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    Home » Campground Reviews

    Arrowhead Provincial Park

    Published: Apr 26, 2025

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    Arrowhead Provincial Park is open year-round for camping - and various outdoor activities - and we’ve now been there in all seasons. Here’s your all-season guide to camping at Arrowhead!

    Originally published February 15, 2024, Updated 4/26/2025

    Waterfalls under a bridge. Overlaid text says RV campground review arrowhead provincial park.

    So, this review of Arrowhead Provincial Park is going to be a bit weird and probably a bit disjointed.

    The first time we visited Arrowhead - located just north of Huntsville, in the heart of Muskoka - was back in October 2023. We had planned a trip to nearby Algonquin Provincial Park, and ended up tacking a stay at Arrowhead on at the last minute.

    There was the possibility of an Aurora Borealis appearance in the days leading up to our Algonquin stay, AND we thought the stop would be a good way to break up the drive.

    We had so much fun!

    Our first impression was that it kind of reminded us of Chutes Provincial Park, in that the main area of the park is nice enough... but then when you go for a bit of a walk, you get more stunning views.

    The beach, the bridge over the river, the waterfalls, etc - it’s a great place, with some really spectacular views!

    Stubb's Falls at Arrowhead Provincial Park.

    The thing is... it’s also a year-round park.

    One of the few provincial parks to offer winter camping, we knew we’d have to come back when/if winter ever hit.

    ... then we continued our October trip, and completely dropped the ball on our reviews. At the time I’m posting this, I’m behind by about 4 reviews, and the start of this post was only about half written when procrastination hit.

    Whoops!

    Anyway, we’ve been back something like 5 more times since then, so I figure it’s about time to update our Arrowhead Provincial Park review.

    This review is now based on several visits, with the commentary and photos coming from two wildly different seasons and experiences!

    Note: We’ve since published an entire season-specific guide to Winter Camping at Arrowhead.

    Stubb’s Falls in the winter.

    The Basics:

    Campground Name: Arrowhead Provincial Park
    Address: 451 Arrowhead Park Rd. Huntsville, ON P1H 2J4
    Website: https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/arrowhead
    Price: Ontario Provincial Parks uses a pricing matrix across all their parks. See 2025 Camping Fees for more details.
    Reservations: Ontario Parks Reservations
    Park Classification: Natural Environment
    Season: January 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025.

    The Arrowhead Provincial Park entrance sign.

    Logistics

    Some campgrounds have been closed during most of our camping trips, as we tend to camp in the shoulder season and winter. (Everything was open during our August 2024 stay, though.)

    All of the East River campground was closed to vehicle traffic during our winter stay. It was converted to the ice trail, with the poop loop being used as a parking lot. Most of the rest of the campgrounds were also gated off, but were for skiing, rather than ice skating.

    On that note - the roads are generally pretty bad in the park, and get worse at different times of the year.

    Anyway, beyond these general notes, here’s some info to help you plan your trip:

    Registration and Check In

    As part of the Ontario Parks system, reserving our stay - all 6+ times - has been quick and easy, through the Ontario Parks website.

    It’s a permitless campground - the main gate office was closed each time, so we had to go in to register the first time, as I hadn’t preregistered online. If you DO preregister, you can just go straight to your site .

    Anyway, registration has been quick, easy, and super friendly each time we’ve gone in.

    2 part image showing an LED trail conditions sign at Arrowhead Provincial Park.

    Maps and Signage

    Some basic info to help you get around while staying at Arrowhead Provincial Park:

    Park Map

    Arrowhead has at least 2 different map handouts - one for the regular camping season, and a Winter Trails Map.

    The main season handout is an 8.5" x 11" booklet style thing.

    The overall Arrowhead Provincial Park Map is in the center fold, while separate images for the Lumby Campground Map, East River Campground Map, and Roe Campground Map are on the following pages.

    The rest of the information guide has all kinds of info on the park - Ticks, winter availability, pets, safety, and more. It’s a nice little publication!

    Signage

    The road signage was good in terms of placement and size, but again was that brown and yellow colour scheme that can be a bit harder to see during the height of fall colours.

    EVERYTHING was brown and yellow during our first stay - it was easier to see during our winter stay. I do still wish that more parks would adopt the bright blue signs with white trim that we’ve seen in some parks.

