Skate under the twinkling lights of tiki torches and the stars in Muskoka’s enchanting woods. Skate the 1.3 km trail at Arrowhead Provincial Park’s fire and ice night

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Skating under the light of tiki torches and the twinkling lights of the stars is an activity you need to add to your winter things to do.

Skating is one of the best winter activities (in my opinion), and when I was younger, I made it a point to go every single Friday after school. 

Fire and Ice night at Arrowhead Ice skating trail

I had been looking for different trails to go skating in and around Toronto, so I hopped on my favorite sites google, Pinterest, and Instagram in search of ideas.

Whenever the hubby comes to town, I always look for fun things for us to do.

Truth be told, I’m pretty much a hermit when he’s not here and so when he is, that’s my time to get out and do ALL THE THINGS. That’s my time to live life!

So when he came to visit in the winter, even though I don’t like cold, I looked for fun winter activities we could do.

In my searches, I stumbled across the enchanted forest up in Arrowhead provincial park in Muskoka. 

If I’m being honest, I don’t remember if I first saw the photos for the trailhead on Instagram or google. Whatever the case, I knew we had to go. 

But I didn’t want to go for just any old skate date, I wanted to experience one of the fire and ice nights.

What is fire and ice night you ask?

Well on certain nights each week, when the lights go out and the sun goes down, the trail is lit up with hundreds of tiki torches to light your way.

It makes for a magical skate night through the woods of Muskoka.

We already had plans to head to Calabogie for a week, so I thought this was the perfect time to add a few days to our trip and make a stop in Muskoka.

We rented a car and booked the cutest little room through Airbnb that was close to the trail for the night.

The drive up was pretty smooth but as we’re both time management challenged (aka – always late), we ended up leaving home later than we intended.

That meant we arrived at our Airbnb a little late to check-in, thus arriving late to the skate trail.

The Airbnb

We met our lovely host who was a very nice older lady with her two adorably tiny dogs.

She showed us our way to the room which came complete with a fireplace and some homemade fruit infused water she gives to all her guests.

We lugged our stuff into our room, got everything settled, and then headed out to the trail.

The drive to the trailhead

Now the drive into the trailhead is not for the faint of heart (I may be slightly exaggerating).

But seriously, don’t even think about making this journey if you don’t have on snow tires. Luckily our rental came with them or else we would’ve been in deep doo-doo. 

There are no lights leading into the park, so the only thing lighting your way is your headlights, so you definitely want to take it easy and drive slow.  

We arrived just after 8 pm. We found parking, grabbed our skates, and headed toward the lights.

Getting ready to get our skate on

The cutest little seating area was set up adorned with string lights to light the space.

Picnic tables and benches were set up and large wooden cubbyhole shelves were available for anyone who wanted to store their belongings while they skated their hearts away.

 A fire pit was even in attendance so you could roast some marshmallows (if you came prepared) or simply warm up before and after taking to the ice. 

You already know I made great use of the heat the fire provided.

We got our shoes off and skates on as quickly as possible before our toes froze off (remember, you’re changing outside), bagged our shoes, and set off for a few tours around the ice.

The 1.3 km trail

We skated around the trail 2 full times, which actually worked out great.

Initially, I had been a little upset that we arrived so late but in reality, it gave us the perfect amount of time to skate the trail.

Yann and I leisurely skated down the trail, when we got into the spirit of things and decided to race for a bit. But your girl get was just a smidge out of shape, so I had to take a break because I was so tired haha.

There were a few benches littered down the trail if you need to rest or simply want to watch as other people skate by.

The tiki torches added such ambiance to the skate trail and we had a fun evening on the ice.

The only thing missing was some good festive music to add to the ambiance.

Final thoughts

If you’re looking for a different kind of skating experience than the old regular degular skating around in a circle at your local skating rink,- and don’t mind making a drive north, then I highly recommend heading up to Arrowhead for a fire and ice night.

Book an Airbnb ( it’s always my go-to), grab your loved ones, friends or family, and drive up to this enchanted forest. 

There are also a few other winter activities you can do in the area so be sure to check out the Muskoka website if you want some more ideas.

I don’t do cold, but I do love making memories and getting outside, even if I have to wear 5 layers to do so ;p