Peterborough County is located in Southern Ontario, 2 hours northeast of Toronto, which, together with the Kawarthas, make a favorite area for vacationers and cottagers. This region doesn’t have high elevations, but it still has some wonderful trails thanks to the varied landscape in certain areas.

With prices constantly rising, we prefer parks where we have free access. Why not, if possible? The entrance fees to some Canadian parks are not to be ignored.

If you are planning to visit Canada, or take extended trips, then you might want to consider purchasing the Discovery Pass, for $75.25 per adult (or $151.25 for up to 7 people in one vehicle). Or else a daily fee can cost you from $6.5 to $9 per day, depending on the park you’re visiting.

But there are only 5 national parks in the province of Ontario, so you might want to check out a Provincial Park. With over 330 provincial parks in Ontario, you have a better chance of coming across one during your visit to Ontario. A daily vehicle permit is required only for the operating provincial parks, and will cost you $99 per year, or from $12.25 to $21 for a daily vehicle permit. Luckily, during the winter, some of the Ontario’s parks become non-operational, and so there is no entrance fee for these. In the past few years, post-covid, there has been a way to borrow a week-long park permit from a library, using your resident library card. Hurray!

But as beautiful as Provincial Parks in Ontario are, each municipality has its own parks (paid or free). Then, to complicate things, there are Ontario’s Conservation Areas. I love these, as some of them have no entrance fee associated with, although most of them do. There are 36 Conservation Authorities across Ontario, each with its own membership and associated access fees: 31 are in southern Ontario, and 5 are in northern Ontario; the annual parking permits range from $70 to $180 plus HST per vehicle for each authority.

As you can see at a glance, there are many ways to splurge a bit if you want to visit different parks in Ontario in a year. And I have not mentioned the city parks, or regional ones.

Read more: 10+ things to do for free in Peterborough, ON

So, this winter we found some great opportunities to save for the summer, as Peterborough County has many beautiful parks around, and they all offer free access. That works perfect with me! Here are some of our picks, great options for those visiting the Kawarthas:

Harold Town Conservation Area

Part of the Otonabee Conservation, Harold Town CA offers a network of trails for off-road cycling and hiking. Approximately 10 km of multi-use recreational trails offer scenic views from the top of the Meade Creek Drumlin.

The Harold Town Conservation Area is named after the Canadian artist who owned this property from the mid 1970’s until the early 1990’s; it was previously referred to as Old Orchard Farm. On April 11, 1994, the property was donated to Otonabee Conservation by Harold Town’s estate. The property was named in his memory and was dedicated as a park for public purposes, as requested by the estate.

There is a map of 15 interconnected trails at the entrance, a large parking lot available all year-round, and a washroom accessible from May to October.

The trails are nicely marked by the volunteers, and once we got to the top of the hill, we followed the Screaming Trees trail as it seemed shorter and we had little time that late afternoon. The path winds through a mixed forest, and I’m sure this was not our last visit, as the dense forest seems will be pleasant during the hot summer days too.

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Jackson Creek Trail

Heading west from Jackson Park in Peterborough is Jackson Creek trail, which was named after the creek of the same name, that follows. The creek passes through a variety of habitats, including some forests and wetlands. Whether you’re here for hiking, biking, or cross-country skiing, this trail has it all.

Otonabee Conservation purchased the abandoned rail line from the Canadian National Railway in 1992 which is now the Jackson Creek Trail. The trail is opened year-round, and is very popular in Peterborough due to its proximity to the city. Part of The Great Trail (Trans Canada Trail – the longest trail in the world), the Jackson Creek Trail is only 4.5 km long, one-way.

Read more: Burleigh Falls in the wintertime

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Robert Johnston EcoForest Trails

Located in the township of Douro-Dummer, 15 km east of Peterborough, Robert Johnston EcoForest offers 4 trails, with a total length of almost 5.5 km.