    Update: While the campground signs are still brown/yellow as of our August 2024 stay, the main road signage is all blue and white.

    During the winter camping season, ALL of the signs in the areas you have access to are fantastic. Big, bright, high contrast, informative, usually with pictorial symbols, etc.

    One nice thing to note: They have winter-specific signage as well. Not all parks that offer winter activities bother to have signage for those activities, so this is a nice change!

    A blue and white road sign with symbols, words, and arrows directing drivers to the skating trail, park store, and arrowhead lake.

    Water & Waste Services

    Dump Station

    The dump station is on a loop, with two dump platforms and a bypass lane to get to the fill stations - which are on the other side of the loop.

    It’s a really nice setup, efficient - we liked not having to wait for those dumping, in order for us to fill up on the way in. Wish more parks had bypass lanes, multiple platforms, etc!

    The water was shut off on the last day of our first fall stay - we were able to dump on the way out, but not rinse.

    The trailer sanitation station at Arrowhead Provincial Park.

    During our winter stay, that entire poop loop was closed down - there is NO dumping facility in the park, during the winter months.

    There’s also not really anywhere nearby where you can dump your tanks.

    We spent several hours on our last morning frantically calling around, having realized that neither of the two following camp grounds had functioning dump stations, either!

    All of the places that COULD have potentially been used as a backup dump site were closed for the season - from neighbouring RV parks, to an arena an hour away.

    If you’re planning ahead for a trip - instead of a “book it the day before because OMG the ice trail is finally open” trip (as we did!), I recommend calling local septic pumping companies to see if someone can help you out.

    Water Fill Stations

    Aside from the seasonal fill platforms in the Poop Loop, there’s also a single fill platform just across the street, in the comfort station parking lot.

    It was nice to have a fill station at the comfort station, it looked like a really high end bottle / jug fill area, but was also noted as being a trailer fill tap.

    It looked like a super modern set up - different from any we’ve seen - but didn’t have a threaded connection on the hose.

    This became a minor issue when we returned in February, as it was our only way to fill our water tanks.

    Because there was no threaded end on it, we ended up having to use it to fill our 5 gallon water jugs, then use our pump & filter set up to get it from there, into our tank.

    An outdoor water tap, in the winter.
    The winterized water fill station.

    Connectivity

    We’re on Rogers Wireless.

    Cell reception was very spotty on our first trip, staying in the East River campground. We had almost no reception in our bed, reasonable reception in the main section of our little camper, and would have reception on and off throughout the park.

    During our second stay - in the pull-through loop - we had fantastic cell coverage at our site.

    Then on subsequent stays, we had pretty much no reception anywhere except near the visitor centre and Big Bend Lookout.

    Accessibility

    First, the basics: The camp store and comfort stations were accessible, and the barrier free washroom at the comfort station has been in good condition during each of our visits.

    The roads were pretty rough and uneven in the fall, and EXTREMELY bumpy and full of potholes during our February stay.

    We decided that Shake the Place - Machel Montano & Destra was officially our “drive through Arrowhead” theme song.

    As far as the trails go, I believe that the Big Bend Lookout would be wheelchair accessible - NOT during the winter, though - but none of the other trails we did were wheelchair accessible.

    Some would have been ok with other mobility aids - like the majority of the Stubb’s Falls Trail (aside from possibly the stairs).

    3 part image showing an accessible canoe and an accessible kayak.

    Beyond the basics, though, Arrowhead goes a step further in making sure it’s a park that’s welcoming to disabled people.

    During the summer months, they have a couple different kinds of accessible watercraft options available for rent, pictured above.

    There’s also an accessible dock that was installed in 2024. Stabilizer bars under the water hold the canoe or kayak in place, while boaters can get into and out of the vessel on either side, via one of the floating docks. There’s also a handlebar set up, to assist.

    During the winter months, they have one of the trails designated as being a barrier-free trail, and have a sit-ski that you can rent for use on that trail.

    The interesting thing - to me - is how proud the park employees are of the strides they make on the accessibility front. So often, accessibility gets treated as a burden, or a throwaway checklist item.

    It’s really refreshing to visit a park that really WANTS to be accessible, and actually puts work in.

