Schreiber Beach

As was the case with Terrace Bay Lighthouse, Schreiber Beach was another attraction that we hadn’t bothered to check out at first, despite passing signage for it several times, over multiple trips.

Then we saw a Lake Superior Circle Tour sign, noticed what a high percentage of the featured stops we’d been to already, and decided we HAD to complete the set, LOL.

So, during a fall 2025 stay at Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, we got in the car to go check it out.

I’ve got to say... due to our love for Terrace Bay Beach, we didn’t necessarily feel the need to find another beach in the area... but we’re glad we went!

What a gorgeous area! I’m a huge fan of Lake Superior in general, and Schreiber beach did NOT disappoint.

Unfortunately, we had next to no information about it, going in... and it turned out that we did NOT allot anywhere near enough time to fully take it all in. (We’ve since been back - the post has been updated to reflect both visits!)

So, in the interest of helping other people avoid that mistake, let’s go over everything you should know about Schreiber Beach!

The Basics:

Location Name: Schreiber Beach
Address: 436 Isbester Dr, Schreiber, ON P0T 2S0
Website: Schreiber Beaches
Price Free!
Reservations: Not applicable.
Season: Year-round? (The road is not maintained in winter)

Logistics

This beach is located 2 km down a relatively rough road, with some steep areas - one area is apparently 12%, though it didn’t feel that steep.

This road is not maintained from October 15 - April 15, so definitely use it at your own risk.

Anyway, beyond getting there... here is some basic information to help you plan your visit to Shrieber Beach:

Registration and Check In

There are no reservations, registration, or check in required - or even available. This one of those venues where you simply drive up, park, and go enjoy your stay.

Parking

At the end of that 2 km road is a small loop of a parking lot. The first half of the loop has 13 regular, perpendicular parking spots for cars.

The second half of the loop has a few longer spots, parallel to the center of the loop. They seem to be intended for RVs or trailers, but they’re not all THAT long - you might end up using two of them.

As a note, we went on a random Saturday at the end of September and the regular parking was almost full.

Washrooms

There's a single stall washroom at the bottom of the hill, before you get to the beach itself.

It was in pretty disgusting condition at the time of our first visit - looked at smelled like it had NOT been maintained in some time.

It was really clean at the time of our second visit, though.

Maps and Signage

There are no maps for Schreiber Beach itself, which is a shame - there are trails in the area, and the signage was almost non-existent for them.

There WAS a large map sign near the beach that was an overview map for hiking in the general area, just nothing on the more localized scale.

You don’t really need signage to find the beach, washroom, or picnic shelter - it’s all pretty straightforward from the parking lot... but we definitely could have used some signage for trails.

Accessibility

There are no designated disabled parking spots.

The path from the parking lot down to the landing (leading up to the beach) is wheelchair accessible. It’s a relatively long, gently sloping trail that winds back and forth down the steep embankment.

I wasn’t having a good mobility day, and had no problem walking up and down that path. It’s smooth and well-maintained pavement.

The washroom at the bottom is marked with an accessibility symbol, BUT the access to the washroom isn’t accessible itself - there’s about a 5" step up.

That’s about it as far as accessibility goes. Without an all-terrain wheelchair, you could maybe get a view out over the beach, but the beach itself isn’t accessible, and didn’t have a Mobi-Mat.

To be honest, I’m not sure one would even work there - I’ve never seen one installed on a rocky beach like Schreiber Beach.

Pets

Pets are allowed, but have to be leashed and picked up after.

There aren’t any dog poop bag dispensers at the beach, so far as we saw ... but I’m about 80% sure I saw one at the start of the 2 km road?

Park Store

There is no park store - or shopping / vending machines / etc of any kind - at Schreiber Beach. Bring what you need!

Visitor Centre

There is no Visitor Center at Schreiber Beach.

Day Use Area

There's a cute little picnic shelter with couple picnic tables under the roof, plus there's a few other picnic tables nearby and overlooking the lake.

Note: We’ve seen reference to there being a playground overlooking the beach ... we didn’t see one, during our visits. Not sure how we managed to miss it, if it does exist!

Connectivity

We had really decent cell phone reception - on Rogers Wireless - at Schreiber Beach, and in the general area.

Miscellaneous

There are two - obvious! - ways to get down to the beach from the parking lot.

If you’re able bodied, you can just walk 70m down a relatively steep embankment.

