Join Park Interpreter James Chester at the Johns Family Conservancy Park for an unusual trip into the park at night. The evening’s adventure celebrates the Nocturnal Preserve designation from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

James will take you into the park as dusk descends and offer you a glimpse at the creatures that inhabit that nocturnal world, with a focus on owls and other animals that prefer the darkness to the light. James plans to make his audience more aware of how human-produced light changes behavior patterns of these animals – and not always for the better.

It is our hope that we can offer the hike without the use of light as part of a dark skies preserve experience, and the hike participants will acclimatize to the low-light environment like how the wildlife will adapt in the park. However, due to varying light conditions on any given night, the use of headlamps may be required for the hike safety. We have enough red-light headlamps to loan each hiker a headlamp for the hike. Extra flashlights will be available in case of emergencies.

This is a moderately difficult hike and will involve low-light hiking. Biting insects come alive at dusk so insect repellent and long sleeves/pants are recommended.