June 21st is the summer solstice and National Indigenous Peoples Day. Spend it at a reconstructed Iroquoian village standing on its original site, with programming led by Indigenous educators, then walk the cliff edge at Rattlesnake Point.
Pick your date and seats below. Both parks' gate fees and the Crawford Lake reservation are in the fare.
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Cancel 14 or more days before you go and you get 90% back.
A Parkbus guide is with the group for the whole day. You are not expected to know the trail, the route or the plan, and nobody gets left behind.
A few hours of walking on real trail, with uneven ground and some climbing. Roots, rocks and hills, so proper shoes matter. Not a stroll.
Crawford Lake is meromictic, which means its deep water has not mixed with its surface for roughly ten thousand years. Nothing stirs the bottom, so the sediment keeps a clean year by year record. In the 1970s an analysis of that sediment found corn pollen, which meant somebody had been farming here, which led to excavations that uncovered eleven longhouses and more than ten thousand artefacts from a village of around 250 Iroquoian-speaking people.
Three of those longhouses have been rebuilt at full scale on the original site, with bark walls about sixteen feet high. Inside there are fire pits, fur-lined bunks and tools laid out roughly as they would have been in the 1430s. The Deer Clan Longhouse holds rotating exhibitions of contemporary Indigenous art, and a 600-year-old corn grinding stone from the original village is on display. There is a Three Sisters garden planted by the Ojibiikaan Indigenous Cultural Network.
The 21st of June is the summer solstice and it is National Indigenous Peoples Day. That is not a coincidence: the date was chosen in 1996 precisely because the solstice has carried spiritual and ceremonial meaning for many First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities for generations. Conservation Halton runs programming with Grandmother's Voice and other Indigenous organisations, led by Indigenous educators and Knowledge Keepers.
Then the other half of the day. The Nassagaweya Canyon Trail links Crawford Lake to Rattlesnake Point, which has five cliff-edge lookouts including Buffalo Crag and Pinnacle. The cliffs are limestone, the cedars clinging to them are over 800 years old, and turkey vultures ride the thermals at your eye level while the canyon falls away underneath.
Ten thousand years of undisturbed mud, and what it gave up.
The village first, then the cliff edge. Both gate fees and the Crawford Lake reservation are already handled.
We pick you up
Just north of Yonge and Bloor subway station. Come up the Asquith exit and look for the bus. Get there fifteen minutes early.
Three full-scale longhouses with bark walls about sixteen feet high, standing where the excavations found eleven of them. Fire pits, fur-lined bunks, tools. The Deer Clan Longhouse shows contemporary Indigenous art, and a 600-year-old corn grinding stone from the original village is on display. A boardwalk with interpretive signs circles the meromictic lake itself.
Good to know:
Facilities: Washrooms and water at the main park area, Boardwalk around the lake with interpretive signs
Note: No swimming. Crawford Lake is a protected research site with no beach. Entry needs an advance reservation, which your ticket covers.
Linked to Crawford Lake by the Nassagaweya Canyon Trail. Conservation Halton call this the best lookout on the entire Niagara Escarpment. Five viewpoints along the cliff, including Buffalo Crag and Pinnacle, with the Nassagaweya Canyon dropping away below and the escarpment forest running out to the horizon on a clear day.
Good to know:
Facilities: Washrooms and water at the main park area
Note: The cliff trails have loose rock and uneven sections. Closed-toe hiking shoes, not sandals.
We drop you back
The bus returns to the same place it left from, so you go home the way you came.
This is our estimated return time, not a guarantee. Traffic can change it and some trips do run late, so please leave yourself some room afterwards rather than booking something tight against it.
A hiking day with cliff edges in it, so the shoes matter.
Crawford Lake sits on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe and the Huron-Wendat.
The village reconstructed on the site is believed to have been Wendat or Neutral Confederacy, dating to the 1430s.
The programming is led by Indigenous educators and Knowledge Keepers, so you are hearing teachings directly from the people who carry them.
Come ready to listen. That is the whole ask.
Both parks have basic facilities but no restaurant out on the trails. Pack a lunch and snacks and bring a refillable bottle, at least a litre.
There are washrooms and water at the main park areas. A thermos is welcome and, frankly, encouraged.
This one runs on the 21st of June, which is both the summer solstice and National Indigenous Peoples Day.
Placeholder dates · the real ones come from our booking system
We are Canada's outdoor bus service. Since 2010 we've taken more than 300,000 people to parks and trails without a car. You bring hiking shoes and a packed lunch. We handle everything with wheels, plus the reservations.
Three full-scale longhouses with bark walls about sixteen feet high, built where the excavations found eleven of them. Fire pits, fur-lined bunks and tools laid out roughly as they were in the 1430s.
Conservation Halton runs the day with Grandmother's Voice and other Indigenous organisations. Guided village tours, Elders sharing teachings by the fire, the Three Sisters garden, lacrosse. Come ready to listen.
Conservation Halton call Rattlesnake Point the best lookout on the whole Niagara Escarpment. Five cliff-edge viewpoints, cedars over 800 years old growing out of the rock, turkey vultures at eye level.
Crawford Lake is meromictic: its deep water has not mixed with the surface in about ten thousand years. That is why the sediment held the corn pollen that led to the dig in the first place.
★★★★★ 4.6/5.0 on Google
All stops enable guests ample time to explore the destination. This is a highly a good idea trip for those that appreciate spending time in nature minus distractions.OnAir48444 · Tripadvisor · Oct 2025
This is the 1st time I used Parkbus but it won't be the last.Brenda H. · Google
Speaking from someone who doesn't drive. This is a must!! I highly recommend this!Linda Ann · Facebook · Jun 2024
Factor in the cost of gas, parking and renting a car, it's a lot cheaper than taking a personal vehicle.Toronto Star
Parkbus is a great option for nature lovers, whether it's a day trip or overnight camping getaway.The Globe and Mail
Cancel more than 14 days before departure and you get a 90% refund, with 10% withheld for payment processing. Inside 14 days refunds are not available, except for a medical emergency in the 48 hours before departure, which needs a signed doctor’s note within 14 days of the missed trip and returns 50%. Tickets are transferable: you can change the passenger name up to 48 hours before departure.
If Parkbus cancels a trip, you get a full refund. We decide no later than 48 hours before departure and only on confirmed conditions: the park closed or the park authority asking us to stand down, an evacuation order or alert, an area restriction order, the highway closed, or the trip judged unsafe to run. A forecast is not one of those things, and trips run rain or shine.
Or you can stand inside a longhouse on the original site, on the longest day of the year.
Not quite the right fit? These all leave from the same spot downtown.
