Discover Burlington Ontario: Fall into Nature

View from the top!

What a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend for Burlington visitors and residents. The weather was perfect…blue skies, lots of sunshine and ideal fall temperatures. With guests visiting from Washington D.C. and Quebec I decided to show them one of our “gems”: the Niagara Escarpment and the beautiful fall colours.

We packed two cars, grabbed our cameras and our Fall into Nature passports (available at the Burlington Visitor Centre, 414 Locust St.) and headed towards Kelso Conservation Area. Kelso is one of the 6 parks included in the Fall into Nature event happening in October (Oct. 9-11, 13 and Oct 16-17). The other parks include Crawford Lake, Mountsberg, Rattlesnake Point, Mount Nemo and Hilton Falls. There are different events planned at each park including: family campfires, birds of prey shows, longhouse exploration, canoeing, guided trail hikes and much more (for complete list of events, locations and times visit their website)! We decided to visit Kelso so we could experience the chairlift rides to the top of the escarpment and a view of the “fall beauty”. The Fall into Nature passports allows you to purchase one day entry (at any 6 of the park’s entrance) and be valid for one full day at all six parks (one passport per vehicle/family). Arriving at the park we received a warm welcome by park staff, smells of BBQ, music and free local apples; a snack for the chairlift ride! There was a “pumpkin picture patch” also for children, where they could get their photo taken with the fall display and then pick a pumpkin to decorate and take home to create their own fall display.

The ride up!

The chair lift ride up to the top took about 10 minutes, with the beautiful views and spectacular fall colours I could have rode it all day! The chair lift rides cost $3.00 per adult and $2.00 per child. There was a young boy in front of us on the chair lift who was bringing his mountain bike up with him for a great “ride down”. The chair lift attendants were very friendly and helped everyone on the chairs and even loaded bikes on for you! With the beautiful weather on Saturday some visitors were enjoying picnic lunches at the top. Chair lift rides down were available but we decided to do further exploring, climbing up small “cliffs” to higher points and then we walked down the face of the hill which is enjoyed in the winter by skiers and snowboarders (Glen Eden).

We ended our visit to Kelso with a visit to the Halton Region Museum which is located within the park. We only dropped in quickly as they were setting up for a fall wedding that was being held there later that afternoon…what a beautiful spot! This is also where they hold Jazz at the Museum, every 2nd Sunday of the month in October, November and December.