Darlington Provincial Park is a campground & day use area located under an hour from downtown Toronto. Here's what you need to know about it!
Like our recent stay at Bronte Creek Provincial Park, we were a bit apprehensive about staying at this park, just based on the things we’ve seen in camping groups, and in online reviews.
As with Bronte Creek, though... a lot of the issues people mention just didn’t necessarily apply to us.
A lot of people seem to have a big issue with its proximity to the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. As nerds, we consider ourselves relatively well informed about nuclear energy, and we’re totally comfortable with it.
Some people complain about the train noise. I sleep like the dead, and my husband is a “Train Autistic” - so no real worries there, either.*
Those are the main issues that I can remember, anyway.
Realistically, how anyone experiences a park is going to vary wildly based on the conditions during their stay, their own interests and outlooks, etc.
If we were to camp one camp site over from another family, for the exact same length of time and on the same dates - there’s a really good chance they’d have a COMPLETELY different experience. They’d walk away with a wildly different review, based on pretty much the exact same source material!
Anyway, let’s go ahead and tell you what we thought of our stay!
* He would like me to mention that we’ve heard the *whistle* a few times, but not the “rumbly clack-clack” that he was looking forward to. What a weirdo. Anyway.
The Basics:
Campground Name: Darlington Provincial Park
Address: 1600 Darlington Park Rd. Bowmanville, ON L1C 3K3
Website: https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/darlington
Price: Ontario Provincial Parks uses a pricing matrix across all their parks. See 2024 Camping Fees for more details.
Reservations: Ontario Parks Reservations
Camping Season: May 3, 2024 to October 15, 2024
Day Use Season: January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024
Logistics
We originally booked a 3 night stay, 5 months before our trip. In the weeks leading up to it, our plans changed for the week of our trip, leading to a last minute scramble to move our dates up by 2 days.
Trying to re-book a summer *weekend* stay at a park near Toronto is, well, messy. As a result, we booked 3 consecutive nights... but each one was in a different camp site.
Before the end of our first night, we cancelled our 3rd night, to extend our following campground stay by a day.
So, 2 nights, 2 different campsites. Figured I’d mention it, as it does play into our view of the park, to some extent.
Registration and Check In
Booking online - 7 am, 5 months before the summer date we wanted to camp - was like the camping Hunger Games.
The nice thing about camping far away from the GTA and in the off season is that it’s not difficult to get a great site, with no stress.
Watching the counter tick down to 7 am, campsite choice loaded up and ready for me to reserve RIGHT at the stroke of 7?
Not a fan.
Anyway, we managed to get our second choice of site, at the time. (As mentioned, this got a bit mangled with our changes of plans - that’s on us, obviously!).
Check in at the park was done at a small registration office, via a window kiosk. Off to the right there's a second kiosk for day use self check-in.
It's a paperless permit park, so you don't actually need to check in if you've already pre-registered.
We did check in so that we could get a park map, and the service was fast and friendly, as always.
Park Map
Just inside the park gates, there's a big park information board, with self-serve maps.
Love this, especially knowing that self check in is an option!
Anyway, the paper map is the mostly-standard (at least for most of Southern Ontario, in the summer) Ontario Parks map, with the map on one side, and general info about the park on the other.
It’s a small enough park that the entire map - campsite numbers and all - fits well on the one paper.
There are some weird discrepancies between the map, the website, and reality, mostly with regards to the hiking trails.
The website lists 4, the map lists 6... then has a section of one trail done up as the colour a completely separate trail is coded with, etc. Nothing catastrophic, just mildly annoying.
Signage
The campground and day use signage, overall, is really good. There are a few spots where the signage could be better, but really... it’s a small park. You’re probably not going to get THAT lost in Darlington.
The trail signage is great. Every major entry point to most of the trails has some sort of descriptive sign about the trail, and every split is clearly marked with the other trail options and directions.
Services
The trailer sanitation station is two lanes around a center island.
There are the two stations on that center island - one water station, and one dump platform - and you can access each coming from either end of the sanitation station area.
The weird thing is that each of the two stations has one pedestal and one hose, when - in theory - two people can be pulled up to it to use it at the same time.
The dump platform has 2 sewage drains - one on either side - and the fill platform has both a regular hose and a water tap - both are threaded.