    2 part image showing the river at big bend lookout, and the walking bridge at Arrowhead in winter.

    Pets

    There are two main pet areas - a dog beach, and a dog exercise area. Dogs aren’t allowed on any of the beaches except the designated dog beach.

    The dog beach is really nice, and has nice views of the lake, the bridge, and little east river.

    2 part image showing the Arrowhead Lake dog beach.
    The Dog Beach
    The off leash dog exercise area was a little weird.

    It’s a bit of a drive to get to - clear on the far end of the Lumby campground - and it was just sort of a small, narrow-ish lawn area next to the water, with a parking lot.

    There wasn’t even really a “beach” type area with it, just kind of grass adjacent to water.

    Note: neither area is fenced in.

    In the winter, you don’t have access to either of these areas, but you can walk your dog on a Lookout Classic Trail. You can even go skijoring with your dog there!

    3 part image showing the Pet Exercise Area at Arrowhead.
    The Pet Exercise Area.

    Parking

    The camp sites are generally fairly large, we had no problem parking our car in addition to the camper.

    There’s also a ton of parking available at the other places of interest, like the beaches, the visitor center, the outlook, etc.

    There are even parking spots available at most/all of the trail heads, including Stubb’s Falls.

    Stubb’s Falls trail had a few great access points, with parking at (at least) one spot along the trail, and another parking section in the campground closer to the actual falls.

    2 part image showing a comfort station and a water filling station.

    Miscellaneous

    From what we could tell, the view over Arrowhead Lake - from either the road or the pedestrian bridge - would be AMAZING during a Northern Lights show.

    Unfortunately, we’ve never had the timing line up for us to be in the park, during auroral activity! Some day, though.

    Anyway, that view is more or less north facing, without a TON of light pollution.

    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.

    A stream and bridge at Arrowhead in winter.

    Campground Amenities & Info

    This section of our review was written during our October stay, and not all of it will apply to winter camping.

    Creature Comforts

    Each campground section has its own comfort station, with flush toilets and showers. This campground does NOT have laundry facilities.

    We actually learned that the hard way - after a long day of driving and exploring, we got ready for bed... and discovered that one of our cats had PEED in it.

    First time for everything - why did this first have to be in a campground without laundry? AUGH!!

    That changed up our plans for the second day, when we ended up having to drive 15 minutes into Huntsville to use a laundromat.

    Anyway, all comfort stations are equipped with flush toilets. All privies in Roe Campground and many in East River Campground have flush toilets.

    During the winter, the only comfort station that is open is the one at the entrance to the East River campground / the skating trail area.

    3 part image showing different vault and flush toilet buildings at Arrowhead.

    Park Store

    The Arrowhead park store - in the Visitor Centre - is super cute, and it’s wayyyyy too easy to spend a lot of money there.

    There’s a whole rack of locally made maple syrup goodness - maple sugar, maple syrup, maple jelly, just all kinds of things - as well as locally roasted coffee, craft sodas, snacks, the usual camping gear, etc.

    There were even locally made lip balms and such!

    This park has a bigger selection of campground stickers and such than others we’ve seen, including HOLOGRAPHIC options.

    It felt classy, too. It looked really nice, we enjoyed the variety, etc.

    The employee told us that the maple stuff in particular was made by a local family - that he could call them up and he’d have his order delivered by the kids within a few hours.

    Very cool!

    2 images of the Arrowhead Visitor Centre camp store, showing various different items for sale.

    Aside from these goodies for sale, the visitor center also sells firewood and rents equipment out.

    You can get ice skates, snowshoes, and both styles - classic and skate - of ski rentals in the winter.

    There’s also a lounge area and fireplace for people to hang out in and warm up after an afternoon of skiing or snowshoeing.

    In the summer, you can rent canoes, kayaks, paddle boards, personal flotation devices, and helmets.

    2 part image showing the Arrowhead Provincial Park visitor centre.

    Day Use Area

    The picnic shelter was really nice, and seemed like a nice place to host an event - it’ll accommodate 50-100 people, and there’s definitely adequate parking for it.

    You can sort of see it from the parking lot, it’s just a short walk. The trail to the picnic shelter is relatively flat and smooth.

