Visiting friends and family in the area and what would a trip here be without a stop at the Pinery…read more We came by two days in mid August. This is a large Provincial Park with pretty much something for everyone including a dog beach, plenty of biking / walking trails, camping, a place to canoe and of course...the amazing beaches. One feels like you are holidays in Mexico when you are on these beaches...warm clear water, a few waves and great sand. We brought beach umbrellas and chairs and highly recommend some type of protection from the sun on hot sunny days. It was a very positive beach/nature experience and happy to recommend the Pinery.

Great place to camp, relax, take some short hikes and just enjoy nature. We camped in the Dunes…read moresection, and had about as close to an ideal tenting experience as you're going to find at a large, popular park. I was concerned when I booked the site that the Ontario Parks website described its privacy as "poor"--were we going to have people walking through our campsite constantly? Hardly. Compared to sites in Michigan state parks, where I've done a lot more camping, we were well sheltered by the tall trees and roadside brush. We were at the edge of the pavement and had a fair number of people walking by on their way to the beach, along with an occasional car, but they would have had to make some pretty determined efforts to stare at us (and really, doesn't everyone have better things to do? Not at some parks, I've learned). We'd have had more shelter at a site further back on the half-circle we were part of, but honestly, we were fine. There was plenty of room to put up our tent and dining shelter. No electricity or water on site (Pinery has another unit with more developed campsites), but there was a flush toilet nearby, a showerhouse in easy walking distance, and drinking water faucets regularly spaced through the campground. We could walk to the edge of Lake Huron in less than 10 minutes. The showers were clean with abundant hot water. The toilet station nearest us was also very clean, and when a flush handle broke Sunday afternoon, it was replaced in matter of hours. As I mentioned, Pinery is a popular park, and in the evening there is a modest amount of noise, though not enough to drown out the whipporwills and coyotes. Generally, the farther you are from the beach, the visitor centre, and the camp store, the better your chances for quiet and solitude. The trails are generally short--mostly in the 1-2.5K range, but wide and well kept. Their width is a good thing, too, since this may be one of the most poison-ivy infested parks I've ever seen. On the other hand, our visit was amazingnly bug-free. I do wish there were some longer trails here--it seems like that would be possible in the east end of the park. But the forest, dune, and wetland scenes along the existing trails are lovely. Have wanted to check this place out for a long time and glad we finally did.

Rock Glen was a gem to visit. Only about a 20 minute drive from London Ontario, this magnificent…read morenature conservation is majestic all around. A beautiful place for a family picnic or simply a walk amongst nature.

The Rock Glen Conservation Area is a local area municipalities-run spot (like all Ontario…read moreconservation areas) surrounding Rock Glen Falls, a historical site. Since there isn't a larger provincial budget, these places run on a low budget with limited staff who can only do so much. That means the entrance fee of $4 cash is with the honour system where you deposit the fee into a slot on the door, rather than have someone constantly monitoring the entrance. There's no point in trying to cheat the system by not paying, as they rely on this revenue stream to operate and maintain the grounds. There are no vehicles allowed in the park, and I found out that includes bicycles. The view as you enter the front gate is welcoming, pastoral and pleasant, with a flowing scene of clearings, trails leading here and there, mature trees, and picnic tables scattered around. Impressive! There are hills and valleys throughout and some nice trails too. Best are the wooden stair structures that you can find within the trees where they are provided to give views of the gorge and bush surrounding it. If you listen, you can hear the falls, which was at a trickle when I was there but that can change through the seasons and years. There are about 100 stairs to get down to the base of the falls, with a gate that was padlocked just before reaching the bottom, to keep people safe. But it was easy to swing a leg over and climb, and even if you're short, it wouldn't be a problem. Looking at the falls, I could see how some of the large rocks near the top could easily fall at any time so keep that in mind. But there's nothing like being close to waterfalls to feel the spray and breathe in the mist. Close to the falls, the smell of the water and greenery was incredible, along with the stunning visuals of the water streaming down some of the vines and different plants and flowers vibing away constantly. At the bottom is a nice sized bowl of water where it collects after falling. I was tempted to go get my swim suit and have a dip even though there were large dead branches along one side and a swirling pattern of foam on the top of the water. Then I realized I was wearing a puffer so maybe another warmer day would be better. Since that area is so sheltered, I can see it as being heavenly going for a dip there.

