Parks After Dark: Best Camping Activities For Families

Sunset doesn’t put an end to family fun while camping. When darkness falls, silence truly takes hold and mysteries are revealed—in the countless stars peppering the inky darkness and unique nocturnal wildlife, creating the moments that children and adults alike will never forget. Here are 10 of the best camping activities for kids after dark that are active and educational experiences to share the wonders of nature in all seasons of the year.

#1 See the Northern Lights

There’s nothing like witnessing the night skies, and one of the best places to do it is over the endless expanse of Lake Superior. Watch long enough on a clear night and you can actually perceive the rotation of the Earth, as the stars slowly pass through the sky and dip into the watery horizon. Huge views, along with a remote location that eliminates competing light, made Lake Superior Provincial Park, which is located about 90 minutes north of Sault Ste. Marie on Highway 17, an International Dark Sky Preserve.

The Agawa Bay Campground is a family-friendly base for your adventures. Plan a trip and make a reservation for mid- to late August, prime time for warmer water swimming and bug-free hiking. This also coincides with earlier sunsets and is a great time of year to observe meteor showers and the northern lights. Agawa Bay’s greatest attraction is its massive, three-kilometre-long beach, and there’s no better place to recline and gaze into the heavens. With expansive views to the north and west, you have a great chance of seeing the auroras playing across the night sky, shifting in colours from gold to green and pink.

• About an hour north of Agawa Bay, Wawa’s Rock Island Lodge features a unique geodome for glamping at the mouth of the Michipicoten River, with expansive views of the sky and a camping experience your family will never forget
• Booking late and can’t score a campsite at Agawa Bay? The Rabbit Blanket campground, located in the north end of Lake Superior Provincial Park, is a great alternative—featuring larger, more private campsites and easy access to the amazing beach at Old Woman Bay

#2 Stargaze and Learn the Constellations

Killarney Provincial Park is renowned for its great scenery at all times of day. Not only is the landscape of white hills and azure lakes stunning, this pocket of wilderness on Georgian Bay also earns the distinction of being an International Dark Sky Preserve. Killarney is also one of two Ontario Parks with an observatory, featuring a research-grade telescope that’s accessible to park visitors at the George Lake Campground.

Show your kids the wonders of getting lost in the cosmos with Killarney’s astronomer-in-residence. The observatory hosts drop-in nights, formal presentations and betcha-didn’t-know activities like daytime star-viewing and planet walks. Dark skies and great stars are yet another reason Killarney is one of Ontario’s best destinations for family camping. Just be sure to make a reservation well in advance. There are also several excellent hikes leaving the campground, great swimming and easy paddling along the shores of George Lake.

• Killarney’s campground is open year-round and features roofed accommodations for upscale camping, including six yurts and two cabins
• Fish and chips are a tradition in the nearby village of Killarney
• Make a reservation at the Killarney Mountain Lodge for an upscale vacation on Georgian Bay

#3 Tell Campfire Stories 

This is a camping activity the whole family will love. The Discovery team at Grundy Lake Provincial Park organizes weekly evening campfires for campers staying in the park’s campground. Think about these fun, social events as a great alternative to the usual bedtime story: you and your kids will learn more about Grundy’s colourful history of voyageurs and loggers, and perhaps hear a favourite ghost story, too. It’s a great way to become immersed in this unique place while enjoying the tradition of storytelling around the campfire.   

• Located just north of Parry Sound on the Trans-Canada Highway, Grundy offers nine campgrounds for car camping and RVs. Be sure to reserve online in advance
• Grundy Lake Provincial Park also offers the perfect introduction to backcountry canoe camping for families, with 10 private sites on Grundy Lake located a short paddle from the Visitor Centre

#4 Enjoy the Thrill of Fire and Ice

Located just north of Huntsville off of Highway 11, Arrowhead Provincial Park is a popular winter destination. The park boasts 28 km of classic and 16 km of skate cross-country ski trails, options for snowshoeing and 13 rustic cabins for a cold-weather getaway. Arrowhead also has a 1.3-km skating path in the woods, which stays open late every Friday and Saturday nights for Fire and Ice, a can’t-miss family adventure. It’s hard to put words to the magical experience of gliding through the woods along a torch-lit ice trail on a crisp winter’s night. Rental skates and helmets are available.

• Arrowhead Provincial Park is wildly popular in the winter. Be sure to book your day-use permit or reserve accommodations well in advance
• Enjoy a hot drink by the fireplace at Arrowhead’s visitor centre
• Looking to try winter camping with a safety net? Arrowhead maintains seven drive-in sites, with access to a heated comfort station

#5 Count Shooting Stars

Northwestern Ontario’s Quetico Provincial Park is legendary canoe country, a perfect place for family trippers with well-honed skills to progress to the next level. The park is home to a vast network of lakes, portages and backcountry campsites for canoe trips, ranging from easy overnight outings to multi-week expeditions. Because of its remoteness, tucked away 200 km west of Thunder Bay, off of Highway 11, Quetico also boasts seriously dark skies—enough to earn International Dark Sky Preserve status.