So, if someone's using the hose when you get there, you can always hook up your own hose.
We hadn’t seen this before (and we don’t generally use the campground taps), but thought it was a really nice touch. Thoughtful.
Garbage Disposal
There are two large garbage and recycling areas in the campground sections - one at the far end of Cliffside (accessible from Hilltop), and the other near the dump station, on the way into Hilltop.
We’d commented to each other that it seemed there were proportionately FAR more garbage bins at this campground than I think I've seen at any other.
Not only are there a lot, they are huge, and in really good condition - maybe even new.
We soon figured out why there are so many - and probably why they’re in such good condition: I don’t think they’re getting used.
Holy garbage, Batman!
When doing a quick drive through on the Friday afternoon, we lost count of how many sites had large pieces of refuse just sitting in the fire pits.
Seriously, it was giving us flashbacks to our one night stay at MacLeod Provincial Park!
No sunglass-wearing, sad, abandoned swan pool floaties with empty beer cans, though!
I feel bad for the employees at Darlington. NO idea why anyone would go camping, just to leave so much crap behind like that.
Definitely a downer to see, though.
Connectivity
Cell phone coverage in the park was REALLY spotty and inconsistent.
I can’t even say “we had good coverage in X place, and never had any in Y area...” because areas with none one time would have decent to great connection later. No rhyme or reason to it, either.
I was shocked at how bad the connection could be at times, SO close to the GTA.
This was on Rogers - your mileage may vary based on your carrier.
Accessibility
So, this is one of the parks where they have the basics covered - a few accessible, barrier-free campsites, barrier-free comfort stations, barrier free access to the Park Store, a ramp at the (tiny!) Visitor Centre, etc.
There are a fair amount of accessible parking spaces, as well, and they have a Mobi-Mat to the beach at one of the access points. (Closest to the Log Cabin / Visitor Centre.)
BUUUUT.
Not a single one of the trails are wheelchair friendly. The one running through the day use area COULD be, but sections were badly water damaged, with huge ruts running through it.
DESPERATELY in need of having some grading done underneath it. The sand underneath is washed out in points, so when you wheel over it you're going to sink fast - it's very abrupt drop.
Also the trail to the Mobi-Mat is very washed out in places - more deep ruts, very uneven. So you'll have an adventure to get to the beach.
That said, it gets bonus points for actually going all the way up to the water. I think this is the first park I’ve seen that does that.
Usually, they get you as far as the sand, maybe SLIGHTLY onto the beach, and that’s it.
In terms of other mobility issues...
The most difficult trail in the park is the Burk Trail, which has some steep inclines, roots, etc. (Robinson Creek Trail was closed during our visit, so we’re not sure about the conditions on that one.)
Generally speaking, the trails are all relatively easy and short. In theory, most (possible exception of Burk) should be fine with any other mobility aid.
The trail conditions are the biggest obstacle. Some are mudded completely out, others are desperately in need of grading.
Some mulch and a day or so raking down the huge bumps and pits would go a long way to making them far more accessible!
Also: The park roads aren’t super wheelchair friendly in places.
Pets
There are no dog beaches or play areas at Darlington Provincial Park, nor is there any info about dogs on the park’s website.
On the paper map, though, it says dogs are allowed - just not on any of the beach areas, at all.
They have to be kept on a leash at all times (under 2 metres long), can’t disturb other people, can’t be left alone, and - as always - owners are required to pick up after their pets.
Parking
In general, there is a fair amount of parking at Darlington Provincial Park, with one glaring exception.
The parking lot at the Log Cabin side of the day use area is really, really small for the number of people that want to use it. It was *absolute* chaos a few times during our visit.
Other than that, the campsites are generally big enough to accommodate extra vehicles, and there are a few small parking lots throughout the campgrounds for overflow parking.
The parking areas at all the other picnic shelters, etc are a lot bigger, and seem to be enough to accommodate the cars visiting those areas.
Miscellaneous
I feel a bit weird judging a park by the people who are camping there, but in the case of our stay at Darlington... it was all just too over the top not to.
I’ve already mentioned the garbage issue, though I’m not quite sure I even did justice to that. It was *everywhere*. The behaviour in general was just so ... Not what we are used to in campgrounds.
