Categories: Travel

This Ontario park has a tranquil forest therapy trail among the autumn foliage

Image via Ontario Parks

Sitting along the shores of Lake Huron is an Ontario Park that is open year-round to enjoy. MacGregor Point Provincial Park may be popular for its beaches in the summer, but during autumn the trails dance with changing colours.

The park is also home to the first forest therapy trail in the province. Let’s start planning your trip.

Getting there

MacGregor Point Provincial Park is about three and a half hours from Toronto by car, nestled along the beautiful Lake Huron in Port Elgin.

The park is open year-round but if you’re planning on visiting you will need to pay a day fee starting at $12.25 per vehicle.

Exploring MacGregor Point Provincial Park

The very first designated forest therapy trail in any Ontario Park opened here in the summer of 2023.

Visitors can immerse in nature as they explore the self-guided healing walk along the Tower Trail.

There are a series of mindfulness prompts that “promote you to explore a deeper connection within nature and within yourself”.

“In slowing down to awaken our senses, we bring our bodies into a deeper awareness of the forest — a place we evolved — and into our parasympathetic nervous system,” says Ontario Parks.

The trail was created in collaboration with Ontario Parks and the Global Institute of Forest Therapy and Nature Connection (GIFT), an organization that “designs and designates forest therapy trails in parks and municipalities across Canada.”

Research strongly supports” that forest therapy walks can help with a variety of other things, according to Ontario Parks. Benefits include boosting your immune system, lowering blood pressure, improving heart rate variability, stabilizing moods, reducing stress and improving sleep.

Also along the Tower Trail is a path to a tower that provides a panoramic view of the wetland and surrounding foliage!

Sounds like a perfect day away from the city.