First pick
Carrick Tract Trail System
Park or garden
49 ha7.1 km of path
1 h 35 minto walk all 7.1 km of path
12 km northfrom the centre
Sleepy Hollow 🟦Ortman's Way ⚪Johnny's Swamp of Doom 🟢+5 paths
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Jfvoll · CC BY-SA 4.0–Not graded
Outdoors in Howick · parks, protected land & trails
Protected land is absent from the 10 km around Howick
No national park lies within 100 km. The nearest provincial park, Morris Tract Provincial Park, is 40 km away.
Protected land
0%
of the land within 10 km
Typical Canadian town: 2.3%
Protected areas
0
within 10 km, 0 public
Typical Canadian town: 14
Nearest provincial park
40 km
Morris Tract Provincial Park
Against other towns
Howick against other Canadian towns
Each figure against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (not city hubs or reserves), with the town marked and the typical one’s line. This page carries no grade, because Canada’s grading doesn’t cover the outdoors; the comparisons are the point.
Protected within 10 km0%Share of the land and water within 10 km of the town’s edge in a protected or conserved area
Protected in town0%Share of the town’s own area in a protected or conserved area
Public protected areas0Areas within 10 km held by a government or an Indigenous nation
Walking routes0Named OpenStreetMap walking and hiking routes with 300 m+ within 2 km
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
Towns its size
Howick is last of 40 towns its size for protected land within 10 km
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (4,452 to 4,591 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
Protected within 10 km
Howick0%
Towns its size2.7%
Towns in Ontario2.3%
Typical Canadian town2.3%
Public protected areas
Howick0
Towns its size4
Towns in Ontario4
Typical Canadian town4
Walking routes
Howick0
Towns its size0
Towns in Ontario1
Typical Canadian town0
Against towns its size, Howick is weakest for public protected areas: 35 of 39 have more.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electoral Area D (Oyster Bay - Buttle Lake), Strathcona BC | 49% | 64% | 34 | 11 | 8 |
| 2 | Shelburne NS | 27% | 28% | 194 | 0 | 80 |
| 3 | Sparwood BC | 23% | 3.4% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Gaetz Brook NS | 15% | 4.2% | 55 | 2 | 19 |
| 5 | Douglas BC | 13% | 3.2% | 82 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Queenswood - Chatelaine ON | 12% | 0% | 40 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Electoral Area P (Rivers and the Peaks), Thompson-Nicola BC | 11% | 8.3% | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Berthierville QC | 9.1% | 0% | 27 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Gurnett ON | 7.3% | 0% | 16 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | Bowen Island BC | 7.2% | 17% | 60 | 0 | 173 |
| 11 | Neuville QC | 7.1% | 1.3% | 30 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Horning ON | 6.4% | 20% | 17 | 3 | 0 |
| 13 | Melville SK | 5.2% | 1% | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Eastmount ON | 4.3% | 0% | 22 | 1 | 3 |
| 15 | Queensland AB | 4% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 11 |
| 16 | Wainwright No. 61 AB | 3.7% | 3.1% | 41 | 0 | 5 |
| 17 | Deer Ridge AB | 3.7% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| 18 | Crossroads ON | 3.5% | 0% | 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Warner County No. 5 AB | 3.2% | 4.7% | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley BC | 2.8% | 3.6% | 42 | 3 | 2 |
| 21 | Country Hills ON | 2.6% | 0% | 22 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | Red Hill ON | 2.1% | 0% | 17 | 3 | 5 |
| 23 | Caraquet NB | 1.8% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 11 |
| 24 | New Maryland NB | 1.7% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Fairfield Park MB | 1.7% | 0% | 18 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | Oxford AB | 1.7% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Highway Valley ON | 1.6% | 1.7% | 18 | 5 | 6 |
| 28 | Minnetonka MB | 1.6% | 1.7% | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Felker ON | 1.5% | 0% | 14 | 1 | 0 |
| 30 | Centennial MB | 1.5% | 0% | 18 | 4 | 0 |
| 31 | Rockwood MB | 1.5% | 0% | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Casselman ON | 1.4% | 0% | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Albion ON | 1.4% | 11% | 14 | 5 | 1 |
| 34 | Parkridge SK | 1.1% | 0% | 14 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 | Vulcan County AB | 0.3% | 0.4% | 33 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Montgomery AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 37 | Blue Quill AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Vanderhoof BC | 0.2% | 3.8% | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 39 | Saint-Anselme QC | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Howick ON | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The map
Parks, woods and paths around Howick
Green space, woods, protected areas and footpaths in and around the town; tap a number for its park or wood.
