Short Hills protects roughly 660 hectares of rolling, wooded terrain carved by Twelve Mile Creek on the southern edge of the Niagara Escarpment. Seven designated trails wind through the park for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding, and a shorter accessible-style path leads toward views of Swayze Falls. The landscape shelters white-tailed deer, coyotes and unusual southern flora such as pawpaw, making it a favourite of naturalists as well as weekend hikers.
This is a day-use park in the truest sense: there are trailheads and a few parking lots off roads like Pelham, Roland and Cataract, but no campground, visitor centre or other built facilities. Admission is free, so visitors simply arrive, park and walk. Its territory technically straddles Pelham, St. Catharines and Thorold, but it is one of the defining outdoor destinations of the central Niagara Peninsula.
