Inverhuron Provincial Park is a Cultural Heritage-Class park on Lake Huron's shore. Here's everything you need to know about camping there!
Originally published May 5, 2024, Updated on 5/1/2025.
It was a really short distance from MacGregor PP (Port Elgin), where we’d been staying - I think about a 25 minute drive! It was definitely a refreshing change from the 3+ hour drive times that we usually have to do!
As we pulled into our site, I could smell the pine from in the camper, even with the windows all closed. It had just rained, so it was a nice clean smell.
As it turns out, it was a great place to enjoy the great outdoors - and we definitely made some stand-out memories there! (No spoilers, I’ll get into that in a bit!)
Our campsite backed onto a trail that was just steps from a gorgeous rocky shoreline of Lake Huron - it was a fabulous place to spend some time.
We hiked all of the trails in the area, spent some time laying around on the beach (It was 22 degrees - in the beginning of May!), and all around had a great time.
SO much to talk about - now covering two stays there - so let’s get to it!
The Basics:
Campground Name: Inverhuron Provincial Park
Address: 19 Jordon Rd., RR#2 Tiverton, ON, N0G 2T0
Website: Inverhuron Provincial Park
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: Cultural Heritage
Season: April 25, 2025 to October 26, 2025
Logistics
Registration and Check In
Both stays, we booked ahead of time, on the Ontario Parks website. Just before our first trip, we had some questions and called in - very friendly service.
Check in is done inside a small building, but with plenty of room in it. As always, checking in at the park was quick and easy on both stays, with super friendly staff.
Maps, Signage, Website
This was the only frustrating part of our first stay - the information across the website and map (less so with the signage).
Website
The website did NOT have much information on the park, and what they did have.... wasn’t always accurate.
The big thing for me was the lack of info about the hiking trails. Most park sites have all the trails listed, with lengths and difficulty - usually with a description.
The page for Inverhuron Park makes mention of there being one trail, with no description beyond that. Weirdly, the MAP on the page - if you download the file - actually does list all 4!
This trail info is also reflected on the printed map.
Park Map
For the most part, I actually like the park map - it’s a single page, 2 sided, with maps of the overall park, just the campground area, and a bunch of info about the nuke site.
The only real issue I have is that points of interest aren’t present on the map. The Lime Kiln is mentioned in the trail description, with only a vague description of location.
We had no idea there even was a Maloney Homestead until we happened upon it.
The locations of Saw Mill Site, Lookout, and Former Schoolhouse Site are all noted on the map for the River Trail - at the trailhead, not on the paper map.
The little educational garden at the front isn’t mentioned anywhere on the site or the map. Minor point, but I like to know when there are points of interest to go seek out!
Anyway, you can get pdf copies of both the park overview map and the map of the campground area on the Ontario Parks website:
Inverhuron Provincial Park Map
Inverhuron Provincial Park Campground Map
Signage - Roads
The road signs through the park are the blue and white signs, which is nice - they’re easy to see against the woods, no matter what time of year it is.
The only issue we really had with the road signs was that - when driving through the Holmes Bay Campground - there’s no sign indicating where the comfort station is.
It’s on a little road off to the side, and completely obscured from view when driving down the one way street - so we actually drove right past it, the first time.
Signage - Beach
This one deserves its own section, because it was so WEIRD. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such mixed messaging in any other park!
So, you get to that beautiful beach, and see all kinds of signage telling you to stay off the dunes, they’re protected and fragile, etc.
Very clear messaging!
Our first time at the beach, we took the one to the far left, by the comfort station.
... and it ended with a platform lookout! A nice lookout, mind you... but no way to access the beach from it.
We were a bit shocked, as we’d seen nothing saying that this was anything other than the way the park expected you to access the beach.
This one had a lot of the signage about protecting the dunes, but also a small, weathered piece of laminated paper printout stuck to the rail, telling you that there was no access to the beach via the boardwalk.
... so yeah.
Loads of signs telling you to stay out of the sand dunes, and the only way to access the beach from the parking lot is a few trails through the sand dunes!
It would be one thing if the trails looked official - maybe edged with a rope barrier or something.
The thing is, when we’d first seen these trails ... they looked like ones that had been made by a few people breaking the rules. NOT like the expected way to go!
Waste & Water Services
The park has an interesting set up for the trailer sanitation station - it’s actually two stations.
