MacLeod Provincial Park is a small campground in Northern Ontario. We had an... uh... Interesting stay there, here are our thoughts on it.
Originally posted September 24, 2023, Updated 7/3/2026.
We pulled up from Sleeping Giant Provincial Park - a beautiful park! - and left the Thunder Bay area, heading east, aiming up the more northern route.
The trip to MacLeod was a bit interesting - both the Weather Network and Google Maps (Since when was THAT a thing?) were pushing severe weather outlook warnings to my phone for part of it.
They were calling for heavy rain and nickel sized hail, but we only ended up getting a bit of light rain.
We pulled up to MacLeod, and got to see a groundhog up close, as we waited to sign in. The trees as you entered the park were beautiful, we were excited for our stay.
... and then it quickly started to go off the rails.
Not since leaving Minneapolis have I felt such a strong sense of “we’re probably going to get murdered tonight”. I definitely never expected to get that vibe at an Ontario Provincial Park!
As a spoiler: our two night stay turned into an overnight stay.
A Disclaimer About This Review
Up til this point in our big 2023 road trip, all of the Ontario Provincial parks we’d stayed in had been pretty idyllic.
This review?
There is no way we’re going to be able to write an honest review of our short stay in this park without sounding like MEAN people that have some kind of weird vendetta against this park.
I like to think we aren’t mean, and we definitely don’t have a vendetta.
In fact, things started pretty well here - check in was fast and friendly, and my husband was admiring all the tall birch trees around.
Yes, that probably sounds dramatic, I get it. It’s just the vibe we got at MacLeod PP.
We actually considered just not writing a review at all, it was just so over-the-top comically bad from the get-go. The thing is... we definitely would have liked to have a heads up before WE booked here.
We literally lost track of how many times we ended up saying “WTF!?!?” as we did our drive through.
To Be Fair...
As a note: We arrived on September 22, and the last day of the park’s season was on the 24th - the last day of our originally planned stay.
I have to wonder how much of the weirdness and general maintenance issues / disrepair could be attributed to it being the closing weekend, but really... we paid just as much as people in the summer months.
Also: Just as much as we’d paid for better maintained parks.
The thing is, a lot of this had clearly been an issue for a very long time.
Something, something, she ended up turning into a mannequin?
I have NO idea how a campground managed to evoke *that* memory, but it’s 1000% the vibe we were getting here.
Just, you know... if the mall she went into wasn’t an 80s or 90s mall, but one of those modern day malls where like half the store units are empty, and facility cleaning isn’t necessarily a priority.
2026 Update
In 2026, we decided to visit MacLeod Provincial Park again, as a second chance. We wanted to see if any improvements had been made, and/or if the time of year made an impact.
Basically, we knew we sounded mean, and we wanted to give the park a fair chance to see if we could do a nicer review.
Spoilers: Nope.
While a few improvements had been made in the 1.5 years or so between our visits, a lot of the problems from the first time around persisted.
This post has been updated to include updates and more information, where applicable. This will be the final update on this post, as we do not intend to visit MacLeod Provincial Park again.
The Basics:
Campground Name: MacLeod Provincial Park
Address: ON-11, Geraldton, ON P0T 1M0 (Click for Google Maps location)
Website: https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/macleod
Price Ontario Provincial Parks uses a pricing matrix across all their parks. See 2026 Camping Fees for more details.
Reservations: Ontario Parks Reservations
Park Classification: Recreational
Season: May 15, 2026 to September 20, 2026
Logistics
Some basic information to help you plan your visit to MacLeod Provincial Park:
Registration and Check In
For both trips, camp site bookings were quick and easy to do online.
The first time around, check in was fast and friendly - but then things really started to go off the rails for us, as soon as we got past the front gate.
The second time around, we booked our site 5 months ahead of time at 7:00 a.m. and got a nice waterfront site.
As it turned out - a couple days before our arrival - we had to change our date. Even at the last minute, we were able to get that same campsite.