I’d heard it could be a party park, but didn’t experience any of that (unless you count the two loud FIREWORKS going off, very close to our site - nowhere near a holiday, either!)
This was more like... people parking their vehicle right in the middle of the road to load/unload their LARGE campsite, for no reason.
People driving 2x the speed limit on campground roads. At one point - early one morning - one of those speeders almost hit us, coming around a corner. A minute or two later, we passed a dead skunk in the middle of the road. 🙁
It was definitely light enough out that anyone actually driving the speed limit ... would not have hit a skunk. Just really sad to see.
We lost count of how many people were driving the wrong way down the one way campground roads, usually in larger vehicles that were near impossible to pass.
But WAIT, there’s MORE!
On our second night, we were cooking our dinner in our pull-through site (this one had a fair amount of privacy, bordered with bushes), and a family drove right up into the other end of our site, and parked.
... then they set up a whole picnic, and even had a portable fire pit going!
At first we thought that maybe we had it wrong about our site being pull-through... but nope. We asked what site they were booked for, and they told us that they “didn’t realize” they needed to book them. That’s... a new one.
They were nice enough, and packed up and left pretty quickly, but seriously. That was surreal.
Then - THEN! - we woke up the next morning to a tent set up ON our site, blocking our way out of the pull-through. NO idea when they set up, had to be after 9 pm.
Park Warden wouldn’t do anything - said they were too busy - so I asked the woman how long she was planning to be on our site, as we’d like to pull out.
She said “Oh, I can leave”, and then got in her car and drove off! As in, leaving her tent there, still blocking our pull through!
As we were waiting for her to come back, an OPP vehicle drove by, so I guess the warden wasn’t kidding about other stuff to deal with. Can’t say I’ve seen the OPP in another park before.
I don’t know if it was the full moon (I know FAR too many nurses and retail/restaurant workers to discount THAT possibility!) or if this is a normal thing here, but the entitlement mentality, and utter lack of respect that so many people had for everyone else using in the park?
Just really not a great vibe.
Campground Amenities & Info
We visited in the July - over a weekend - so pretty much everything was open and available during our visit.
Here’s some information about the amenities at Darlington Provincial Park:
Creature Comforts
Each of the 3 campgrounds has some form of comfort station, though what each of the comfort stations actually offers varies quite a bit.
The Lakeside campground comfort station has showers, flush toilets, and so does the Hilltop A comfort station (on the border between the Cliffside and Hilltop Campgrounds.
The Hilltop A comfort station also has laundry facilities, and the Cliffside comfort station has a fire pit with seating outside.
There’s also a comfort station (flush toilets only) in Day Use #2, and “drop toilets” (Outhouses? Are those the same as “Vault Toilets”?) in the campgrounds and some of the day use areas.
Park Store
The campground store is pretty small, but cute and has an OK selection of things. Also: a scooped ice cream bar!
Porter ordered an ice cream cone of whatever flavour had a chocolate ribbon and peanut butter cups. I forget the name, but he really liked it.
Anyway, the parking lot for the store is pretty small, although there IS a spot for a trailer parking, which is always nice to see.
Visitor Centre
The Visitor Centre at Darlington Provincial Park is a small log cabin called - wait for it - “Log Cabin”.
It’s located in Day Use Area 2, and is only open Saturdays and Sundays from 1-3 pm
We didn’t manage to find ourselves in that area in that small window of time either of the days we were there, unfortunately!
Day Use Area
The day use area at Darlington Provincial Park is actually divided into 4 separate areas, each with a totally different feel.
#1, #2, and #3 all have picnic shelters, though picnic facilities of some sort - picnic tables, BBQ grills, etc - are available at all 4.
#1 has a picnic shelter, and that’s about it.
Tons of picnic tables, many with grills nearby, lots of shade from the tree cover. The ground is INCREDIBLY uneven throughout - lumpy, pitted, etc.
Day Use #3 has a picnic shelter, a large field leading up to it, and another picnic area between the parking lot and the road. The ground is in much better condition in this area, than #2.
The field is wide open, the picnic area near the road has shade.
Finally, #4 - our favourite of the lot. This is the fishing area and boat launch, with several semi-private fishing / picnicking spots, jutting out onto the water.
