AT ‘THE BARRENS,’ A WALK IN THE PARK IS STELLAR BY STARLIGHT AT NIGHT AND ALSO BY DAY IN TORRANCE
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
TORRANCE — It was happy trails to all Sunday at the Torrance Barrens.
Friends of the dark sky park and preserve gathered for a rain date on another gorgeous sunny Muskoka afternoon to mark a local landmark, which is provincially — if not nationally — recognized.
Certainly more so now that Ontario Parks has unveiled a new “kiosk” honouring nature by day and night.
More than two dozen supporters of “the Barrens” rallied just inside the canopied woods, just off the parking lot on Southwood Road, as Ontario Parks helped them celebrate one of Muskoka’s most distinctive little parklands.
An information station with trail directions and signage that pays homage to its Indigenous routes with First Nations artistry and stellar photographic images of the darkened overhead skies is testament to the terrestrial and stellar.
The provincially-owned trails of just a few kilometres each are unique in not only their ease of use, but their attraction to seekers of sunless sunsets
A rare opportunity, the latter, for sure; though the seeping encroachment of nearby burghs within Muskoka Lakes threaten its tranquil allure.
Still it was an hour or so to make sure that for those who do enjoy this gem of germination that it can continue to grow, live long and prosper.
A walk in the park now is the activity du jour for outdoor enthusiasts — a.k.a. health nuts.
The district has many popular walking destinations as highway roadsides are often busy weekends with vehicles abandoned on roadside shoulders as the call of the wild beckons with the wondrous sounds of woodpeckers echoing corner to corner through forests. And the groundcover rustling its leaves as animals beneath your feet run and play tag with you.
So take a hike — to reveal the other side of the kiosk as you explore the Barrens with renewed hope and visions of night lights dancing in your head.
The Barrens can be found by travelling west from Gravenhurst along Hwy. 169 toward Bala. Turn left and a fast left again at the fork onto Southwood Road for about 5 kms. Or you can head south of Gravenhurst on Hw. 11 and turn right onto Southwood Road, travelling about 15 kms.
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