Thankfully I had remembered to do the online check-in the day of arrival, because when we got there the gatehouse was closed. Mind you, this was at noon!
The big annoyance was that there were no maps on hand, outside. Usually the unstaffed parks will have a cubby or newspaper dispenser type thing so that you can pick up a park map.
NOPE.
Anyway, the office opened later in the day, so we were able to get a map and a park newsletter.
As it turns out, the office hours are noon-8pm - would have been nice to see have this info displayed on the door!
Maps and Signage
Some information to help you find your way around MacLeod Provincial Park:
Park Map
When we checked in for our first visit, we were handed a low resolution map, one page, that looked like it had been printed off a 1990's inkjet printer.
Such a stark contrast to the maps in other parks, which vary from “suitable” to a straight up glossy magazine format.
The thing is... it was the most absolutely unhinged park map I’ve ever seen!
There was basically no legend (just electrical vs non), no scale, and none of the points of interest were marked on the map - just site numbers, several asterisks, the “garbage depot” (the dump and fill stations) and a few random letters - 2 Ps, and Y, and a K.
As we did our standard drive through, the asterisks and letters on the map didn’t actually line up with their places in reality, with some symbols seeming to represent things that were several sites away from where they were depicted on the map.
I’m in NO way trained as a cartographer, and I could give you a much more accurate map with like 2 hours work. This is so unnecessary!
Why are the comfort stations marked as “P”? That should be parking!
Why is the boat launch just marked “Y”? Why is the fish cleaning shack marked as a “K”? This is so bizarre!
If you’re going to be so random, at least have a legend on the page. There was room for one!!
Bottom: Handout Map. (I feel like “Map”, in this case, needs quotation marks around it!)
2026 Update
As previously mentioned, there were no maps available at the front when the gatehouse was closed.
That said, there was a large map sign, next to the building. It was quite faded - and it's really inconvenient to have to refer to a photo on your phone when you're trying to get around - but it looked to have been redesigned!
This map had a legend, a scale, AND the random letters had been replaced with appropriate icons! Hallelujah!
... except that’s the only place this new map seems to exist.
When someone was finally staffing the gatehouse - the maps they were handing out were the unhinged one. At the time of our visit (late June, 2026), the MacLeod Provincial Park Overview Map that exists on the Ontario Parks page also the old one.
Why go to the effort of actually designing a proper map, to not use it? Bizarre.
Signage
As we passed the dump station on our first visit, there were a couple signs with campsite numbers. These directed you to go one of two ways, depending on which bank of numbers you were looking for. Fair enough, we headed to ours - to the left.
Drove down a bit of a road, came to a multi pronged fork in the road... and saw signs to the day use area / beach, boat launch, and picnic tables (all pictorial)... with no more numbers.
Did we take a wrong road somehow? No... they just expected you to know which way to turn to get to your set of campsites.
Anyway, we got to the main loop of our camp site area, and we were supposed to take a short loop off to the right - and we almost missed it, as it was absolutely not marked in any way, and looked like it was just another camp site, from the direction we were coming.
... not super convenient, given that we were on a one way road!
Top Left: 2023, Top Right: 2026.
Bottom: In the very background, you can see a sign with numbers - those weren't the numbers that were supposed to be down this direction. Ours just weren't there at all!
Bottom: The Current Situation
2026 Update:
Some of the directional signage had been updated since our previous trip. Now, a lot of the brown and yellow old-style signage was replaced with the high contrast, more modern blue and white signage.
... but that big intersection in the road that I mentioned a minute ago is even worse!
Now, not only does it not point to that bank of campsites, but there’s NO sign there now. At all.
You can see one of the new blue and white signs way off in the distance, but that’s for the day use area and a different block of campsites.
Waste & Water Services
As with most of the Ontario Provincial Parks, the sites at MacLeod Provincial Park don’t include sewer or water, and only about ¼ of them have electricity.
There is a single dump station, and a single fill platform towards entry of the park.