You can see each of the other ones from the end of any individual one, but the trails leading up to them are pretty secluded - and the ends are fairly private from the parking lot. The one furthest from the boat launch has a little clearing leading up to it, with a giant barbecue.
Pretty cool!
Rentals
Weirdly, despite how BUSY the day use area is - and how nice the set up is for canoeing and kayaking - Darlington PP doesn’t have much in the way of rental offerings.
They’ll rent Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) - that’s it. Those are available at the park store.
Campground Details
The campground area at Darlington Provincial Park is divided up into 3 named campgrounds - Cliffside Campground, Hilltop Campground, and Lakeside Campground.
There are also 2 group campsites available, accessed via the Hilltop Campground.
As an overall statement, the campground roads are pretty narrow, and all are one way roads. (Not that many people respected the one-way / do not enter signs. Ugh!).
The sites are generally pretty big, and not a ton of them have much privacy.
A lot of the campsites have really uneven, rough ground with ruts and deep grooves of mud.
If you’re RV camping, plan to have spend time leveling. If you’re tent camping... I hope you’ve got some nice padding. Oof.
Also - and this may be a fussy thing - a lot of the campsites have weird fire pits. They’re not actually tire rims, but they sort of look like it, from a distance. Porter said they reminded him of the sleeves around manhole covers.
Many are rusty enough to notice from a distance - just really not attractive, and made for an extra trashy look with all the literal garbage left in some of them./div>
Anyway, some more specific observations on the campgrounds:
Lakeside Campground
Lakeside Campground is the only all-electrical site campground at Darlington park, and it’s the only radio free one.
Most - maybe all - of the sites are large, many are pull through sites, and there is very little privacy in most of them. For most of this section of the park, you can see clear through to multiple other sites.
Also, with the way they’re situated, you’re almost sharing campfire/eating space with the next site over. Awkward.
The sites that do have any privacy, it’s side to side and along the back - most are oblong up the length of the road, with the entire road-facing side wide open.
Our Sites
All 3 sites that we had booked were in the Lakeside Campground.
The first night was at #102, which was awful (shown above, the photo doesn’t do it justice!). It was a pull through site, but with a VERY steep incline. (“Slight slope”, my butt!).
We had to be creative getting into it, as we’d be sleeping with our heads down if we went in the way I think we were supposed to. (NO amount of leveling could right THAT slope.).
Our RV ended up sliding a good a 6' down the muddy slope. Yikes.
The ground was really, really bad, and had to pay attention to every step in order to avoid badly twisting ankles on all of the deep ruts and pothole type drop offs.
It was desperately in need of being mowed - and the picnic table was clear across the length of it from the fire pit and gravel pad for the RV - but those are minor complaints when compared to the last site.
The biggest issue here was people randomly deciding to picnic or CAMP in our site.
I’m still blown away at that happening twice in less than 24 hours!
Our 3rd night was supposed to be at #72, but we got one look at it - COMPLETELY muddy, huge ruts of deep, wet mud - and noped out. Cancelled that third night and left early.
Cliffside Campground
This one seemed to be a bit more private than Lakeside, but we think that was mostly a function of the trees overhead, and there being more bushes. It made the area feel a bit more enclosed / cosy than Lakeside, even when entire lengths of the campsites were wide open to the road.
There was definitely a greater deal of privacy between the sites in this campground, though. Moreso than the other two campgrounds, anyway.
The sites in Cliffside still have the slopes, bumpy ground, etc that we saw in Lakeside - and aren't in amazing condition - but they did have more/healthier grass cover. More lush feeling, as a result.
Hilltop Campground
The roads in hilltop are by far in the worst condition of the entire campground section of Darlington.
I definitely would not want to drive the RV through there - especially on the 240-258 road. HUGE ruts running along the length of it, looks like it was probably washed out by a ton of water.
Also of note: This one is the closest to the 401. I’d expect that at least the northernmost roads would have a fair amount of highway noise.
As we were driving up one of the roads, we came up to a sign that said “An artist lives here”... and that site had an entire art studio set up!
A tent in the back that seemed to be for painting in - with paintings displayed outside - and another tent that seemed to be for prep work or something.