Incredible starry skies are part of the adventure of a family canoe trip in Quetico, and going later in the summer means longer nights for easier skywatching. The park also features a drive-in campground on French Lake, and Ontario Parks’ Discovery staff interpreters host a star party in mid-August, coinciding with the Perseid meteor shower. 

• Quetico isn’t the only Ontario Park organizing star party events. Learn more from experts and park interpreters at Kakabeka, Halfway Lake, Rene Brunelle, Restoule and several other provincial parks across Ontario

#6 Go Paddling at Sunset

There’s nothing quite so magical as paddling on a glass-calm wilderness lake beneath the stars and moon on a clear, calm night. For this camping activity, you don’t have to float far from shore to soak in the descent of darkness in Mississagi Provincial Park, north of the town of Elliot Lake. The family-friendly oasis features a quiet campground with large, private sites, outstanding hiking, and great access to pristine Semiwite Lake for canoeing and kayaking.

Timing is everything for a night paddle and safety is number one. Make plans according to the weather, err on the side of caution, and have your campsite set up and secure so that you’re not scrambling in the dark when you return to land. It is especially enthralling to paddle into the sunset, allowing your senses to absorb the sights and sounds of nightfall on the shoreline, and to witness the evening’s first stars.

• There are a wide range of great backcountry adventures in Mississagi Provincial Park and its surroundings, including backpacking and overnight canoe routes

#7 Spot Owls at Dusk

Like many birds, owls are more often heard than seen—especially in the mating season of late winter, when they’re staking out breeding territory. But you can hear their telltale hoots (and less obvious sounds, too) throughout the year. Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park, on the Mattawa River east of North Bay, features tall, mature pine trees and mixed understory that many of Ontario’s 11 species of owl desire.

Around bedtime in the summer months, listen for the iconic “who cooks for you” mantra of the Barred Owl, a common mid-sized predator of rodents. In early August, you may even hear the hunger calls of Barred Owl babies: they sound similar to the whining whirr of a power drill. The Great Horned Owl has a similar call, but lower in tone. The Northern Saw-Whet Owl is especially cute if you're lucky enough to sneak a peak, with its sequences of short, high-pitched “hoots."

• Learn about owls and more at the Canadian Ecology Centre, located adjacent to Mattawa Provincial Park
• The campground at Mattawa Provincial Park can be busy, so be sure to reserve your campsite up to 5 months in advance

#8 Enjoy the Sunset on the Shortest Night of the Year

It’s hard to believe that starting around June 22, the planet begins its dip back towards the long nights of winter. But you’ll be too enraptured by the specular sunsets at Neys Provincial Park, located off of Highway 17 west of the town of Marathon, to feel any sense of despondency for the inevitability of winter. Owing to its northern latitude, the sunsets can feel endless at Neys in late June, with the final colours bleeding from the vast western skies above Lake Superior towards midnight. Making a camping pilgrimage to experience the solstice is something your family will never forget.

• Besides one of the best beaches on Lake Superior, Neys Provincial Park features excellent hiking with a wide variety of trails
• Ontario Parks Discovery staff lead a variety of activities exploring the ghosts of the past on Neys Nostalgia days, usually on the second weekend of August

#9 Winter Camp on the Longest Night of the Year 

Algonquin Provincial Park features a host of great winter activities, including some of the finest groomed cross-country ski trails in the province, hiking and snowshoeing. The campground at Mew Lake is open year-round, making it a great destination to try winter camping with your family.

Why not start a new holiday tradition of camping out on the winter solstice? Pack warm sleeping bags and soak in the darkness and silence with the satisfaction that there’s plenty of winter—and longer daylight hours—ahead. The Mew Lake campground serves as an excellent base camp for a family winter adventure, with a skating rink and access to trails for hiking, snowshoeing and fat-biking. The campground comfort station is open year-round.

• Algonquin is a prime destination for winter fun, with two groomed networks of cross-country ski trails, excellent snowshoeing, skating on Mew Lake and more

#10 Watch for Bats

Bats are slowly shedding their maligned reputation—and none too late. Half of Ontario’s eight bat species are listed as Endangered. Join Discovery staff interpreters at Marten River Provincial Park, north of North Bay on Highway 11, to learn more about the unique biology and immense benefits of bats. You’ll discover the fascinating ways bats use echolocation to navigate in the dark, while they consume their body weight in insects every night.

Make it an Ontario Parks road trip and check out Finlayson Point Provincial Park, located just north of Marten River on the shores of Lake Temagami.

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