The trailer dump station is on a half loop that can be accessed from either direction - whether you're coming into the park or leaving.
The dump station has weird hours - 8 am to 8 pm - something we’ve never seen posted at any other park. There didn’t appear to be any real reason for those hours, either - they weren’t right next to any camp sites or anything.
The fill station is across the street from the loop that the dump platform is on... and it’s on the passenger side of the road, as you’re coming into the park.
The hose was originally a non-threaded hose, but they've sort of converted it, with a bunch of electrical tape and a piece of hose at the end.
Looking at our photos from almost 2 years ago, it appears that this “MacGuyvered” fix was in place back then, too.
Anyway, the attachment makes the hose a bit long, so there's a cup to hold the end of the hose. I guess you have to trust that the last person did it didn't leave it dangling on the ground.
Potable Water
Generally speaking, Ontario Provincial Parks have potable water taps throughout every camp ground, easy access for people to get drinking water.
During our first time visit to MacLeod Provincial Park, we saw lots of water locations... and every single one of those taps that we saw had a sign telling people not to drink the water.
It seemed that the entire park was under a boil water advisory.
We’d seen - I think 2? - potable water stations in the park, but I couldn’t tell you where they were - they were not on the map.
I don’t know if they just removed all the taps, but we only saw the boil water advisories on the comfort stations in 2026... despite there being a potable water filtration set up on each of them.
Also of note: There was a long hose on the side of the self-serve kiosk, at the gatehouse. Not sure what that’s for - possibly to rinse boats off? It was not indicated on the map.
Garbage and Recycling
Finally, the garbage and recycling center is in the same half loop as the dump platform.
It has the garbage shack thing that a lot of these northern parks seem to have - probably a bear issue? - but it was boarded up and looked long-ago abandoned.
There were two big bins that weren’t labeled - probably garbage? I guess there’s no recycling here
There was a sign at the front that said there was a 10 year old collecting empties at one of the sites (75 maybe?), and we thought it was cute at the time, now it looks like that may have been the only recycling opportunity here?
While there may not have been many (visible?) garbage bins around the park, there was definitely *garbage* everywhere.
Is it normal for seasonal campers to leave so much trash behind?
Even beyond leaving trash behind, the campers in the site next to us had literal piles of garbage all through their site.
Why are you collecting your trash in open piles? Why would you get a decent waterfront camp site with a view, then turn it into a dump? Inquiring minds want to know!
Oh, and one more question: Why on earth would you label your personal garbage dump site with your NAMES? Like why on earth would you put your name on that?
I have so many questions, Randy and Evelyn!
2026 Update:
When we were eventually able to access the gatehouse, we were given a park newsletter that mentioned big changes for the garbage area.
It mentioned that the staff are now going to be responsible for collecting and removing the garbage from the park. To that end, they asked people to take their garbage home with them - whenever possible - to reduce the workload.
Barring that, they are retiring the dumpsters in favour of the garbage disposal shed, and ask that people tightly seal their garbage, and double bag it when necessary.
The shed uses a chute - and that shoot was hanging out and looks like it got hit by a tornado. Just mangled.
There are bins for recycling your propane canisters on one side of the building, and people had been tossing their beer cans in there, as well.
... and there was a sign about 2 meters away, telling people to take their propane canisters local hazardous household waste disposal site. I don't think those propane canisters have been cleared out in a very long time.
Connectivity
In 2023, we were surprised to have a small amount of spotty cellular access in the park. Everything we’d read beforehand had said that there was no cell phone signal here.
In 2026, we had great cell reception all the way through the park - they must have a new cell tower nearby.
We were on Rogers Wireless for both of our visits.
Accessibility
Some information on visiting MacLeod Provincial Park as a disabled person:
Barrier-Free Camping
The first time we visited, we saw that there was a campsite with the accessibility symbol on it, but didn’t note anything else about it - but checked it out in 2026.
There IS a single barrier-free campsite at MacLeod Provincial Park, site #32. Weirdly, it doesn’t have a disability symbol on it - I wonder if it’s the same one we saw last time?
