Pinery Provincial Park

Published by

Caitlin Thomson

on

July 16, 2025

Our first camping trip was a success!

We definitely found out that we thought we had brought everything we would need, but that was a lie! (LOL) We also brought way more food than we needed, but better safe than sorry!

Angus is new to camping and he’s basically a diva, so he really wasn’t sure about it. He didn’t like his camping chair (Lazy Bear Folding Pet Chair) and preferred the dirt. Good news is – the cats at home love the chair, so it’s still basically a win. Since Angus didn’t like the chair, he was lying in the dirt and therefore we ended up buying some outdoor carpets and he was content to lay on those.

The Pinery Provincial Park is located on Lake Huron in Grand Bend, Ontario. (9526 Lakeshore Rd, Grand Bend, ON. N0M 1T0) It is a beautiful park that I (Cait) used camp at as a kid. I have a lot of fond memories here. This campground offers electrical and non-electrical sites, radio free areas, dog free areas, as well as cabin and yurt rentals. The cabins and yurts are great alternatives if you’re new to camping, or would prefer a solid structure to sleep in.

We stayed in the Riverside Campground 1 (as there are three main camping areas; Dunes, Burley and Riverside). We were on site 488 which when booking looked more like row/field camping. I was happy to see when we arrived that there were lots of trees between the sites, but had roads on both the front and back of the site. A benefit to this would be you didn’t have to back your trailer into the campsite. You could pull in whichever way you wanted or made sense.

Riverside is the closest camping area to the park store, restaurant, rentals and ice cream. I don’t think you’d want to walk to this location from the other camp areas as it’s quite far. We did a lot of walking around the camping areas, fished on the Old Ausauble Channel that runs through the park, and completed the Cedar 2.3km Trail.

The Old Ausable Channel was absolutely stunning. It was great for those that wanted to canoe or kayak, as no motorized boats were allowed. It was home to lots of different fish and turtle species. There are lots of weeds and lily pads, so this river was great for fishing! Layne even caught a 2-lbs large mouth bass on his 4th cast into the river. Unfortunately, this was the only fish we would catch this weekend.

Overall Reviews

Pinery Provincial Park – 8/10: It is a beautiful park, however it is quite large and therefore you either need a car to get everywhere, or prepare to walk 20+km per day.

Campsites – 8/10: some of the sites were small and tight, as well as the roads getting there. We definitely recommend the riverside area 1 camp sites.

Restaurant – N/A as we did not eat here

Rentals – N/A as we did not rent any of the kayaks, canoes, paddle boats or bikes

Park Store – 10/10: Staff were friendly and they had what I was looking for (a decal for the back of our trailer)

Ice Cream – 5/10: Tasty, lots of flavours but really expensive

Hiking – 8/10: There are around 10 trails to hike ranging from 0.8km to 3km. The Cedar trail that we completed was tree covered and shady (which is what this red-head needs). The only downfall is that there is poison ivy everywhere and you really need to be careful! Make sure you know what poison ivy looks like, and how to treat it if you do come into contact.

Beach – 9/10: Burly Campground and Dunes Campground have their own beaches for campers. There are also 9 day use beaches, with the dog beach (for both day use and campers) located at Beach 1. This is the furthest beach and is along a 1 directional road. It was about 12 km from our campsite. We did not see how close the beaches were from the Burley or Dunes campgrounds, but if you are staying in the Riverside Campground you will definitely need to drive to one of the beaches. Be prepared for a small workout as you need to make your way over the dunes, but be sure to stay on the walking paths. Make sure to stay off the dunes, as they are now protected areas.