Ontario Fall Colours 2020

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Ontario Fall Colours 2020

September 22nd is the beginning of Fall 2020 and Ontario forests are already starting to turn colour as the autumnal equinox and cooler temperatures work their way south. Cottage country is already at about 20% colour change with peak maple fall colour forecast for the first two weeks of October. In the GTA you can only see the odd splash of colour on the occasional tree but you know with frost the changes will accelerate.

Update: The 26/27 September weekend is providing prime weather for looking for Fall colours. In the GTA splashes of colour are starting to break out.

Nature is already at a premium during these times of Covid-19. Activities, events and outdoor facilities were shut down to help stop the spread of the coronavirus and that included a lot of nature like parks and conservation areas. Families locked in condos and packed into cities couldn't escape the inflexible walls of home. Beaches were shut down or restricted to local residents and many remain closed to this day even as Ontario

Fall in HTO Park

On June 17, 2020 the province started the recovery process with the start of Stage 3 with most business and public spaces gradually opening. As of September 8, a pause has been initiated by Ontario where further openings will be delayed for 28 days. However, you can't fight mother nature and its colours are going to happen and people will want to explore the beauty of Ontario, the question will be where can you go?

With so many places still closed, or with limited entrance, the usual busy Fall tours will be even more hectic. Full of too busy roads and tiny amounts of parking. Even one of the star locations close to Toronto - Caledon, usually full of fantastic fall colours only offers, at least the last time I counted, about three parking spaces at normal times. They really want you to slow down, have someone run out of the car and buy something in their small town, then proceed to get the heck out of the area and leave it for the locals. You can try, but the stop and go traffic will just slow you down. If you thought viewing the beauty of nature during Fall was hard before, you ain't seen nothing yet.

The Forks of the Credit is looking fantastic as of October 1, 2020

There are about 3 more weekends before peak colours dry up, that's only six days of day-trips and if we get rain or dark grey skies those six days can be reduced pretty fast. Unless you head up to cottage country you have the crown jewels such as Collingwood, Caledon (with the Forks of the Credit and the Badlands of Cheltenham), Burlington and Hamilton's waterfalls and Dundas Peak, the rolling hills of eastern Ontario and the larger Toronto parks like High Park and the Scarborough Bluffs. Pick your poison and make plans to put in a reservation if at all possible. Otherwise look for public transit, places that have parking and shuttle buses, or find a way to bike or hike into the area. Good luck my friends, you will need it this year.