If you’re less mobile, there’s a path that winds its way down the hill. Nice and easy, not super steep, very level and smooth.

Weirdly, MapMyRun marked that as being only 100 m long. It’s at least 3x the length of the straight-up path, so I’m not sure what happened there!

Anyway, at the base of the hill, there’s some private property off to the left. As you approach the beach, there’s private property marked off to the right.

Neither of these seem to extend down to the beach area though - we saw no signs down there about private property.

Entertainment and Activity

Some basic information on the activities you can engage in while visiting Schreiber Beach:

Hiking

If you want to just explore the beach area, though, there are some cool rock formations off to the right, always fun to play on!

Anyway - aside from the aforementioned walk down to the beach - you can connect up with a couple trail options from the Schreiber Beach area.

We saw the access point for the Schreiber Channel Segment of this trail off to the right, when looking at the beach - it’s over by those rock formations.

We didn’t have time to explore the trails during our first visit, but Porter walked a short way in, during our second visit:

Casque Isles Trail

“The Casque Isles trail is extremely long - 53 km! - but I decided to do a short section from Schreiber Beach to see the iconic Red Chairs.

Heading to the right as you get to the beach, you'll see the trail sign when you reach the end of the sandy beach at the rocks.

The trail starts out with large rocks and boulders, climbing up and weaving around away from the shore.

It's a moderate difficulty trail because of the climbing and the slightly rough footing further into the trail. It has that intensely boreal feel, mosses, lichens and blueberry bushes on the ground, with evergreens surrounding you .”

“There are trail blazes on trees, as well as painted on rocks. The path is easy to follow. There are some side branches, perhaps trail sections no longer used, but the blazes are always located at or near those junctions for clarity.

The trail goes into thicker forest, a narrow trail with a lush forest floor including many wildflowers. It's slightly hilly, but very short inclines and declines.

This reminds me a lot of the trails at Pukaskwa National Park, which makes sense because we're in a similar zone. Since Pukaskwa trails are among my favorites, this trail automatically gets a good rating from me!”

“The branch to the red chairs is well labeled, it's a short branch leading back to the shoreline from the trail. It's about 50 meters from the main trail.

As usual, the views from the red chairs are absolutely stunning - Massive boulders at the shore with a panoramic view of the area.

I was treated to a loon swimming by. No matter how far you're going on the Casque Isles trail, you'll definitely want to make a stop here!

I turned around and went back to Schreiber beach. The distance from the trail sign at the beach to the red chairs is a half kilometer. I consider this a must-do if you're at Schreiber Beach!”

Red Chairs

The Red Chairs are a thing that you generally see in Parks Canada properties - we’ve seen them at Bruce Peninsula National Park, Point Pelee National Park, Pukaskwa National Park, and Terrace Bay Beach.

It's a program that started at Gros Morne National Park, back in 2011 - man, I bet the chairs there have a VIEW!

Basically, there are over 200 red Adirondack chairs set up in (usually!) remote, scenic locations across the country. Each chair is made from 100% recycled plastic.

The idea was to invite people to chill out, enjoy a view, and share their experiences on social media.

Just take a selfie in the chair and post using the hashtag #ShareTheChair. You can even tag Parks.Canada on Instagram, or Parks Canada on Facebook.

Anyway, were a bit surprised to see that there was a set at Schreiber Beach - it seemed like a municipal beach!

As it turns out, it's because the trail is along the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area.

There are actually 5 more sets of Red Chairs in the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area: Battle Island (N 48° 45.136 W 087° 33.429), Nipigon River Recreation Trail (N 48° 57.355 W 088° 15.830), Porphyry Island (N 48° 20.385 W 088° 38.930), Rossport Coastal Trail (N 48° 50.233 W 087° 29.788), Terrace Bay Beach (N 48° 46.148 W 087° 06.724) .

You can also view a complete list of the Red Chairs Locations on the Parks Canada site.

Swimming

Schreiber Beach is a rocky, pebble beach on Lake Superior. Absolutely gorgeous, but maybe not the kind of beach for laying out on a towel!

The water was clean, clear, sparkling... and cold.

It’s very much a “Lake Superior Beach” in every way. Love it!

Birding, Wildlife, and Nature

We didn’t do a ton of birding during our first visit to Schreiber Beach... partially because we were WAY more focused on the beach / lake views, and partially because the waves were REALLY loud that day.