The fill station is on the way into the park, just past the main gate. It has 4 fill platforms: Three on the left, one on the right. It’s only one lane, though, with no bypass.
Not a lot of room between each, so I can’t see more than 2 trailers being able to fill at once. Anyway, the hoses were all threaded.
In terms of the dump station, it’s located on the way out of the park - kind of across from the fill platform
It has 4 dump platforms across two lanes - no bypass lane. While the water isn’t potable, those hoses are threaded as well.
Connectivity
Cell reception was fair to good through most of the park, but pretty bad at our campsite, during both stays.
Both times the upload speed was terrible, and download was fair at times, but bad at others.
Accessibility
As with most Provincial Parks, there are accessible showers and toilets at the comfort stations, as well as a few campsites - they’re not marked on the map, though.
The accessibility of the comfort stations should be taken with a grain of salt though. I’d call it “technically accessible, but not really wheelchair FRIENDLY”.
The comfort station between the Holmes Campground and the Cabins area is probably the most accessible in terms of being able to wheel up to it, and has both a barrier free shower and a barrier free washroom.
That said, the path from the cabins side is NOT wheelchair accessible. There’s a dirt road that says “authorized vehicles only”, but it’s pretty rough.
In terms of accessing it via the Holmes side, it’s wide and flat... but there aren’t any parking spaces there. I mean, at all - designated accessible or not.
The other comfort station we had access to during our stays - between Holmes and Lime Kiln campgrounds - had parking (no accessible spots)... but the comfort station is up a bit of a hill, and it’s just a rough, rocky, uneven path up there.
At the top of the path, there’s a little lip to get up onto the apron / sidewalk surrounding the comfort station. That comfort station only has one barrier-free shower - on the far side of the building.
The comfort station in the cabins area has both a barrier free washroom and a barrier free shower, with no barriers to get up to the building... aside from the fact there’s no parking spots at all.
The beach is not wheelchair accessible at all. For those who have mobility issues WITHOUT a wheelchair, I recommend accessing the beach via the boat launch / dog beach area.
April 2025 Update
It looks like they’re working on the beach accessibility.
The boardwalk platform thing closest to the comfort stations (left side, if you’re in the parking lot and looking towards the beach) has an extension ramp that’s since been built on it.
It’s barricaded off at the end, but that looks like it might be temporary. I’m assuming they’ll be finishing it off and adding a MobiMat at some point.
None of the paths from the sites that we saw were in any way wheelchair accessible, and most would be difficult for anyone using any kind of mobility aid.
There are other entry points, though. The one at the comfort station between Holmes Bay and the Cabin is probably your best bet.
The accessible section of the trail ends somewhere around the Gunn Point campground, but you can get some lovely views of the lake between the comfort station, and the point where the trail is less than wheelchair accessible.
The rest of the trails have varying degrees of accessibility - see the hiking section (below) for more details.
Pets
There’s a really nice dog beach, between the boat launch and the main beach.
You can access it via the boat launch area, the day use / picnic shelter parking, or the main beach (the far right of that parking lot).
There is no physical separation between the main beach and the dog beach, and dogs are required to be on leash when not in the water.
As a note: This park had a much higher than average number of really cute doggos.
More dogs than we’ve seen in a long time, and SO MUCH CUTE.
Parking
The sites all have PLENTY of parking, and there seems to be ample parking at the day use/picnic shelter and beach areas.
Less so right at the boat launch, but there’s a second parking lot kind of behind that one.
Miscellaneous
A few random things to note about Inverhuron Provincial Park:
Orientation
The beaches behind the Holmes Bay and Lime Kiln campgrounds are pretty much directly west facing.
Not so great if you’re looking for the Northern Lights, but fantastic for some glorious sunsets over Lake Huron. There are large sections of flat rock, great for pulling up a chair on summer nights!
The beach along Gunn Point varies from south west to south facing.
The Nuclear Power Plant
The park shares a border with the Bruce Nuclear Power Station, with a fence running along that part of the park.
Signs along the fence note that it’s private property... and patrolled by armed guards, complete with a silhouette image of one. Not the sort of thing I love seeing, but hey, it gets the point across.
There’s a public warning siren along the road to the cabins, and apparently two others within the park. They did not go off during our stay.
There WERE some weird noises coming from the plant during our first night in the park: it SOUNDED like there was a helicopter, and also someone yelling over a loudspeaker.