That was really cool to see, but it would have been great if he had a website listed. I don't know who he is, and we were interested in learning more!
Group Camping
There are two group campsites, both of which are non-electrical sites.
They are made to accommodate tents only (10-15 each), and trailers / RVs are not permitted.
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Entertainment and Activity
Darlington Provincial Park offers a number of different recreational activities in its relatively small space. Here’s what you need to know:
Hiking
Darlington has a total of 6 trails - four that seem to be more intended as nature trails (these are listed on the site), and 2 more that seem to be intended more utilitarian, connecting different areas of the park.
Generally speaking, the trails are mostly pretty wide and flat. They all provide a decent walk, not much of a challenge, and OK enough scenery. Nothing really to write home about, but nice enough.
Some specific thoughts on each trail:
Burk Trail - 1.25 km, moderate
I don’t know that I’d call this one moderate, really. It’s mostly easy, just with some relatively gentle hills in a couple places. A bit steep, but just for a couple short periods.
This one has two points of interest listed on the site - the Pioneer Cemetery, and a “Scenic Lookout”.
I feel like “cemetery” is being used generously - it’s a single tombstone, surrounded by fencing. Very tiny cemetery, I guess!
Maybe it’s different in the spring or fall?
I don’t know, even if that’s the case... summer is the height of the season for this park. You’d think you’d base the description on what most people are likely to experience.
We did see a deer when we were up on it, though, so that’s something.
I wasn’t having a great day for my foot tendons, and I was able to do it with very little issue, though.
Personally... I’d be afraid of my loved ones coming back to haunt me, if I dumped them in a park with the kinds of issues we saw at Darlington.
Campground Trail (distance not listed), easy
This is one longish trail that starts in the Cliffside Campground, cuts through the Lakeside campground, and takes you to the Log Cabin and Day-Use area #2.
There are a couple offshoots to get to the (seemingly abandoned?) Amphitheatre, as well as access to the Park Store Trail.
We didn’t use much of this trail, and part of it - near the visitor centre - was SO muddy, that we just bypassed that section and took the other trail access point, from the road leading to the Log Cabin.
Seems to be a nice enough walk for getting around the park. Nothing spectacular, but not overly “utilitarian” feeling, either.
McLaughlin Bay Trail - 1.5 km, easy
This trail extends from the west side of Day Use #2, across to the fishing area, then up to Day Use #3, with an offshoot that heads out of the park.
We did a good portion of this trail, in sections, starting at different access points over different times during our stay.
The trail access points at the far end of the park - aiming towards the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve / Oshawa Second Marsh Trails - are pretty overgrown, and had caution tape on the bridge.
We don’t get the sense that many people use that end of the trail!
From the fishing area, headed towards the Burk Trail interchange, it’s a fairly basic hike. A bit out in the open for a while, then heads into a mature forest.
We got in almost as far as the offshoot trail to Day Use #3, before heading back to the parking lot.
The Park map doesn’t make it clear that you can actually enter from Day Use #2, but you can!
This end is closer to the marsh area, and got pretty muddy in spots. It was also much better for birding, than the forested area near the fishing parking lot - at least at the time we visited!
Park Store Trail (distance not listed)
As with the Campground Trail, the Park Store Trail is more of a utilitarian thing, meant as a quick way to get from one area to another, rather than as a destination itself.
This one is relatively wide and flat, and goes from the largest parking lot in Day Use #2 directly to the Park Store, with another leg going from the Park Store to hook up with the Campground Trail, near the Amphitheatre.
Robinson Creek Trail - 1 km loop, easy
This is a short trail that starts and ends right next to the Trailer Sanitation Station.
It was closed off during our stay. According to the park website, though, it take follows Robinson Creek “through a forested ravine full of mature willow, Staghorn sumac, maple trees and a diversity of plants and wildlife.”
Sounds nice, wish we could have seen it!
Waterfront Trail - 2.6 km, easy
We’re actually very familiar with other sections of the Waterfront Trail - it’s 350 km long!
This is a big, long, multi-use trail that runs from Niagara-on-the-Lake all the way to Trenton, following the shore of Lake Ontario.
It runs about 5 minutes away from our house, going through Confederation Park, Van Wagner’s Beach, and along the Burlington Beach - several of our regular haunts.