That noise + high winds = not great for birding!

We did see and/or hear a few common birds, and saw several Mourning Cloak Butterflies along the path between the parking lot and the beach.

Our June 2026 visit saw more luck for birding... sort of.

We HEARD a lot more birds, and could see them briefly, far up in the trees. Not much luck on the bird photography front, though.

Between the two visits now, we’ve seen and/or heard:

American Crow, American Redstart, Bay-Breasted Warbler, Black-Throated Green Warbler, Blue-Headed Vireo, Canada Goose, Canada Warbler, Cedar Waxwing, Chestnut-Sided Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Common Loon, Common Raven, Herring Gull, Nashville Warbler, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Red-Eyed Vireo, Ring-Billed Gull, Song Sparrow, Spruce Grouse, Swainson's Thrush, Tennessee Warbler, Turkey Vulture, White-Throated Sparrow, Winter Wren, and Yellow-Rumped Warbler.

Boating

There aren’t any boat launches or docks in the beach area.

That said, there WAS some signage welcoming paddlers to the area, and warning of the dangers of canoeing or kayaking on Lake Superior.

Fishing

We didn’t see any posted information about fishing at Schreiber Beach, but we did see a couple people fishing from shore (off to the left, when looking at the beach.)
I’m not sure about Schreiber Beach specifically, but I’m pretty sure that - in the general area - Lake Superior has Brook Trout, Chinook Salmon, Lake Trout, Northern Pike, Perch, Walleye, Whitefish, and Yellow Perch.

Hell, our waterfront site at Rainbow Falls Provincial Park - right on Lake Superior - had a salmon run right behind it!

That’s about 20 minutes up the road from Schreiber beach.

Educational & Cultural Opportunities

There were a few educational signs in the picnic gazebo, teaching a bit about some general history of the town, as well as the Canadian Pacific Railway, and Great Lakes Steamers in the area.

Niantic Games

There were 4 Niantic game stops (Pokestops, Gyms, Ingress Portals, etc) between the parking lot and the beach, with more out to either side along the trail.

We had good cell phone reception, as well.

Final Thoughts

This was a GORGEOUS beach - definitely a bit of a hidden gem!

It may not be the kind of beach where you’d lay out on a beach blanket or anything, but amazing nonetheless. I love these pebble beaches on Lake Superior, with the colourful rocks, gorgeous views, and clear blue waters.

We didn’t allot anywhere near enough time for our visit, and we’re definitely looking forward to coming back - and exploring more of the area surrounding the beach!

More Northern Ontario Provincial Parks & Places to See

Want to read some more about the parks we've camped and at places we've seen in Northern Ontario? Here are some more posts!

Northern Ontario Campground Reviews:

Aaron Provincial Park
Agawa Bay Campground, Lake Superior Provincial Park
Blue Lake Provincial Park
Caliper Lake Provincial Park
Esker Lakes Provincial Park
Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park
Kettle Lakes Provincial Park
Lake Superior Provincial Park
MacLeod Provincial Park
Neys Provincial Park
Ojibway Provincial Park
Pakwash Provincial Park
Pancake Bay Provincial Park
Pukaskwa National Park
Quetico Provincial Park
Rabbit Blanket Lake, Lake Superior Provincial Park
Rainbow Falls Provincial Park
Rene Brunelle Provincial Park
Rushing River Provincial Park
Sandbar Lake Provincial Park
Sioux Narrows Provincial Park
Sleeping Giant Provincial Park
White Lake Provincial Park

Northern Ontario Places to See:

Aguasabon Falls & Gorge
Amethyst Mine Panorama
Batchawana Bay
Bridgeview Lookout Tower
Chippewa Falls
Kakabeka Falls
Little Falls Scenic Lookout, Atikokan
Mink Creek Falls
Old Woman Bay
Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park
Potholes Provincial Park
Roy Wilson Suspension Bridge
Sand River Falls
Scenic High Falls
Temagami Fire Tower
Terrace Bay Beach
Terrace Bay Lighthouse
Terry Fox National Historic Monument
Wawa Goose
Winnie the Pooh Memorial

Want to explore beyond Northern Ontario? Check out our full list of Campground Reviews, Ontario Waterfalls, and other Places to See.

We also have a ton of Camping Recipes to cook up, while on your adventures!