We didn’t see a helicopter, and honestly it kind of sounded like the sound of it was being broadcast over the same loudspeakers, rather than right there in reality.
Kind of bizarre when you’re trying to enjoy a sunset on the beach! It was surreal, felt like something out of a movie.
Anyway, there’s a whole column of information on the park map, addressing safety concerns and telling you what to do in the event of an emergency.
Campground Amenities & Info
Here’s some basic information about the park amenities:
Creature Comforts
There are 4 campground comfort stations - one on either end of the campground area, and one each between where the separate campgrounds meet.
There’s also one in the row of cabins, and another at the beach parking area.
Most seem to have shower facilities and flush toilets, and the two in the interior of the campground area (Between Holmes Bay and Lime Kiln, and between Lime Kiln and Gunn Point) also have laundry facilities.
The comfort stations and toilet buildings all seem to be relatively modern and well maintained.
Park Store
There’s a small park store in the main gate building. You can buy ice, wood, park souvenirs, ice cream, stuffed animals, etc.
We bought some wood and an ice cream sandwich.
The ice cream sandwich was good, but the wood was VERY wet. Extremely hard to light, and you could see and hear the water boiling out of it as the fire started.
We’ve heard - and experienced - that this is pretty common for wood at provincial parks, we just haven’t bought a lot of it!
Definitely going to have to start looking into those road side wood stands!
Visitor Centre
The park doesn’t have a set Visitor Center, but has educational signage and points of interest throughout the park.
Day Use Area
There’s a day use park that’s situated between the main beach parking lot, and the far end of the boat launch area - which has a playground.
We don’t usually see any of the nets set up at parks we’ve been to, but this one actually had a really nice volleyball net set up:
There’s also a large picnic shelter with a big wood / charcoal oven inside!
Rental Items
Inverhuron Provincial Park offers several different types of rentals and loans.
Personal Floatation devices (PFDs) are available to borrow at the Main Gate, and there’s also a tackle share program at the park.
Trailer storage is available on a rental basis during the operating season.
There WAS an extension cord loan service, but it’s been cancelled. Too bad, this is such a great idea at the parks that have it - and a lot of the pedestals at this park are pretty far from the sites!
Campground Details
The camping area of the park is divided into 3 campgrounds: Gunn Point Campground, Holmes Bay Campground, and Lime Kiln Campground.
We stayed in Holmes Bay - which is apparently a relatively new campground - on both of our stays at Inverhuron Provincial Park.
The other two campgrounds were not operating during our stay, so we don’t have a lot of information on them.
Gunn Point seems to be all electrical sites, and Lime Kiln seems to be a mix of hydro and non-electric sites, though.
Campsites
Anyway, every one of the sites in Holmes has electrical service, a picnic table, and a camp fire pit.
From what we could see, most - maybe all - of the sites were set back from the road with a fairly long drive, leading into a large open area - perfect for larger trailers!
The road through the campground is packed gravel, in decent shape, and pretty wide open - ALSO good news for bigger rigs.
I think all of the sites we saw seemed to have a relatively flat, gravel base for most/all of the camping area.
Anyway, generally not a TON of privacy.
The actual camping areas are more surrounded by trees than the driveways are, but you can mostly see clear through to the sites from the road - not so much site to site, though.
Also, note that the long drive ways mean the pedestals - which are along the road - tend to be a fair distance from the camping area. Bring extension cords!
The PATHS!
The really cool thing about the sites that back onto the Chain Trail - along the waters edge?
Most (maybe all, we didn’t check) have little trails leading from the back of the campsite, to the trail.
They all seem to be fairly narrow and well obscured - you can get a little view of the trail, but it’s not a wide open path.
Ours was one of the first things we noticed about our site - 256 - as we could see clear through to the water!
One little trail from our site to the Chain trail, then another trail down to the water, on the other side of the Chain Trail.
Really nice!
People... don’t do this.
Especially where this guy was on a bike, we were only a few campsites away from the main access point - it would have been very little effort for him NOT to be a tool.
It’s weird, rude, and kinda creepy to just make your way right through someone else’s entire campsite like that!
The Rustic Cabins
Nearby - but on a separate road off the main park road - there’s the camp cabin row.
They look pretty cute, and fairly private:
They’re a bit back off from the water - set back from the road - but across the road from the cabins, there’s an amazing private beach.