Anyway, it's located beside the comfort station in the electrical section. (The map shows it on the wrong side of the comfort station, though!)
Anyway, the site looks to have a mostly level “pad” for an RV, it’s just gravel lined with landscape timber. There’s a slightly taller fire pit, but no picnic table.
As a heads up, though - you have to use the road to get to the comfort station, and that road is in TERRIBLE shape. Calling it wheelchair accessible... that’s a stretch, at best.
Barrier-Free Facilities
The gatehouse is not wheelchair accessible, nor is the comfort station in the non-electrical section, the fish cleaning hut, or any of the outhouses that we saw.
The comfort station in the electric section of the campground has barrier-free access to the building from the road.
There is a barrier-free shower stall, and it’s ... odd. As you go in, it’s almost an outhouse vibe off to the right, where there’s a sink... and a chair blocking it.
The shower is big, very old, doesn’t have a handheld shower hose, and is not in great condition.
There’s also a random blue button on one wall of the shower - NOT with the controls - that inexplicably just says “push” on it. NO idea what it’s for.
There’s also a single-stall barrier free washroom, that actually seems pretty normal.
Barrier-Free Activities
The trail isn’t wheelchair accessible, but might be ok for those with other mobility impairments - with a couple caveats.
You’d have to be ok with hills, and we wouldn’t recommend doing it if the ground is wet.
Beyond that, there aren’t any barrier-free activities at MacLeod Provincial Park: No Mobimat at the beach, no assistive devices at the boat launch, etc.
Pets
The park really isn’t clear about pet rules for this camp ground.
We didn’t see any areas marked as being dog friendly, but we also didn’t see any signs banning dogs from any area.
You know, because that would be useful information and clear communication!
We did see two VERY good babies, on our first trip though. Huskies - gorgeous!
Parking
Most of the camp sites seemed big enough to accommodate at least one car, beyond your camping equipment.
Beyond that ... who knows?
The Ps on the map are the two comfort stations, the areas with obvious parking (beach, boat launch, picnic area / day-use area) don’t have that parking indicated on the map (most provincial parks do!), so I’m not sure where all additional parking is or would be.
For instance, the entry to the trail:
There’s a power post that has me thinking it’s all just someone’s camp site that park users have to walk through to use the trail.
Honestly, I’m not usually so snotty when reviewing anything, this ... this campground was not designed by a logistics person, neither was their map.
HUGE pet peeve of mine.
Miscellaneous
Some random information we figured we should let you know about:
Getting to our First Camp Site
The little road down to that loop of 3 camp sites (#118-120) looked like it had long ago been washed out, and wasn’t in any shape to bring cars down, much less the length of campers that those 3 sites were rated for.
There was absolutely no way we were going to drive the RV down that loop, so we went to the “Exit” side of it - which was in marginally better condition.
We decided to disconnect the car trailer, and just back the RV down the exit of the loop, and into our camp site.
Not ideal, but it also didn’t destroy the RV, so that’s a win?
... and we were supposed to bring a full RV down there?
As a note: This is the only road my husband has ever noped out of. All those stories about couples fighting over backing into camp sites?
Absolutely incomprehensible to us - he’s a pro! He has a remarkable ability to navigate WEIRD roads and wild situations, this was just not happening.
It wasn’t just that one loop, either. There was a fair amount of really badly maintained road with major water damage, deep ruts, etc.
2026 Update:
We revisited the campground loop that we’d stayed on, during that first visit - it's still not fit to drive an RV down.
We got thrown by the lack of signage again, and initially thought it was a walk in site - before recognizing it. All that runoff damage was still there, still incredibly rough... and now it had the bonus of a hose drawn across, and an exposed pipe in the road!
Road Noise
Booking a waterfront site comes with some assumptions about the ambiance. And yes, I know what they say about assumptions.