    Aside from the group picnic shelter, there are also picnic tables at each of the beaches.

    A large open air picnic shelter near the Arrowhead Lake beach.

    Campsite Details

    This is a huge campground, with each of the sections having a fairly different feel.

    We stayed in the East River campground during our October stay, and in the pull-through loop during our February stay.

    The Roe campground and North Lumby campground areas were closed for the season during both of trips.

    There was a wide variety in post distances, so definitely check. Ours was a ways away, but there was a nice clear path to it.

    Of the sites we saw, most seemed have good privacy, both in surrounding trees and distance from each other.

    8 part image showing different campsites in arrowhead provincial park.

    I guess big, private campsites is the tradeoff for having posts far away from the camper!

    On our first stay, we were next to a vault toilet - and you never would have known. No sounds or smells at all.

    Both times, our sites were quite level.

    2 empty campsites at arrowhead provincial park.

    A Note on Site Sizes

    They had a variety of sites and the park map is such that you can find out which are small, medium, large, pullthrough etc because of the color coding - love that!

    The thing is - you can’t REALLY trust the colour coding system.

    On a drive through of the park, there were some marked “medium” that were HUGE, etc. The designation of what size a campsite was seemed to be pretty arbitrary, and not really consistent.

    I don’t think there were any that were overestimating the size, though.

    We didn’t see any designated as large, extra large, etc that didn’t live up to it - just some really big sites that were definitely bigger than the labeling would have you think.

    So, I think you’re more likely to be pleasantly surprised by the size of your site, than screwed over.

    3 part image showing various Arrowhead campsites in the snow.

    Winter Camping

    While most of the camp grounds are closed during the winter, Arrowhead offers winter camping in both a small number of sites - the pull-through sites across from the Visitor Centre - and camp cabins.

    We stayed in the pull through section, and were surprised to see as many winter tents - with stove pipes coming out the top! - as we did RVs and tent trailers.

    Those people are far more hardcore than we could ever be, and I’m saying that as a Winnipegger.

    Roofed Accommodation

    In terms of cabins, Arrowhead has 13 camp cabins available for rent, each with a queen bed and a double/single bunk bed, as well as a kitchenette inside, and a gas BBQ outside.

    They’re SUPER cute, and there are short paths connecting the cabins to parking and the ice skating area.

    2 of the Arrowhead Cabins.

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    Entertainment and Activity

    Arrowhead Provincial Park is great for outdoor lovers, with a ton of stuff to do:

    Hiking

    We were able to do a few of the hiking trails, but not all of them. We’ll probably update this after future trips, when we experience more of the park!

    Big Bend Lookout

    This one isn’t so much a hike, as it is a short walk to a sight seeing stop.

    There’s parking right near the walk - it’s less than a 5 minute walk from the parking to the viewing platform. Very flat, even, easy.

    The platform looks out over a big loop of Big East River, and the surrounding area.

    It was cool to see with the fall colours, but we both liked it even more in winter. Really great view!

    The big bend lookout at Arrowhead, overlooking a bend in the river.

    Stubb’s Falls - 2 km, Easy

    We didn’t do the entire Stubbs Falls trail on our fall trip, just on account of timing, weather, and laziness. We cheated a bit, and entered the trail fairly close to the falls.

    This trail is said to be easy on the campground side of it, and from what we could see on our section, that was accurate - wide trail, quite flat, well groomed and well packed.

    The other side of the trail is supposed to be a little more challenging, though I’m not sure exactly what all that entails.

    At the falls themselves - regardless of which side you approach them from, be ready to climb down a fair amount of stairs.

    4 part image showing various views of the trail and bridge leading to Stubb's Falls.

    While you can get a decent view of the falls from the bridge over them, the really stunning views come from leaving the main trail, and venturing off onto a side trail, down by the actual rock chute.

    Here, you can walk out onto the rocks that border the waterfalls on one side, getting RIGHT up to the rushing rapids.

    2 part image showing different views of Stubb's Falls at Arrowhead Provincial Park.

    Gorgeous, fantastic experience!

    Note: While it’s marked as easy, there’s a lot of stairs involved at the falls.

    A wooden staircase in the woods on the Stubb's Falls trail.

