Birding at any time of year can be rewarding. Walking or biking the loop road is the best way to bird the park. There are cross roads at about the one kilometre mark (south of McGinnis Lake) and the 2.5 kilometre mark (north of McGinnis Lake) avoiding the need to travel the entire loop road. Birding in the winter can be quiet, unless one makes noise (pishing and squeaking)!

The park hosts a wide variety of birds characteristic of the mixed forests of the southern Shield. Formerly (until at least 2020) the park hosted at least one pair of Canada Jays, typically encountered at the Learning Place parking lot. Black-backed Woodpecker is a resident and, dependent on conifer cone crops, winter finches (crossbills, grosbeaks, siskins) may be encountered in numbers.

Petroglyphs Provincial Park has been designated as a National Historic Site of Canada, showcasing the largest known concentration of Pre-Columbian era Indigenous rock carvings in Canada.

Petroglyphs is a day-use only park, open daily (excluding Mondays and Tuesdays in the spring and fall) from 10:00am to 5:00pm (no vehicle access after 4:00pm). It operates from the second Friday in May to the second Monday of October. While the park is officially closed and the entrance gate locked between mid-October and mid-May, it is possible to park at the gate and walked the access roads and trails. In the off-season the park is very popular with hikers, skiers, dog walkers and nature enthusiasts and the limited parking space is often filled by mid-morning (note that there is no parking on the shoulders of Northey's Bay Rd - CR 56 or adjacent Cheboutequion Drive). The western portion of the park's loop road is plowed in winter, but the eastern portion is not. Note also that while dogs are allowed to be on-leash throughout the park, they are not permitted at the Petroglyphs site.

During the operating season there are pit toilets available at the picnic areas and the Learning Place parking lots.

In addition to the park's loop road (a 6-7 km round trip on foot), there are three maintained hiking trails in the park:

Marsh Trail - 7 km (2.5 hours) moderate
This trail winds through dense pine forest and marsh and then climbs - steeply in parts - to uplands.

Nanabush Trail 5.5 km (1.5 hours) easy
The trail crosses a variety of terrain from wetlands to rock outcrops.

West Day Use Trail 5 km (1.5 hours) moderate
This narrow trail winds through large pine stands and areas of oak and birch. A bridge crosses an ancient streambed made thousands of years ago.