Its accessible via little trails from the road - they’re fairly frequently placed. Very nice - peaceful!
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Entertainment and Activity
For such a small park, there’s actually a fair amount of things to do! Here are our thoughts on the available activities, at the time of our visit.
Hiking
Though the website for Inverhuron Provincial Park only mentions one multi-use trail, there are actually 4 nature trails in the park.
They’re mostly relatively short and easy - we were able to do all 4 of them in the first 24 hours of our trip!
Here’s the breakdown:
Chain Trail
This is the one trail that’s actually mentioned on the park’s website - a 4 km long trail that circles most of the park and is rated easy.
We tackled this one over the course of two walks.
The first night, we took a walk from the trail out back of our campsite, down along the shores of Lake Huron, and back up onto the main road, near the boat launch.
For the most part, this was an easy walk, with wide, flat, well packed trails.
Once we got down around the south end of Gunn Point Campground, the trail got more rough:
These go down to a really rocky beach. Not really a swimming beach, but it was the perfect place to just take in some fresh air.
We saw a couple with their lawn chairs pulled out onto flat sections of rock, just chilling out - definitely liked their idea!
All told, it was about 2.75 km, and took us about an hour.
The next morning, Porter went for a jog on Chain trail, heading in the opposite direction as the night before.
This took him past the cabins, along the armed fence, and through a few different kinds of environment.
Overall, he enjoyed his run on the Chain Trail. As a nice, wide, mostly flat trail, it was perfect for a jog.
In terms of accessibility, we’d say most of the trail is at least somewhat wheelchair accessible - especially if you have an all terrain one. I could definitely do it in a boot, with a cane, etc.
I wasn’t having an AWFUL tendon day when I walked my part, but it wasn’t great either - and I didn’t have any problems with the trail itself.
The offshoot trails to the lake, though - those are definitely less accessible!
Maloney Trail
This is a relatively short trail - 1 km, ranked easy - BUT it’s an offshoot trail. You’ll have to walk either ½ km-ish (from the road, near the cemetery), or probably ~1 km, if you’re starting near the gate house.
So, expect it to be more like 2-3 km, depending on your starting point.
The main attraction of this trail is the Maloney Homestead - remains of some old agricultural land from the 1800s - more on that in a bit.
As for the trail itself, not quite as flat. It felt more like a rural driveway or logging road, moreso than a hiking trail.
Not wheelchair accessible, doable with a cane or boot - assuming it’s not too muddy at the time!
River Trail
The River Trail is the most challenging of the trails in Inverhuron Provincial Park, coming in at 3km of “Moderate to Difficult”.
I wasn’t having a great foot and knee day, and I would rank the first half (taking the loop clockwise) as moderate, the second half as easy.
The difficulty is basically just several large hills - there weren’t any obstructions to get over, etc.
I had to laugh a bit at the designation. Thinking back to the Agawa Rock Pictographs trail in Lake Superior Provincial Park, CLEARLY there’s wild variance in how trails are graded.
I’ll never understand how that was graded only moderate - that was seriously hardcore!
Anyway, this trail starts out at the parking lot for the beach, and is a straight shot to get to the trail loop, crossing over a cute bridge in the process.
If you go to the left - basically a U turn - when you get to the trail loop, you’ll be starting on the more difficult half - but it’s also the half with much better views.
This takes you through a young hardwood forest and along the Little Sauble River, with several outlooks along the way. You’ll pass the site of an old sawmill - there’s signage, but nothing left to actually see.
During certain times of year, you can see fish spawning right on the side of the trail in one spot!
We really enjoyed hearing the sound of the rushing water of the river, on this half of the hike.
While the first half was pretty covered, you’re in open sun for the easy part of the trail. This half was pretty meh in terms of view, so we didn’t end up taking any photos.
Anyway, in terms of accessibility:
If you’re doing the whole trail, it’s not wheelchair accessible, and I wouldn’t recommend doing it with any kind of mobility aid beyond an ankle brace.
If you’re doing the easy half only, it’s still PROBABLY not wheelchair accessible (on account of some of the sand / wonky trail near the beginning), but is absolutely doable with pretty much any other kind of mobility aid.
Tulip Trail
Tulip trail is a short walk out from the main gatehouse. It’s listed as a half km, easy trail - but it IS a straight shot, rather than a loop. So, 1 km return.