    For REALLY good views of the falls, you have to walk down over uneven embankments, rocks, etc... so be careful!

    Stubb's Falls at Arrowhead Provincial Park.

    Also: If you don’t feel like walking the whole trail (2 km on their website, 2.6 km per the park map), you can drive almost to the end of the east river campsite, park in the designated area, and take a very short walk to the falls.

    4 part image showing different views of Stubb's falls and the hike leading up to it in winter.

    Finally: Know that the falls are even more beautiful in the winter, you just have to be WAY more careful on the rocks.

    Having been there already was a definite advantage, we knew what to expect under the snow and ice.

    The trail up to the falls is designated as a snowshoeing trail, but people were using it as a general walking path.

    Either way, absolutely gorgeous - see the end of our post for more photos!

    Stubb's Falls in the winter.

    Arrowhead Lake Trail - 4.5 km, Moderate

    This is one of two trails designated to be both hiking and cyling.

    It’s either a 4.5 km or 5.1 km trail depending on whether you’re reading the printed park map or the park website.

    (Porter ran “Map my Run” starting from our camp site, and it was 6.1 km including getting to and from the trail)

    The trail is rated as moderately challenging, though I’m not sure if that’s for hikers, bikers, or both. Porter agrees on moderate challenge, but was able to do it as a jog.

    He’s saying “moderate” because of some steep hills, and a few sections with tree roots. Overall though, it was a wide, well-groomed trail.

    A wide section of Arrowhead Lake Hiking Trail.

    “Knowing that they do so much winter stuff, it was really obvious that this one is intended as a skiing or snowshoeing trail” - Porter.

    It was a beautiful run that took him through multiple different environments, from pine forests to beach front, deciduous forest, etc.

    He said it kept him interested, the constantly changing scenery.

    6 part image showing various views of Arrowhead Lake Hiking Trail.

    *** The Trails We Haven’t Done Yet***

    We’ll update this after doing the trails, but - for the sake of complete info - we’ll include the details we know about these trails for now:

    Beaver Meadow Trail - 7 km, moderate

    This is Arrowhead’s longest trail, and takes you through a variety of different environments.

    Porcupine Bluffs is the remnant shoreline of a huge ancient lake - and a key attraction - but it’s only visible in the spring and fall.

    The trail takes you past a large beaver pond - with large rafts of cattails - and this is known to be the best place to see wildlife in the park.

    You’ll also walk past evidence of the once successful Oke homestead - old fence lines, apple trees, old building foundations, and more.

    The trail head for Homesteaders Trail.

    Homesteaders Trail - 3 km, moderate

    This trail takes you by traces of abandoned farm fields, left by the homesteaders that cleared the area in the 1870s.

    It looks like it would be a really beautiful walk, from what little we saw of it in October - we’re definitely planning to check it out next fall.

    Mayflower Lake Trail – 1 km, moderate

    This trail encircles what used to be part of a large glacial lake.

    It’s known to have several lengthy climbs and be quite muddy, so I’m not sure when we’ll get around to checking it out. Mud + inclines is a recipe for disaster, with my wonky foot tendons!

    A wide section of Arrowhead Lake Hiking Trail.
    In no way does the photo do justice to how steep this section of Arrowhead Lake Trail was!

    Biking

    There are two biking trails, for those who bring their mountain bikes camping. Arrowhead Lake Trail is 4.5 km, and Lookout Trail is 3 km long - both are rated as being moderately challenging.

    A road in Arrowhead PP during a winter sunset.

    Swimming

    The park has a number of sandy beaches, none of which were really in use during either of our stays. October and February, go figure!

    The designated day use beach seems to be the main beach, and it was the nicest of the ones we saw:

    Beach 1 at Arrowhead Provincial Park.
    Beach 1

    Weirdly, it seems to be split into 2 beaches - “Beach 1" and “Beach 2", but both were definitely better than the remaining two beaches.

    4 part image showing various views of Beach 2 at Arrowhead Provincial Park.
    Beach 2

    Roe Beach was honestly not among the nicest swimming beaches we’ve seen at provincial parks, but that may be a seasonal thing:

    A trail leading down to Roe Beach.
    Roe Beach
    They’re sand beaches, but kind of .. Muddy? Clay? I don’t know. It’s not that lush sandy-sand that you see at a lot of the other beaches.