The thing is, it’s easy to miss that there’s a highway running along the campground, on the map. Even if you notice it, it’s across a body of water, and scale is absolutely terrible on these things, to start.
During our first visit, it straight up sounded like we were parked on the side of the highway.
I guess the sound carries incredibly well over water, because OMFG. There was absolutely no barrier to the sound, beyond a few sparse trees between us and the lagoon.
Definitely be sure to bring earplugs if you’re staying in the highway-facing waterfront sites section of this park, but you may need them throughout.
Night Sky Viewing
MacLeod Provincial Park claims to be a great place for seeing the Northern Lights on a clear summer night.
It was overcast during our first stay, and there was no auroral activity during our second stay... but we can give you some other observations, on that front:
Overall, MacLeod Provincial Park is in an area of very low light pollution, and should be a great place for seeing the northern lights - with a few caveats.
The town of Geraldton is to the North West of the park, and the Trans-Canada Highway basically forms the northern border of the park - both of which will contribute to ambient light, and make astrophotography a bit more complicated.
Also: aside from some of the sites on the north side of the park, there really aren’t any good north facing views. Even those sites have the highway RIGHT there, so not the best view.
All that said, it IS quite far north - if there’s a really good show on the go, it’s just as likely to be overhead, to the sides, and/or all around... so the “direct north facing view” thing may not matter as much.
If you’re interested in possibly seeing the northern lights, check out our posts: Aurora Hunting, How to Photograph the Northern Lights, Can I See the Northern Lights Tonight?, and Where to See Northern Lights in Ontario.
The Campground That Time Forgot
I mention some of the issues throughout this review, but I can’t emphasize this enough: this is an incredibly dilapidated, neglected park.
Almost any single one of the issues I point out would be fussy and nitpicking on its own, it’s just that there’s a CONSTANT stream of “WTF” moments at MacLeod Provincial Park.
The second time around, we didn’t run into the issue of seasonal campers just leaving piles of trash everywhere, but pretty much everything from our initial review stands - with some new additions.
Broken PVC pipe sticking out of the road (and randomly in sites), random boards on the ground, duct tape randomly stuck to trees, trashy looking rusted out tire rims as fire pits, picnic tables half in the lake, the facilities are falling apart, etc.
Most of the unoccupied campsites were pretty overgrown, and quite a few had really old paper permits still stuck to the poles. They’ve been there over a year, given that the park isn’t on a paper system this year, and likely wasn’t last year, either!
It feels like absolutely nothing is maintained at all, and the whole campground has a vibe of “someone gave up”.
I noticed at the gate that you make cheques payable to Geraldton Community Forest - NOT Ontario Parks. That reminded me that I’d read something, somewhere that said Ontario Parks doesn’t actually run this park.
I have no idea what the story is there, but I can’t put too fine a point on this: If you’re visiting MacLeod Provincial Park, don’t expect the standard you may be used to from other Ontario Provincial Parks.
It’s just not there.
Campground Amenities & Info
Some basic information on the amenities at MacLeod Provincial Park:
Creature Comforts
There is no kind way to put this - both of the 2 Comfort Stations looked like murder shacks. There was nothing comforting about them!
Oh, and BTW - don’t drink the water there, either. Another one of those warning signs, right on the door.
They have flush toilets and showers, but I don’t believe there were any laundry facilities at either of them. Mind you, I could be wrong - I really didn’t feel like getting a closer look, though. Yikes.
2026 Update:
We actually checked out the comfort stations, this time around.
The first is the one in the non-electric section of the park - we’ll call it the East Comfort Station. It made me glad that I’m up to date on my tetanus shots.
The women's washroom had a few stalls - but there weren't any accessible stalls. Pretty standard - albeit old - washroom.
There were 4 showers along the side wall to the comfort station.
The lights weren't working in the first stall, which was probably a small mercy given how the other showers looked!
That was a lot of rust, they smelled bad, and really just looked like the whole building needed to be razed and replaced. Weirdly, there was a boil water notice on the outside of the comfort station even though there was a potable water station immediately in front of the building.
