Halloween at Ontario Parks is more than trick or treat

Ontario Parks
News Release

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Staff at Pinery Provincial Park on Lake Huron cleverly link Halloween to species ecology. At the park's Halloween Weekend which takes place this year October 23-24, special presentations on Bats, Spiders, Owls and Coyotes will help to dispel common myths. There will also be a special Bat-Box Building session on Saturday morning and a Pinery- themed scarecrow contest. Themes include the Pinery's Oak Savanna, its freshwater coastal dunes, the Old Ausable channel, Lake Huron and the park's cultural history. Traditional Halloween activities are planned too.

Nine hundred campers are expected for Camper Halloween at Turkey Point Provincial Park on Thanksgiving weekend, October 9-11. "It's a big weekend because it's our last of the season, says park superintendent Mike Postma."Families get dressed in costume and decorate their campsites. We have pumpkin-carving and the picnic shelter becomes a haunted house. Kids love it since they get to trick or treat twice – here and at home." Fall temperatures are milder in southwestern Ontario where Halloween weekends have become a tradition at several Ontario Parks along Lake Erie and Lake Huron. You'll find more at http://www.parkreports.com/parksblog/?p=1178

A Halloween Swamp Creatures Hike is planned for October 30 at Mashkinonje Provincial Park in the French River district of Ontario. Field naturalists from North Bay and Sudbury know this natural environment park for its diverse system of wetland types; marshes, bogs, swamps, fends and ponds. The United Nations declared 2010 as the Year of Biodiversity and volunteers have recently laid four thousand feet of boardwalk through Mashkinonje so visitors can learn about the park's biodiversity. Fall is a perfect time to visit when there are no bugs. The swamp creatures hike runs from 10am - 2pm. Hikers are asked to pack a picnic lunch and meet in the Blanding's Pond parking lot at 10am.
http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/mash.html

Guided Spirit Walks at Murphys Point Provincial Park near Perth, tell the story of the Silver Queen Mine which operated here from 1903-1920. Two friendly spirits, James Thompson, the mine foreman, and James Lally, a homesteader and farmer, are introduced on a lantern-lit trail that leads to the former mine. The Sunday walks continue through Thanksgiving weekend. Spirit Walks are popular at Ontario Parks especially in the summer months. This Parks Blog post highlights some of the rich cultural history that will be introduced on Spirit Walks in 2011: http://www.parkreports.com/parksblog/?p=1186

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