3 km skate path through the woods, groomed cross-country ski and snowshoe trails as well as a tubing hill. 

Click here for all the information you need to book your 2018 overnight adventure. 

Algonquin Provincial Park’s Winter in the Wild on Saturday, February 17, is one of many Family Day celebrations planned. Skate, ski, or snowshoe Ontario’s oldest provincial park, and then join park rangers at Mew Lake Campground for a bonfire followed by an evening wolf howl.

More #OP125 events are listed on the parks’ calendar with new ones being added every week. Check back often to see what else the parks have in store for 2018.

The Parks Blog is another source for 125th anniversary news. Park naturalists and biologists often post stories on seasonal things to see and do. In the winter, a vacancy report is published every month highlighting roofed accommodation vacancies.

Ontario Parks is on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. #HPHP #OP125

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist based in Toronto with a focus on tourism, lifestyle, entertainment and community issues. He has written several travel articles and has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He’s willing to take on any assignments of interest, attend parties with free booze, listen to rants, and travel the world in search of the great unknown. He’s eager to discover the new, remember the past, and look into the future.