    That said, the water was very clear and clean - it’s just that the type of sand underneath the clear waters made it look like less of a traditional beach, IMHO.

    4 part image showing various views of Roe Beach.
    Roe Beach
    The fall weather and colours may have made it look less inviting, honestly. I bet it looks a lot nicer in the summer months, but still - they don’t strike me as the best places to swim.

    Anyway, Lumby Beach was kind of weird.

    We couldn’t access it via the Lumby Campground - which was closed for the season - but we could walk up the beach from the dog beach area to get a look.

    ... it just didn’t really seem like a very inviting beach, at least not when we visited.

    Again, I’m guessing seasonality would make some degree of difference - I wonder what it’s like in the summer?

    3 part image showing Lumby Beach at Arrowhead.
    Lumby Beach.

    Birding, Wildlife, and Nature

    On our first couple of stays, we continued our track record - at the time - of visiting parks that are touted as ideal habitats for multiple species of birds, only to ... not really see any birds.

    To be fair, the specific bird we tend to see mentioned for Arrowhead - the Great Blue Heron - is mentioned as being seen around a trail we didn’t use, but still.

    We saw a couple of blue jays - including right in our camp site during our October trip, and we saw one single black bird or crow on our February trip - that’s it.

    We’ve been hoping to see some of the tree swallows mentioned on their website - we Googled, they’re cute! - but no such luck.

    Lots of other wildlife on those trips, though - Butterflies, Red Squirrels, and even a Vole at one point!

    4 part image showing butterflies, a squirrel, and a vole.
    Row 1: Monarch Butterfly, Red Squirrel
    Row 2: Red-Blacked Vole, White Admiral Butterfly
    We have since had much better luck, seeing American Crow, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-Capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Broad-Winged Hawk, Brown Creeper, Downy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-Eyed Vireo, Tennessee Warbler, Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker.
    6 part image showing different birds.
    Row 1: Blackburnian Warbler, Blue Jay
    Row 2: Common Raven, Downy Woodpecker
    Row 3: Red-Tailed Hawk, Tennessee Warbler

    Boating & Fishing

    Arrowhead boasts a couple of quiet motorboat-free lakes: Arrowhead Lake and Mayflower Lake.

    While motorized boats are banned on those lakes, canoeing is allowed - and encouraged.

    Rental canoes are available - you can get them, as well as kayaks, paddle boards, PFDs and helmets at the Visitor Centre during the summer.

    The Little East River Canoe Trail connects quiet Arrowhead Lake to Big East River, with a short portage around the falls.

    2 part image showing canoes on the shore on arrowhead lake.

    Fishing

    As far as fishing goes, Arrowhead Lake is known as a good spot to fish for smallmouth bass, and they keep Mayflower Lake - a small but deep spring-fed lake - stocked with rainbow trout.

    We’ve seen people ice fishing there in the winter, but the park doesn’t really want you doing that.

    A walking bridge over the water near Arrowhead's dog beach.
    The start of the Little East River Canoe Trail

    Discovery Program

    As with most of our camping trips, we tend to visit Arrowhead outside of their regular programming seasoning, so we usually don’t have a chance to see anything in action.

    It looks like they do host some fun events - along with the regular “Discovery Activity Book at the Exploration Station” thing - in July and August.

    A sign in the arrowhead pp visitor centre, talking about the discovery program schedule.

    They do have a really cool amphitheatre out in the woods, though:

    2 part image showing different views of the Arrowhead Provincial Park Amphitheatre.

    Winter Activities

    While most people aim to camp in the summer season, Arrowhead REALLY seems to be known more for their offerings in the winter months.

    They have a winter specific map available, with all of the different trails - skating, skiing, and snowshoeing - marked out. Aside from those activities, ice fishing is also available.

    Cross Country Skiing

    They offer cross-country skiing - including 28 km of classic ski trails and 16 km of skate ski trails, covering all levels of difficulty.

    The ski trails make up the bulk of the winter trails in the park, and the trail conditions are kept updated on the Ontario Parks Snow Report.

    The skiing seemed very popular while we were there, and the last day most of the trails were closed off for what seemed to be a pretty large competition.