Komoka Provincial Park is an excellent place to spend a day taking a hike!…read more There's a few things worth noting if you're going to head here for the first time: - It's not very accessible via city bus, so it is best to carpool - Don't rely on your smartphone to give you accurate directions to the entrance. My group had a few people end up near Sifton Bog rather than Komoka thanks to plugging the park's address into their maps app. Instead, just find the park on GoogleMaps and drop a pin, or just look for the sign off Oxford St. or Gideon Dr. - The older map of the park trails you'll find online on the Middlesex County website and that is sometimes distributed around town (the map without any satellite image shown under the trail lines) is outdated from what I could tell. It states that dogs are only allowed on certain trails, but this rule isn't listed elsewhere and when we arrived at the White trailhead (where the old map said "walking only", so we assumed dogs were not allowed. It says 'leashed pets' for the other 3 trails), there were no posted restrictions and lots of people walking dogs. - The trails are not super challenging, but there are parts with large tree roots, rocks, and somewhat steep inclines. - The trails are marked with blazes or small arrows. There are portions where it is possible to get lost. It is important to stay aware and remember when you've taken a turn, etc. - The park has no staffing or facilities, so be prepared to take out what you bring in. People had left piles of dog poop bags and empty cups, etc. at the entrance, which is gross. Please carry your trash out! The trails are mostly shady and through heavy forest, which makes this a pleasant place to walk on a hot day. There are portions through open field though, so don't neglect sunscreen!

KOMOKA PROVINCIAL PARK / KOMOKA TRAILS Official London…read moreOntario Park Gideon Drive and Brigham Road HAPPY FUN TIMES RATING: 5 SNORTS *Highest likemendation! Parking, benches, streams, beach, marked trails This is one of my most sooperfavoritist places to go exploreaventuring, guys!! It's 'MAZING and everything!! There are big piles of soopercool walkingroads plus trails for kikering plus even some little wooden paths too!! Yup!! Some parts are sooperhigh up and wayfaraways from MisterRiver, butt in other places, you can walk right up to him or even jump in for a wet, watery hug!! I did!! Plus and this is where I play Hidey-Go-Seek with my friend Steve the Deer! He is very good at hidey-go-seek! I've only seen him one time so far! Best part of Komoka Trails for puppies is that there are lotsa leafytrees for shadyparts plus, tricklestreams and burblecreeks plus MisterRiver himself to cool off in!! There are some sittingbenches for taking restingtimes, and even the most biggest crooked hill (wooden staircase) I have seen in evertimes!!I am not even joshing!! I give this park my highest likeamendation 'cuz it is a FIVE SNORT RESORT!! Yup!! Shanksh for being so awesometimes, park!! The end.

Peter has some hidden gems in the stratford area. It was a great learning experience and the magic…read moreof spring was apparent everywhere. We were shown pristine spots that I certainly felt blessed to be in.. Could've camped out easily! Each week the landscape changes and it's something you could easily take in several times and each outing find different things. If you love outdoors, food, and respect Mother Nature.. Don't hesitate to sign up! My kids and I loved it! Thanks for the experience Peter Win win for #pucksplenty

