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Your Family-friendly Winter Bucket List

It’s a new year. It’s time to make resolutions and experience new things with your family. Sure, the traditional activities like snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling are still around, but wouldn’t it be fun to step outside your comfort zone and try something new? What better way to ring in the New Year than start a Tupper Lake winter bucket list, complete with adventure, discovery, and fun for all ages.

What goes on a Tupper Lake bucket list? Well, it goes without saying, but a list is not complete without donuts. However, you should be sure to check out these other items as well …

Get Wild

The famous Wild Walk at The Wild Center is definitely a can’t miss attraction, but there's a new addition in town: Wild Lights. Recently, the campus was transformed into something that really lit up the night. Starting in December and running through March, visitors to the Wild Center can now walk the Wild Walk at night, accompanied by thousands of enchanting lights and immersive music. 

Families, solo travelers, and couples alike will all find something exciting in the magical sights and sounds of Wild Lights. Wander through the twinkling forest and enjoy the sounds of winter as you walk along a specially curated quarter-mile looped trail.

Wild Lights is open Friday and Saturday evenings. During Winter Week in February, Wild Lights will be open every day. Reservations are required by everyone and must be made prior to arrival. If you’d like to experience The Wild Center by day as well, your daytime reservation includes Wild Lights. Wild Lights can also be attended without a full daytime admission. 

It’s all downhill from here

If you ask anyone what the best days of winter were growing up, the answer would likely be snow days. What kid doesn’t love a day without school that can be filled with hot chocolate and sledding! (My schedule on snow days included building snow forts and sledding in the backyard for as long as I could, with breaks for cocoa, of course.)

Fortunately for the kids and kids at heart, Tupper Lake is home to one of the finest sledding hills around at the James C. Frenette Sr. Recreational Trails. Take one run or spend the afternoon flying down the hill. Grab those snow tubes, toboggans, sleds, whatever you’ve got. The sledding hill is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Country Club parking lot. If you’ve got cross-country skis or snowshoes, better pack those as well. The James C. Frenette Sr. Recreational Trails are home to miles of excellent trails.

Learn a new thing (or two!)

If a new experience is something you’re looking for, head over to The Wild Center for some ice fishing! Guides will teach you and your family the techniques used to catch fish in the winter right on Green Leaf Pond; all equipment is provided for free. Don’t worry if this is all new! With your paid reservation, you can learn all you need to know and take a look at the amazing world under the ice. 

While the indoor exhibits at The Wild Center remain closed, the outdoors is open! If ice fishing isn’t your thing, take a stroll through the woods on a pair of snowshoes or climb above the trees on the Wild Walk. There’s something the whole family will love about winter at The Wild Center.


This winter, you and your family will find no shortage of things to do in Tupper Lake, from experiencing Wild Lights to sledding to conquering the Tupper Lake hiking Triad! Don’t worry, there’s plenty of food and lodging for refueling and recharging for the next day’s adventure.

The reason you may see media of people not wearing masks on our website is because all footage is from prior years. More than ever we all need to be vigilant about maintaining social distance of 6 feet or more and wearing masks when we cannot social distance.