    Honestly, we don’t know much about skiing, but we’re seriously considering buying some gear to try it out on a future trip!

    4 part image showing various views of cross country skiing at Arrowhead.

    Ice Trail

    I may not know about cross country skiing, but my focus was FIRMLY set on the ice trail.

    It’s only 1.3 km long, but the idea of skating through a forest on a trail lined with torches sounded AMAZING.

    We brought our own ice skates, but they do offer ice skate rentals at the park.

    4 part image of the Arrowhead Provincial Park ice trail and the authors skating on it.

    As it turns out, we were unable to book during one of the “Fire and Ice” events - they’re only on Friday and Saturday nights - so we went skating first thing in the morning.

    Arrowhead has a super cute setup for getting your skates on - two little areas with benches, cubbyholes for your stuff, and even fire pits:

    Benches and a firepit at the beginning of the Arrowhead park ice trail.

    As it turns out, it was probably a good thing that we weren’t able to book during the evening skates - that ice trail had the scariest ice I’ve ever skated on in my life!

    I can’t imagine navigating it in the dark!

    Though we were the first ones on after the morning ice conditioning, there were super deep ruts in the ice, it was incredibly uneven.

    Beyond the ruts, the ice had a weird texture, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was almost like stacked layers of thin ice, with air pockets between?

    The layers would crack and break as you skated over it - super disconcerting. The best way I can describe it is that the ice texture was a lot like baklava. SO weird!

    One of my friends from figure skating commented on my ice photo (below) to say she’d been there a previous year, and had a magical experience with great ice.

    We’re both chalking it up to the weird weather we’ve been having this winter.

    A close up view of a patch of very rough skating ice.
    The scariest ice I've ever skated on!
    Snowshoeing

    Living in the tropics of Canada, we haven’t seen a lot in terms of winter these past 5 years.

    That didn’t stop me from buying 2 sets of snow shoes on clearance on Boxing Day, though - talk about hopeful optimism, LOL!

    We finally got to try snowshoeing on our February trip - the first time either of us had done it since elementary school!

    Arrowhead has 8+ km of snowshoe trails, and we got our start on the Stubb’s Falls trail, starting out from the Poop Loop parking lot.

    Ended up getting WAY further than we thought we would for our first time out, had a blast!

    4 part image showing different views of Arrowhead’s snowshoe trail and the authors snowshoeing.

    Niantic Games

    Cell service was spotty in general, but enough that we were able to get a few daily spins and catches in for Pokemon Go, no problem.

    There’s a stop and a gym at the outlook, a few around the visitor center area - not a ton, but enough to get your dailies anyway.

    That said, if you’re camping during an event and need to get some tasks done, Huntsville is just a 10 minute drive away, and has a TON of stops and gyms, and Ingress Portals all through town.

    4 part image showing different views of High falls.
    High Falls

    Nearby Attractions

    The park is in Muskoka, so is an easy driving distance from shopping, restaurants, etc. We joked to ourselves that it was weird to see signage for both Pizza Nova and Pizza Pizza, not far from the park.

    Aside from the aforementioned laundromat excursion, we also spent some time exploring High Falls in nearby Bracebridge, which was about a 25 minute drive from the campground.

    First off: Do not Google map “high falls” and trust the direction. It’ll take you to a private parking lot on the other side of the falls from where you’re actually supposed to be!

    Here are the Directions to High Falls

    This was a really fun area to explore.

    If you’re more limited on mobility, you can park fairly close to the main waterfall, and walk over the bridge for a great view over it.

    For those with a bit more mobility - and luckily I was having a decent tendon day! - A quick walk up the lane will take you to various paths descending down over rocks to the wooded area below.

    From there, you’ll be able to access even BETTER views of the falls- including being able to walk right out to them! - as well as a stream with several other waterfalls up the length of it.

    There was very little signage, and we couldn’t find a ton of information online, so it was really cool to explore, and not really know what was next, where to go, etc.

    4 part compilation image showing hiking with waterfalls at Little High Falls park.

    At one point, Porter was off across the stream trying to find beach access for a view of the main falls, and I happened across one of the upper falls.

    Afterwards, wandering around had us happen across a bridge across the upper falls - probably a smarter idea than using the board laying across some of the lower falls, as a bridge.