It’s named for the tulip trees along it - none of which were in bloom during our trip, unfortunately!
Had they been in bloom, it would have been more interesting. As it was, it was more like a connecting path, than a destination hike.
In terms of accessibility, this one was not wheelchair accessible.
The hills are rolling - and some are steep - so we wouldn’t recommend it in crutches, a cane might be difficult, and a boot would be doable - assuming it’s not too wet or muddy at the time.
Biking
The site says that there is one shared-use trail for cycling - we assume it means the Chain Trail.
In reality, 2 of the 4 trails are designated as being shared between cyclists and hikers. Maloney Trail and River Trail prohibit biking.
Interestingly enough, the River Trail (easy half) is the only trail where we saw anyone cycling!
Beyond the trails (described in the hiking section), cycling is also welcome on all roads in the park.
Swimming
While a big section of the Lake Huron shoreline bordering the park is very rocky, the main beach - in the day use area - is a beautiful sandy beach.
It wasn’t QUITE as nice as some of the other sandy beaches we’ve been to lately - there was a lot of seaweed, the whole length of it during our first stay, and it was pretty covered with driftwood on the second visit.
That said, the sand was really soft and mostly free of debris / garbage / big rocks, and the shallow waters were nice to wade in, once you made it past the seaweed.
There’s a small comfort station in the parking lot of the main beach - I think just washrooms and toilets.
... as mentioned earlier, though - they don’t actually give you ACCESS to the beach!
Birding, Wildlife, and Nature
Before I get into our usual observations about the woodland animals and birds we saw during our trip, we need to talk about Stu.
Stu the Ruffled Grouse
We first met Stu - a completely psychotic Ruffled Grouse - just a few minutes into our first drive through of the park.
Porter was driving, and exclaimed that a bird was flying with us, right outside of his window.
It was super cute, until he HIT THE CAR multiple times! Literally picked a fight with a moving vehicle, from behind.
We stopped for a minute to see what was up, and he played chicken with the car, charged it, then chased us up the road for a bit before flying at the back of the car and hitting us a few more times.
As we approached the boat launch, we saw a couple women walking in Stu’s general direction, and warned them. As it turns out, they’d already had a run in with that little bast— er, bird.
Someone from the park informed them that his name was Stu.
I’m guessing the staff has plenty of run ins with him - we saw him play chicken with a park vehicle, then fly after it and hit IT, too!
We didn’t see Stu on our second visit. Porter asked about him at the desk, but the park employee was new and didn’t know about him. Boo.
We DID almost hit a Ruffed Grouse on the way in, though - ran out in front of the RV, then STOPPED in front of the wheel.
If it wasn’t Stu, we figure his less-than-intelligent genes live on!
Birding
As has been the case with the few parks we’d been at, leading up to our first trip - all kind of in the same general area - we saw a few wild turkeys, a TON of Blue Jays, and some Chickadees.
We saw some kind of Merganser / Merganser-like duck out in the distance on the lake, as well as a loon, a mallard, some other kind of duck, and at least one Cormorant.
A couple of times, we got a quick glimpse of some kind of orange and white bird, but not a close enough look to be able to identify it.
I think we had been a bit too early for the spring migration. Boo.
Row 2: Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Long-Tailed Duck
Row 3: Merlin, Nashville Warbler, Northern Flicker
Row 4: Pine Warbler, Red-Breasted Merganser, Song Sparrow
Row 5: Turkey Vulture, White-Throated Sparrow, Yellow-Rumped Warbler
We’d been hoping to see one for more than a year, as they’d shown up on Audubon reports for parks we’d been staying at on multiple occasions.
During our April 2025 stay, there were at least 2 Merlins that liked to hang out right around / over our campsite, so we got to see them regularly.
At one point - down by the boat launch - we saw a Merlin chasing and attacking a Turkey Vulture. The size difference was *wild*.
I felt the spirit of Stu - we were standing in almost the exact same spot we were, when we watched him attack a park vehicle the year before, LOL.
Anyway - beyond the Merlin - we also heard and/or saw:
American Redstart, American Robin, Bald Eagle, Belted Kingfisher, Black-Capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Chipping Sparrow, Common Loon, Dark-Eyed Junco, Eastern Phoebe, Greater Scaup, Killdeer, Merlin, Nashville Warbler, Northern Flicker, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, Red-Breasted Merganser, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Ruffed Grouse, Song Sparrow, Turkey Vulture, White-Throated Sparrow, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Yellow Warbler.