The trails are very well marked, and pass through a large pine forest, mixed with some deciduous shrubs. We had some fun looking for footprints in the forest, and were happy to find fresh deer tracks.

The special spot that captured my heart was a patch of pine trees, standing in a perfect, gracious way. The kind sunlight was coming through these tall pine trees, spreading a fantastic energy. I couldn’t help but pose a yoga posture surrounded by these beauties.

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Selwyn Beach Conservation Area

More popular in the summer for an obvious reasons, Selwyn Beach CA is located on the northeast shore of Chemong Lake. Known for its sandy beach great for swimming, this park also offers a boat launch and docking facility, a large picnic shelter, group camping area, and hiking trails.

Although the hiking trails are opened all year-round, the park is closed during the winter months. But we parked the car outside the front gates, and headed down to the hiking trails. As the footsteps followed a path on the right side of the gate, we decided that was the right direction.

We actually ended up passing the neighbouring property, but the trail ran parallel to the park we wanted. After a while we found a way to go in the right direction, and turned away from the wrong one. It was a wise decision, and the path took us through some pristine lands, with untouched snow. The sun was timidly trying to spread some warm around, and we enjoyed the calm weather to the fullest. The surprise of the day was the pileated woodpecker that chose a tall tree along our path to put on a show.

Read more: A winter curiosity – Pancake Ice

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Stoney Lake trails

Located north of Stoney Lake, 40 minutes north of Peterborough, Stoney Lake’s 10-km trail network boasts with scenic views of Stony Lake. Rated moderate, there are three trails – red, yellow and blue – of varying lengths. Also great for mountain biking, the trails are well marked and offer some tranquility if you want to get away from the busy life of a city. There are easily accessible trail entry points with available parking located off Reid’s Road.

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John Earle Chase Memorial Park

Nestled between Buckhorn Lake and Pigeon Lake, John Earle Chase Memorial Park is a 400-acre site donated in 1995 by Ralph and Evelyn Chase to Trent Severn Waterway in honour of their brother John Earle Chase who was killed in WWII. The three interconnecting trails totaling 7.4 km take visitors through mature maple and birch forests and wetlands to the shores of Pigeon Lake.

We love this little park for its walking trails, especially in the fall, when the few maple trees turn to their flaming colours. This time we chose to do half of the red trail, as I thought we would be following some footprints. But they soon disappeared and we ended up knee-deep in the snow. Anyway, I enjoyed the open field with its deserted look and the mini – snow dunes.

Thinking that we still have a chance to see an owl that a neighbour spotted here the night before, we also took the yellow trail. Once we crossed a small field, the trail took us through a mixed forest, to the shore of Pigeon Lake where we admired a shining sun setting over the vastness of white.

Read more: The magic of the frozen falls – Niagara Falls

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Warsaw Caves Conservation Area

Just 25 minutes from Peterborough, Warsaw Caves CA is a unique park in this area. With 15 kms of trails meandering through forests and open limestone plains, this park has some unique features, such as potholes, kettles and underground rivers that can be observed in the summer. The park takes its name from a series of seven caves found in the park, formed thousands of years at the end of the last ice age. We also visited the park during the summer time when the trail around these caves is opened, although we did not get inside the caves. Kids can have so much fun wandering around, as the place looks like a hide and seek playground – supervision may be required.

Although the trail around these caves is closed in the winter, as the trail becomes very treacherous, we selected one of the nature trails this time. Since the day was promising on our last visit there, we took a longer one: the Ski trail.

During the non-operating season (November to May) at Warsaw Caves CA, parking is available outside the front gates, and the trails remain open but they are not groomed or maintained. We were not accustomed with the Ski trail, but luckily there were some tracks to show us where to go, as the snow was quite thick in some sections.

And if these winter walks are enough for you, but you still feel like walking, I invite you to take a walk with Jo on one of her Monday’s walks 🥰

Wherever you are, wherever you go, happy travels to all of you! xx