Beginning May 27, you can reserve an advance day-use vehicle permit for Petroglyphs Provincial Park in North Kawartha Township.
The park is one of 20 additional provincial parks that will adopt the service this year, bringing the total to 57 parks across the province. Algonquin, Balsam Lake, and Presqu’ile are the other provincial parks in the greater Kawarthas region that already use the service.
As of Saturday, May 27th, visitors can book a daily vehicle permit for Petroglyphs Provincial Park up to five days in advance online at reservations.ontarioparks.com, reducing the time spent registering when they arrive so they can spend more time enjoying the park. Reserving in advance also helps guarantee access to the park, especially during busy periods like weekends and holidays. At-park permits will continue to be sold, subject to availability.
Located at 2249 Northey’s Bay Road off Highway 28 near Woodview, Petroglyphs Provincial Park contains the largest known concentration of ancient Indigenous petroglyphs (rock carvings) in Canada, depicting turtles, snakes, birds, humans, and more. This sacred site is known as “The Teaching Rocks”.
The park’s visitor centre and store, called the Learning Place, is managed by Curve Lake First Nation and features displays about the petroglyphs and their spiritual significance to the Ojibway (Nishnaabe) people. The petroglyphs are covered by a protective building, with interpretive plaques and guides at the site. Photographing and videotaping the rock carvings themselves is not permitted for spiritual reasons, and dogs are not allowed inside any of the buildings.
The park also features the bright blue-green McGinnis Lake, one of only a handful of meromictic lakes in Canada. A meromictic lake has layers of water that do not intermix. The lack of intermixing of lake waters means almost no oxygen reaches the deepest layer of the lake, where few if any organisms can survive. Because it is relatively undisturbed, the sediment at the bottom of a meromictic lake is important for researching tracing past changes in climate at the lake.
Note that swimming is prohibited at McGinnis Lake to protect the lake’s fragile ecosystem.
Along with hiking trails and picnic tables and a picnic shelter, there are also great opportunities for wildlife viewing at Petroglyphs Provincial Park. The park borders the Peterborough Crown Game Reserve, and birds such as gray jays, wild turkeys, ruffed grouse, and various types of hawks are visible in the summer.
The park is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except during the spring and fall when it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays except for holiday Mondays. No vehicle access is allowed after 4 p.m., and all vehicles must exit before gates close at 5 p.m.
Provincial parks in the greater Kawarthas region
Parks in the greater Kawarthas region include Balsam Lake near Kirkfield, Emily near Omemee, Ferris near Campbellford, Kawartha Highlands north of Buckhorn, Lake St. Peter north of Maynooth, Mark S. Burnham in Peterborough, Petroglyphs near Woodview, Presqu’ile near Brighton, Silent Lake near Apsley, and Algonquin Provincial Park — the most popular provincial park in Canada with more than 2,400 lakes and 1,200 kilometres of streams and rivers.
