125 Nature Hot Spots in Ontario: The Best Parks, Conservation Areas and Wild Places

The best-selling book of Ontario wildlands now features 15 additional destinations. This reader-friendly guide explores the remarkable splendor and diversity of the province, from its soaring clifftops, subterranean caves and thundering cataracts to the province's tallest white pine, the oldest rocks on Earth and the warbler capital of North America.

The guide is organized by region, and each destination includes a descriptive profile illustrated with color photographs and at-a-glance information about special features and contact details. Regional maps showcase locations. Some of these hot spots are surprisingly close to towns and cities, some are hidden urban treasures, and many are ideal for a day trip.

The new hot spots include the following:

• Kopegaron Woods is a 1.3-kilometre loop buffered by farm fields that is a quiet haven for naturalists, botanists and bird lovers.
• SC Johnson Rail Trail offers a beautiful vista of a large oxbow on the Grand River.
• Cambridge to Paris Rail Trail follows the Grand River and is studded with river overlooks.
• Rock Point Provincial Park features a limestone shelf embedded with 350-million-year-old fossils.
• Barnum Creek Nature Reserve is mosaic of habitats from hardwood, mixed wood, grassland, marsh and swamp that attracts wildlife and birds.
• Redbridge Mountain View Trail guides hikers to a gorgeous vantage point of the wilderness surrounding North Bay.
• Parrott's Bay Conservation Area features excellent bird and wildlife viewing opportunities.
• Point Petre provides an impressive glimpse into the geological history of this part of the Lake Ontario shoreline.
• Great Lakes Waterfront Trail through Kingston offers a peek into the city's history.
• Gould Lake Conservation Area is 589 hectares of Canadian Shield wilderness.
• Charleston Lake Provincial Park has excellent trails with good wildlife viewing and a vantage point from the highest peak in the county.

These family-friendly destinations will appeal to naturalists, budding botanists and biologists, photographers, hikers, campers and paddlers.

Chris Earley is the interpretive biologist at the University of Guelph Arboretum. His kids' books, which encourage youngsters to "find and identify your own," are very popular.

Tracy C. Read is a writer and editor in Kingston, Ontario, and the author of Firefly's children's natural history series, Exploring the World of Cougars, Foxes, Owls and many others.