If you are at all interested in nature, hiking and foraging, you should go on one of Peter's…read moreexpeditions. I am a Taurus girl, and anyone who knows a Taurus girl knows that we love to cook. But what is even more exciting to us, is being able to cook things that we've found from the earth and puled out with our bare hands. This tour satisfied the earthy Taurus in me and the Wild Outdoorsman in my Sagittarius boyfriend. Last October, my we were in Stratford to see Othello. Now, he's not the biggest Shakespeare fan, So I needed to find something fun for him while we were there (but also something fun for me, too.) Since we are both great lovers of the outdoors and especially foraging, I did some research on the internet and came across Puck's Plenty. For $35 per person, this outing can't be beat. We all met in a designated area and shared rides to the different hiking sites. Peter had been out earlier and picked some wild cress for everyone and packaged it baggies for us to enjoy later. Our specific goal was to find some fall mushrooms. At our first site, Peter showed us some that were good for eating and pointed out a few that were poisonous. Then we visited a second site where we took a walk through the woods for a couple of hours and found Velvet Foot Mushrooms on the sides of trees. Peter explained that they were good not only for eating, but for thickening and adding extra flavour to gravies and stews. We also found wild ginger root that he dig up for us (and I used some later that night in a vinaigrette on the wild cress and it was absolutely delicious). Our third site was on a private farm with an amazing vegetable garden that we were free to pick anything we wanted from if we left a donation at the farmhouse. There were beets, squash, onions, leeks, pumpkins and turnips. This may sound like nothing to anyone who lives in the country, but as a country raised girl who lives in the concrete jungle now, it was like going home! From there, we visited the most magical forest I've ever been in. It must have been an acre of tall thin pines, planted in formation. It was very dark and there were mushrooms as far as the eye could see. We found Lactaruis, Blewitt, and Puffball mushrooms. I think we spent over an hour in this incredible place, constantly finding new mushrooms, examining them and picking the ones that we could identify as ok to eat. When we reached the farmhouse to leave our donation, we found out they had fresh eggs and bought 2 dozen. Everyone on the tour with us was very friendly and helpful and Peter was a knowledgeable and seasoned guide. I would say that this was no only worth the $35 but far more in terms of learning and experience and we went home with more than enough delicious food for the whole week. No matter what your sign is, I'm willing to bet that you'd have a great time out in the woods on a Puck's Plenty foraging day. Thank you, Peter.

This pushed my limits but in a good way. These gardens were everything great about the British…read moreempire, surreal like an episode of Dr Who, but also Italianate, like a harlequin. Wonderful color harmonies, and thick cosmos flowers. We had questions about some of the plants, were they kale or garlic?

Very nice walking trail! There is a short loop around 25 mins but you can also walk to Harrison…read morepark from here. It's around 3km. I did the hike to Harrison park and back which took about 1.5hrs LOL. There's a nice stream you can go into and lots of photo ops. Once you're done that, Inglis falls is right around the corner which has stunning views. In terms of the trail, there's a flatter route which isn't very challenging. If you decide to take the other route, there's a lot of elevation gain. My watch said I did about 100m in elevation gain. Tbh I still feel it in my legs!

From the owner: Grey Sauble owns 28,000 acres of land equaling in many Conservation Areas you can visit. Visit our…read morefour waterfalls - Inglis Falls, Eugenia Falls, Indian Falls and Jones Falls.

While the woman on phone is very nice and welcoming the man at dock is very rude unhelpful and…read moreobviously does not like to make business with tourists... rude, dismissing, not helpful or even deceiving... avoid. Have fun elsewhere.

From the owner: Waterfront accommodations, in Sauble Beach. Retailer for Docks, Aluminum, Poly, Boat lifts, PWC…read moreramps, Inflatables, Aquaglide. Renting Jet Skis, PWC, Canoes, Kayaks, SUP boards, Bicycles, Rickcycles, Corcls, Peddle Boats, Row & Fishing Boats. In season, weather permitting 10-6 daily. Mid May-October.

This is a good campground for those who are starting out camping be warned this place gets…read moreovercrowded and ends up, looking like a FEMA

Love this park. I come here yearly with my family s a few times. They have great summer as well as…read morefall camping. It's a beautiful park with a great little store, and some of the best views of Lake Huron.

$10 per vehicle for all day parking. There's not much to see unless you're hiking (so many areas…read moreare closed off), so it's really only worth the fee for hiking trail access. There's a lookout point from which you can see the falls, though it's from quite far away (the waterfall is big so there's still much to see)

It had rained the previous night and early morning and we reached there late morning for a trail…read morewalk, hoping to do an hour or so of the trails. The small parking lot was nearly empty and quickly paid through the website mentioned in the parking lot. We were greeted by a volunteer who gave us some quick information and the falls information. It took us less than 5 minutes to get to the falls. Amazing views. Disappointed that the fall came so quickly and that we could get to the bottom from this location. But we did part of the trail that goes towards another fall and where we can get to the bottom of the falls. But decided against completing it as we thought it would take a lot longer, but made a mental note for coming back and finishing the trail. The trail as well did not disappoint with tree canopy and views.