Aside from the barrier-free shower, none of the doors were labeled - and each had a padlock hanging off it. Just a really weird vibe
I wonder if this building had been an outhouse at some point? It kind of felt like the shower room had originally been an outhouse, and everything else got added on at some point.
Definitely not rescinding my earlier “it looks like a murder shack” impression, especially with those padlocks!
In one case - the set of vault toilets by the #105 camp site - the mens had a fairly open walkway up to it, sort of overgrown with moss.
I mentioned that it looked cursed.
So we drove a few more meters, and the sign for the women’s vault toilet was just right in the trees, with a barely discernable trail.
It just looked creepy AF.
Visitor Centre
There is no Visitor Center at MacLeod Provincial Park.
Park Store
The McLeod Park Store is located inside the front gate house. It's a small shop with tee shirts, snacks, frozen treats, drinks, and some basic household items such as toilet paper, hygiene basics, and dish soap.
That's actually an impressive selection given how small the shop is; it seems well thought out.
It was a little cluttered during my visit because there were some boxes of product on the floor, but I'm pretty sure it was simply due to restocking and not a normal situation.
Day Use Area
During our first visit, we noted that the day use area strikes us as somewhere that was probably used for a music festival a few decades ago. There’s a run down old stage - sturdy enough, but clear that it was very old.
There was a metal structure that may have housed speakers - or acted as the framework for a canopy or something. There are also flood light stands everywhere in that day use area.
Kind of has an abandoned Olympic Village feel, if that makes any sense.
In 2026, the day use area was ... unwelcoming. For the most part, there were some kind of crews working there, that stared us down when we approached the area.
There were gates everywhere, a couple trailers parked on the lawn, etc. There were no notices about what was going on, so we just avoided the area entirely after that point.
Rentals
MacLeod Provincial Park doesn’t appear to have a rentals program at all.
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Campsite Details
There are two ways to camp at MacLeod Provincial Park: Car camping and group camping.
Car Camping
The camp ground has about 100 sites, but the park was fairly empty during both of our stays. We did see a few different sizes of trailers, RVs, tents, etc throughout our drive.
About ¼ of the camp sites have hydro, and a good number of the electrical sites are also nice large pull through sites, so there’s a bonus if you don’t care about the view.
On our first visit, we had booked a non-electrical site, as all of the water front sites in the park are non-electric sites. Ours was a relatively spacious site, just difficult to get to, as mentioned previously.
We had one of the cute fire pits - a ring of rocks. We saw a fair number of sites that had just a rusty old tire rim sitting on the ground as their fire pit.
Ew.
There’s no real consistency on that front, either. There are some sites with the provincial park firepits, a lot with tire rims (some buried, some now), and some that basically just have a hole in the ground.
Generally speaking the sites are all very unlevel, and many didn’t even have a picnic table.
There are some cute sites, though.
One site was actually a walk-down site, with parking up top and stairs down to the site - right on the water.
Generally speaking though, many sites were overgrown and we saw far too many rusty old tire rims used as fire pits. Just a really trashy, neglected vibe.
Anyway, our second site was one of the open, waterfront sites. We were flanked by seasonal sites, and it felt like we were in a Walmart clearance center, with all of the STUFF covering both sites.
Our site had its own access to the water, but it was clear that the people off to the right were using it when our site wasn’t in use. Their chairs were set up right on the edge of our site, facing in. A bit weird.
Also, they had a floating mat anchored right below our site for some reason. Didn’t do anything great for the view, which would have been nice otherwise!
Group Camping
Apparently there is also a group camping area, though I’m not sure where it’s located.
Maybe it was the site we saw near the trail entry - there were a fair number of people sprawled out there, but I think it would be a stretch to say it could accommodate 100?
2026 Update
As it turns out, that site by the trail IS the group camping site.
... and yeah, I have no idea how on earth that’s supposed to accommodate 100 people. It does have electricity AND water access though, so it’s go that going for it.