    Some of the falls are kind of small, but you can walk right up to them, walk out on rocks below them, etc.

    The forest itself felt like something out of a movie, like I was half expecting a talking deer to come out and invite me on an adventure or something. It felt fairytale like.

    The mossy overgrown rocks were just a really cool visual, with the rust coloured pine needles carpeting them, the ground, and some fallen trees.

    The air was also really crisp and clean, so it was just a really great way to spend an afternoon screwing around.

    Some of the paths are pretty steep and you should DEFINITELY exercise caution. At one point I almost fell off a rock when fallen pine needles on it made my foot slip right out from under me.

    Important Note

    When we tried to go back to Little High Falls Park during our February stay, we were disappointed to see that the park was gated off for the season. Boo!

    So be sure to visit it while it’s actually open!

    That said, if I had my time back... I don’t know why we didn’t just go back to that first (wrong) parking spot and walk to the bridge from that side. Could have gotten a bit of a view, anyway!

    6 part compilation image showing hiking with waterfalls at Little High Falls park.

    Final Thoughts

    Arrowhead PP is a super cute park, and it opened our eyes to the possibility of WINTER camping - something we’ve enjoyed a few times this “winter”, even before making it back to Arrowhead.

    We like that there’s a bunch of easy trails during the non-winter seasons, and the Stubb’s Falls trail was a lot of payout for very little work - and that’s somewhat of a rarity in the campgrounds we’ve been to.

    The winter activities were intriguing when we first visited, and a blast to participate in when we went back.

    The camp sites are really nice, and we’re thinking we’ll have to make a somewhat regular thing of going to Arrowhead.

    After the first trip I had to admonish a couple of my friends who are FROM this area, for never telling me about the campground with a freaking skating trail and winter RV camping available.

    Stubb's Falls at Arrowhead Provincial Park.

    More Provincial Park Campground Reviews

    Want to read some more of what we have to say about the campgrounds we've stayed at? Here are some more reviews!

    Awenda Provincial Park
    Balsam Lake Provincial Park
    Bass Lake Provincial Park
    Bon Echo Provincial Park
    Canisbay Lake, Algonquin Provincial Park
    Chutes Provincial Park
    Driftwood Provincial Park
    Earl Rowe Provincial Park
    Emily Provincial Park
    Inverhuron Provincial Park
    Killbear Provincial Park
    Lake Superior Provincial Park
    Long Point Provincial Park
    MacGregor Point Provincial Park
    MacLeod Provincial Park
    Mara Provincial Park
    McRae Point Provincial Park
    Neys Provincial Park
    Pinery Provincial Park
    Point Farms Provincial Park
    Port Burwell Provincial Park
    Quetico Provincial Park
    Rideau River Provincial Park
    Rock Point Provincial Park
    Rondeau Provincial Park
    Sauble Falls Provincial Park
    Selkirk Provincial Park
    Sibbald Point Provincial Park
    Sleeping Giant Provincial Park
    Turkey Point Provincial Park
    Wheatley Provincial Park

    Thanks for Reading!

    If you loved this post - or have any questions about it - please leave a comment below! We'd also love it if you would consider sharing the link on social media!

    2 part image showing the Nordic Ski Chalet and Pavilion.
    Nordic Ski Chalet and Pavilion.

    2 part image showing different views of Stubb's Falls at Arrowhead Provincial Park.

    Stubb's Falls at Arrowhead Provincial Park.

    2 part image showing waterfalls an a small clear section of river in winter.

    2 part image showing different views of Stubb's falls and the hike leading up to it in winter.

    8 part image showing different views of Stubb's falls and the hike leading up to it in winter.

    The foot bridge at Arrowhead Provincial Park.

    4 part image showing various sights along the Arrowhead Lake Hiking Trail.

    A wide section of Arrowhead Lake Trail.

    More Campground Reviews

    • Purple and green aurora borealis over a silhouette of trees.
      Quetico Provincial Park
    • 2 red chairs overlooking lake superior.
      Pukaskwa National Park
    • A sandy beach on a sunny day, at sandbanks provincial park.
      Sandbanks Provincial Park
    • Oastler lake on a sunny day.
      Oastler Lake Provincial Park

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