There are also several parks we enjoy in Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, and Toronto that are right on the trail.
Unlike all of those areas, though... the Waterfront Trail doesn’t go anywhere near the water, where it passes through Darlington. It’s much closer to the 401 ... so we skipped it pretty much entirely.
Biking
The park makes no mention of cycling on their website, maps, or signage - at all.
So, while there’s no outright “you’re welcome to bike on the following trails”, there’s also nothing saying that doing so is banned.
We did see people biking on the trail that runs through the day use area, but that’s about it.
Swimming
Darlington Provincial Park runs along a section of the northern shore of Lake Ontario, and the beach is a pretty big draw, from what it seems.
It’s not really a sandy beach - VERY rocky right at the shore, and rocks throughout - but it seems nice enough.
It remained that way for the duration of our visit - sounds like a bunch of partially treated sewage flooded into Lake Ontario after a big storm, recently.
So, we didn’t make use of the beach.
Birding, Wildlife, and Nature
The birding opportunities at Darlington Provincial Park were fantastic, even if our ability to get PHOTOS of everything... wasn’t always!
The highlight for us were the Killdeer. We’d actually gone down by the Piping Plover enclosure hoping to see some of them - the ones at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park were SO cute! - but it wasn’t in the cards for us this trip to Darlington. 4 different times at the enclosure, not a single plover to be found there*.
BUT.
There were Killdeers - specifically, BABY Killdeers!
They were ridiculously cute, especially when they’d tuck under the mom’s wings and then pop out and run when she would stand up!
10/10. Highly recommend! (Be sure to subscribe to our socials - near the end of this post - so you’ll know when we get around to posting video!)
2nd Row: Cedar Waxwing, Common Starling, Common Tern
3rd Row: Double-Crested Cormorant, Eastern Kingbird, Grey Catbird
4th Row: Great Blue Heron, House Wren, Killdeer
5th Row: Killdeer (Baby!), Mallard Ducks, Mute Swan
6th Row: Mute Swan (Baby!), Northern Cardinal, Piping Plover
7th Row: Piping Plover (Baby!), Sanderling, Sandpiper
8th Row: Sternidae, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler
Another good area was the first little bit of McLaughlin Trail, in that same area.
All told, we saw: American Goldfinch, American Robin, Baltimore Oriole, Black-Capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Canada Goose, Cedar Waxwing, Common Grackle, Common Tern, Common Yellowthroat, Double-Crested Cormorants, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Kingbird, Great Blue Heron, Grey Catbird, House Wren, Killdeer, Mallard Duck, Marsh Wren, Mourning Dove, Mute Swan, Piping Plover, Northern Cardinal, Red-Winged Blackbird, Ring-Billed Gull, Sanderling, Sand Piper, Song Sparrow, and Warbing Vireo, Yellow Warbler.
and we heard: American Redstart, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Red-Eyed Vireo, Swamp Sparrow, and White-Breasted Nuthatch.
In terms of other wildlife, we saw a couple of skunks, lots of butterflies, a TON of bunnies, and bunch of people from Toronto. (LOL, sorry - had to! I actually love Toronto.)
* On our last morning, we did see a couple of them... just nowhere near the enclosure!
Boating
Boating on the sheltered waters of McLaughlin Bay seems to be a SUPER popular activity at Darlington Provincial Park.
We saw quite a few people launching - and paddling - canoes, kayaks, and paddle boards from the tiny little boat launch in the fishing area.
Even when the waves were crashing on Lake Ontario, the water in the bay was glassy and gorgeous.
It was actually a little weird to look out over the mirror-like surface of the water at one point, only to see a wind surfer’s equipment zipping by on the main lake, beyond the marshy area!
As a note: Motors over 9.9 hp aren’t allowed on McLaughlin Bay. If you’re looking to use something bigger/more powerful than works with that restriction / the boat launch to the bay, you’ll want to do it on Lake Ontario, proper.
No idea where the nearest boat launch for that would be, though.
Fishing
The fishing area in Darlington was our favourite section of the park, hands down!
There’s a little boat launch there, as well as several little... natural piers? I don’t know what you’d call them.