Just - as we mentioned earlier - the whole thing with people having to go through it to get to the trail is really awkward.
Entertainment and Activity
Though a small park, it offers several different park activities to choose from. We have a few thoughts, based on what we saw during our stays:
Hiking
The 1 km MacLeod Trail* is the only hiking trail in the park.
Apparently this short hike goes through a forest of trembling aspen.
There’s a trail guide explaining forest succession and the history of the forest - which burned down almost 100 years ago.
Of course, I’m telling you this based on what I’ve READ about the trail.
As the trail head appears to be right in the middle of someone’s camp site - literally with their power cords across the trail entrance - we elected to skip it during our first visit.
* The park website calls it the MacLeod Trail, the signage and AllTrails call it the “Towering Aspen Trail” and “Towering Aspen Nature Trail”.
This time we pulled through that and just parked next to the actual trailhead.
I don't know if you're supposed to park on the side of the loop that goes next to the group camping area or not. It just seems very awkward.
Anyway, Porter walked the trail this time, here’s what he had to say about it:
Towering Aspen Trail - 1 km, Easy
“The trail starts out a bit narrow, with plants encroaching into the trail and even growing into the trail. It's clear this trail has not been well maintained and is not well-traveled.
The trail is well packed, easy to follow, but I didn't see any trailblazes.
There were a lot of orange ribbons tied to trees that I thought might have been serving as trailblazes, but I also saw them off-trail and they stopped about halfway through the trail. I suspect it has something to do with conservation operations and not related to the trail.
Most of the trail doesn't really need trailblazes, but there are a few offshoots. A couple of them are pretty obviously not the main trail since they're pretty much completely overgrown.
One of the offshoots definitely looks like a trail, but I could see a wood pile in the distance so I am pretty sure it's just a shortcut from a campsite.
I quickly consulted MapMyRun and it confirmed that the right-hand trail fork would lead me back to the end of the loop.
I started second-guessing that decision as the trail I was following slowly disappeared. I found myself in a field of fern with only the faintest narrow strip of grass separating them.
The only reason I kept going was because I saw one of the educational signs, so I figured this must be the actual trail.”
Some of them are in very poor condition and difficult to read, and some of them have very odd placement making them hard to read.
They're each on a post and angled up, but some of the posts are very tall making it awkward for me, an average-height person, to try to read.
The forest itself is lush, filled with various types of trees but dominated by pines and birches - and probably a lot of aspen since the trail is named after them.
I have a hard time distinguishing between birch and aspen, and I saw educational signs for both. The forest floor is filled with small plants, many of them ferns.
The trail is an easy walk, that is to say there isn't much rough footing and only small tree roots along the way.
There are some inclines, some of them moderate but all are pretty short. I feel like this is an "easy trail plus inclines", so if a lot of small hills aren't an issue, it'll be an easy walk.
I clocked the trailer at 1.6 km. It's a cute trail, a lovely walk through the woods. I love educational signs, but the fact that this is so overgrown just makes it a little bit unfriendly.
I would do this again if it were a little better maintained. It just needs a bit of trimming and some trailblazes.”
Biking
Bikes aren’t allowed on the single trail in the campground, but are allowed on the park roads. MacLeod is a smaller pp, so you don’t have to worry too much about traffic.
I recommend sticking to the areas around the electrical camp sites, up by the trail, and near the day use area, personally.
The roads get a bit rough in places in the peninsula of non-electrical sites, but are probably ok if you’re a more adventurous cyclist, or have a mountain bike.
Swimming
MacLeod Provincial Park has a fairly sizeable ... beach?... area and clearing along the shores of Kenogamisis Lake.
It was just underwhelming ... especially after seeing some of the excellent swimming opportunities at other parks.
The water quality didn’t look amazing, and there was very little in the way of sandy beach between the grassed area and the water.
There’s really nowhere to lay out a beach blanket on sand - there’s like 3 feet of (gravelly!) sand before the water.