Green: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, playing fields and woods. Hatched: CPCAD protected areas.© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); CPCAD (OGL-Canada)
Places to walk
3 parks and woods to walk in, in or near Howick
The biggest is Carrick Tract Trail System, 49 ha. Biggest first, numbered as on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, commons and woods with a name, in the town or within 400 m, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Sizes are the mapped outline’s.
Close to home
In Howick, parks are rarely a short walk away
Residents of each 2021 dissemination area, at a point inside it, within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of a park or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap.
Within 400 m (0%)Further (100%)
Howick0%
Towns in Ontario90%
Typical Canadian town83%
About 4,500 residents live further than 400 m from one. That is below the typical Canadian town (83%).
Protected areas
There is no protected land within 10 km of Howick
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
Morris Tract Provincial Park, 40 km away, is the closest provincial park.
Source: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
National & provincial parks
Morris Tract Provincial Park, 40 km off
National parks (Parks Canada) and provincial or territorial parks by direction and distance from the town’s edge: every one within 10 km, and the nearest of each within 100 km.
National parkProvincial park
Provincial park
Morris Tract Provincial Park
40 km west0.6 km²since 1997
For a national park, people in Howick travel more than 100 km.
Source: CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC): areas and outlines, distances outline to outline; directions from the town’s centre point.
Footpaths and woods
Howick and its edge hold 11 km of footpath
OpenStreetMap footpaths, paths, bridleways and steps, and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it; woods as mapped (landuse=forest, natural=wood).
Footpaths
11 km
in and around the town (372 km²)
Woodland
16%
about 61 km² of mapped woods
Footpaths · km per km²
HowickTowns in OntarioTypical Canadian town
Footpaths0
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
HowickTowns in OntarioTypical Canadian town
Woodland16%
0%50%100%
For path density, 95% of Canadian towns do better. For woods, it beats 63% of Canadian towns.
Source: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Mapping varies by place: a dense figure can mean keen local mappers as much as many paths.
Walking routes
No mapped walking route near Howick
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
No named walking or hiking route is mapped near the town; local paths may simply not be on OpenStreetMap as routes.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
When to get out
Howick is best on foot in May to September
Daylight at the town’s latitude and ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals (Mount Forest, 30 km away). Good months: long days, highs of 15–30 °C, light rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°C) | -3 | -3 | 3 | 10 | 18 | 23 | 25 | 24 | 21 | 13 | 6 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 92 | 73 | 68 | 74 | 98 | 100 | 98 | 84 | 85 | 81 | 92 | 90 |
Summer highs reach 25 °C in July; in January they stay near -3 °C. Precipitation runs from 68 mm in March to 100 mm in June. The climate in Howick →
Things to do
2 things to do outdoors near Howick
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
Every named place, with directions
Playgrounds 2
Plus 2 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Next door
Next to Howick
The nearest places, coloured by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected; tap one for its outdoors page.
Morris-TurnberryWinghamPalmerstonHowick
Under 1%1–5%5–15%15–40%40%+
| Town | Protected within 10 km | Areas | Routes | Beaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howick | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Morris-Turnberry 13 km | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Wingham 18 km | 0% | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Palmerston 19 km | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
More routes are mapped around Wingham (2). Around Howick, nobody nearby has double its protected land.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- National and provincial parks. The nearest national park and the nearest provincial park are always shown when they are within 100 km.
- Walking routes. A route counts when 300 m or more of it lies within 2 km of the town. Coverage of trails on OpenStreetMap varies by region.
- Protected land. The 10 km band starts at the town’s outline, not its centre, so a large municipality reaches further than a small town.
- Private land. Areas held by land trusts or private owners stay unnamed here, though they count in the shares.
Questions about the outdoors in Howick
Is Howick near a national park?
No national park lies within 100 km of Howick.
When is the best time for walking in Howick?
May to September, on the 1991–2020 normals and the daylight: long days, highs of 15 °C or more, light rain for the place.
What is the nearest provincial park to Howick?
The closest is Morris Tract Provincial Park, at 40 km.
Sources
The sources behind Howick’s outdoors figures
Protected areas: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2026: every area within 10 km and the nearest national and provincial parks, measured outline to outline.
Walking routes and beaches: OpenStreetMap, November 2026: named hiking, foot and walking route relations within 2 km and beaches within 5 km.
Towns: Statistics Canada 2021 Census boundaries and populations; the comparison is the Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, not city hubs or reserves.
When to go: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, from the nearest station that publishes them.
Green space, paths, woods, things to do: OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik’s Canada extract), November 2026: parks, gardens, playing fields, woods, footpaths, the coastline and things to do in and around each town.
Residents: Statistics Canada 2021 Census dissemination areas (population, boundaries), each at a point inside it.
Walking routes and beaches © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Not on this page: trailheads and trail grades, and beach water quality. No open Canadian dataset gives these for every town yet.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).