They’re little pieces of land the jut out onto McLaughlin bay for a really short distance. At least one has a picnic table, and they’re all super cute areas to fish from.
Well, when a swan isn’t coming right out of the water to pick a fight with you over photographing their babies, anyway!
I REALLY thought that Darlington was going to be the park where I broke out my new fishing rod and attempted fishing for the first time. A guy fishing there at the time was telling us how frustrating it was to be snagging nothing but slimy plant matter though, so I figured I’d hold off.
Anyway, Darlington is a member of the OFAH Tackleshare Programs, which loans out fishing rods and tackle to those interested in trying fishing out for themselves.
I really liked the sign above, going over the different toxicity risk levels of various fish that you can catch in Ontario.
Gotta say, I was surprised by where some of them were located, on that scale!
Discovery Program
Darlington Provincial Park seems to have a pretty robust schedule of Discovery programming - at least daily during our stay.
They are held in different locations in the park - like the visitor centre (log cabin), the Park Store), or on the trails - when they’re hosting guided hikes.
Seems to be a good variety of format and subject matter, from the flyer we were handed during check in at the front gate!
The schedules are also posted on information boards throughout the park, and there was a little A-frame board along the main park road, with info on the day’s offering(s).
Hunting
So, I hadn’t noticed on the website - prior to arriving - but there’s a waterfowl hunt at Darlington.
We only knew because of this incredibly unhelpful sign in the fishing area. Are non-hunters supposed to know when exactly duck hunt season is, or...?
Anyway, the website specifies that it’s mid-September to mid-December, for those who also had no idea about such things!
Niantic Games
There are a fair amount of portals / Pokestops / gyms throughout the day use area, and a handful of them in the campground area.
That said, the cell phone connectivity isn’t super reliable or consistent in the park, so don’t expect to be playing much!
Misc
As a year-round park (Day Use only), Darlington Provincial Park is open for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, weather permitting.
Burk Trail and McLaughlin Bay Trail would both be suitable for either activity. For that matter, I think every trail we’ve seen would be - no idea about Robinson Creek Trail, though!
Nearby Attractions
So, living on the west end of the GTHA, we haven’t spent a lot (read: any!) time in the cities of Bowmanville, Oshawa, etc.
That said, there IS one attraction nearby that I am familiar with... Sort of.
I’m from Winnipeg, and the Thermea there is my *happy place*. Haven’t been there in years, but while I was living in Minneapolis, it was one of the places I made sure to visit, any time I went home.
Shortly after moving to Hamilton, Thermea Spa Village Whitby was announced, and I LOST MY DAMN MIND at the idea of one of them being so close.
Then 2020 hit - before they could open. Suddenly, the idea of sharing space with other people was ... the opposite of relaxing.
So, we haven’t been to the Whitby location yet, but I’m looking forward to the day when we’d be willing to do so!
After the last few years - with ALL they’ve entailed, even before 2020 hit - I could really, REALLY use a day at a Thermea. Or, you know... a week.
Final Thoughts
So, this one is going to be another mixed bag review.
First off, I’ll say that your campsite can wildly impact the vibe of your stay. I guess I never really considered how much it would impact it, but moving from #102 to #71 was like night and day.
At 102, we had the next campsite over RIGHT up in our business, no privacy at all, a huge slope, tons of mud and ruts, the constant sound of people, and it was just not pleasant.
We didn’t even cook our dinner outside - despite our plans to. The ground was so gross and the neighbours would have been like 5 feet away, no thanks.
When we moved, it was an entirely different experience. We couldn’t see or hear anyone, we had a nice view over the lake, and the only noise we heard was the sound of the waves crashing below. Serene!
The fishing area, however, was fantastic... as was the birding. The baby Killdeer were SO cute!
There was garbage everywhere, though, and a lot of really trashy, disrespectful behaviour all around. It was just a really different vibe from a lot of the Ontario Provincial Parks we’ve been to.
We’re definitely seeing a pattern though, and coming to the realization that we prefer campgrounds further away from the GTA.
Anyway, we’d probably camp here again if it was as a stopover on the way somewhere else - and ideally with one of the waterfront sites! - but we wouldn’t come back for any more of a stay than that.
Your mileage, of course, may vary!
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
Bronte Creek 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
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