The view is pretty enough, but not really what we’d normally consider a swimming beach.
Birding, Wildlife, and Nature
We’ve heard that the park has spectacular wildlife viewing, especially along the beach.
The park’s site mentions the possibility of seeing Bald Eagles, Broad-Winged Hawks, Northern Warblers, Ospreys, Ovenbirds, and Red-eyed Vireos.
Didn’t see any of those - or much of anyting else - on the first stay, but we DID see a rather large nest up in a tall tree on the drive up to the comfort station in the non-electrical loop of sites.
Soon after we drove past the unattended gatehouse for our second stay, we were stopped on the road by someone coming out of the park.
She wanted to tell us to be careful because she just seen two bears in the park - and gave us the locations.
We were so excited that we might at least get a bear sighting out of this, we left our RV on our site and ditched setup completely to go looking.
We did not see the bears. BOO.
American Crow, American Pelican, American Redstart, Bay-Breasted Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Common Goldeneye, Common Loon, Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia Warbler, Mallard Duck, Northern Parula, Northern Waterthrush, Northern Yellow Warbler, Ovenbird, Red-Eyed Vireo, Song Sparrow, Swainson’s Thrush, and White-Throated Sparrow.
The American Pelicans were actually on our way out of the park at the end of our stay, on Barton Bay.
That body of water connects up with Kenogamisis Lake, though... so we’re counting it!
Row 2: Common Goldeneye, Common Loon
Row 3: Mallard Ducks, White Admiral Butterfly
In addition to the birds, we saw some Canada Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, a few White Admiral Butterflies, and a ton of wild flowers.
Boating
Kenogamisis Lake seems like a great place to go boating or canoeing - the lake has got all kinds of different areas, curving in and out of the shore, there’s a large lagoon, marshy areas, islands, and more.
The boat launch is kind of just a gravel pathway into the water. There's no paved ramp, and it's a relatively shallow entry.
There's a decent sized trailer parking area - it's basically a big u-shape that's open all throughout the middle.
There's plenty of room to park, turn your trailer around and whatnot - you won't have to disconnect your tow vehicle.
(Note: It was not set up at the time of our second visit)
Fishing
Apparently Kenogamisis Lake - and Kenogamisis River - have great fishing opprtunities: Walleye and Pike fishing, for the most part.
There’s even a fish cleaning hut, right next to the boat launch off the main road.
It's very tiny and up a couple steps.
During our first stay, it looked like it hadn’t been used in YEARS. During our second visit, it was clean and in really good condition.
Discovery Program
We haven’t seen any information at all about any kind of Discovery Programming at MacLeod Provincial Park, so we’re assuming it’s not a thing there.
There is a LOT of educational signage along the hiking trail, though!
Niantic Games
During our first visit, we did not have enough cell reception in the park to be able to load and play Pokemon go, or check Ingress for portals.
That wasn’t an issue during our second visit - there are two Niantic game features at the front of the park... but that’s it.
Final Thoughts
We wrote the following after our first stay:
“Nope. So, so much nope.
We were supposed to stay two nights.
A few hours into our stay, we ended up calling the next camp ground on our itinerary (the only non-Provincial park on the trip) to see if we could extend our stay by one night, allowing us to leave here sooner.
We’re not trying to be mean, the staff here seemed perfectly nice and we do understand that they’re all probably trying their best - I just have to wonder what they’ve been given to work with, in this case. Budget cuts, maybe?
This is only the second time we’ve had to nope out of a camp ground, the first being Conestogo Lake Conservation Area - our only other negative review on this blog, to date.
On the upside... our stays at Ontario Provincial Parks have been SO wonderful, in general... it’ll be easy to get over this. Almost need a bit of bad, to balance out the ridiculously awesome things we’ve been experiencing!”
There’s just SO much disrepair, garbage, and neglect everywhere. Add that to the highway noise, and it’s just really not our vibe.
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again - it just does not feel like a Provincial Park at all.
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
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
Schreiber Beach
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!
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