Other Wildlife
For the bulk of our stay, the only non-bird wildlife we saw were squirrels and a rabbit.
On the last night of our stay, though... AMAZING.
We were just walking back from sitting by the lake watching the sunset, folding chairs under our arms.
As we made our way up the short path from the Chain Trail to our campsite, Porter stopped abruptly in front of me, and SQUEAKED.
He pointed - kind of at a loss for words - about 10 feet in front of him.
A few days ago at MacGregor was the first time he’d seen one in the wild, and that was from a distance and with no photographic evidence.
This guy waddled straight at him!
Knowing my husband, I started talking a bit louder when the little guy was only a few feet away, in case he didn’t see us.
I remembered that they have poor eyesight, and he likely had no idea my husband was right there.
My husband - AKA “Cat Jesus” and “Snow White” ABSOLUTELY would have tried to pet him if he’d gotten any closer, and I really didn’t want to end the night with a trip to the ER!
He ended up toddling off at that point, and we’re STILL talking about the encounter. Absolute highlight of the entire trip!
Butterflies
We did see a fair amount of butterflies out on the trails - especially the River Trail.
There were a few Red Admiral butterflies, a “Small Blue” butterfly, and something that we THINK might be a “Question Mark” butterfly. (Aptly named, apparently!)
No, we don’t know anything about butterflies - we image searched on Google to try and figure out what we were looking at!
Plants
Apparently Inverhuron’s diverse habitat nurtures some rare plants - among everything else - but I couldn’t tell you what they were, or if we saw them.
We DID see a lot more flowering plants at this park than we’ve seen in others, to date.
Starting out, we saw a few cherry bushes growing right out of the rocky beach - I recognized them immediately, but had to get Google to confirm. It was just such a WEIRD environment!
There was also a cherry tree on the campground road near our campsite, and some violets growing along the road nearby.
Of particular interest were the Red Trilliums / Purple Trilliums. We’ve seen the regular white ones before, this was a first for us.
Boating
Boating in the park seems pretty well limited to Lake Huron, and there’s a boat launch located near the day use area to access it.
While it’s not THE most decrepit launch we’ve seen on our adventures... it’s definitely not among the best, either. Kind run down looking, and with a fast drop off - from what we could see.
We did see a couple of small power boats launch while we were hanging out on the beach during our first trip. It seemed to go quickly for them, we didn’t hear any yelling or swearing... so it can’t be that bad!
The park recommends the nearby Saugeen River as being excellent for canoeing and kayaking.
Fishing
We saw both shore fishing and boat fishing during our first stay at Inverhuron, but none the second time around.
The boat launch allows for access to Lake Huron, and all the fishing opportunities it provides. Bass, Brown Trout, Lake Trout, Pickerel, Salmon, and Rainbow Trout are the main varieties fished for.
In terms of fishing from shore, we saw people dropping fishing lines off the end of the boat launch, as well as along the banks of Little Sauble River, when we went for our River Trail hike.
While signage on the trail only mentioned Rainbow and Brown Trout spawning in the river, bass and perch are also fished for from shore - not sure if that’s in the river, or off the boat launch!
Discovery Program
As with most (all?) Provincial Parks, Inverhuron PP runs a Discovery Program in July and August.
... and - as with most of the smaller parks - this one seems completely centered around the Discovery Activity Book.
As we camped off season - and saw no signage about the program - that’s all I can really say about it!
Niantic Games
There are several Ingress Portals / Pokestops & Gyms in the park, but not really any in the campgrounds themselves.
You’ll want to head to the beach and day use area to get your daily spins / hacks in.
Weirdly - though our reception was terrible in the campsite itself - we had no problems accessing the games anywhere it actually mattered - even along the furthest points of River Trail!
Misc
Scattered throughout the park are all kinds of little educational points of interest, with details about the history of whatever you’re looking at.
Here are a few of the ones we saw:
Maloney Homestead
The namesake* of the Maloney trail, this was the former homestead of a few families - Malloney, McGilles, and McIntosh - that cleared the land in the 1850s and probably farmed the area.
We didn’t see any specific information about them, just a sign that went over what would typically be involved with clearing a homestead.
The homestead itself is basically a hole in the ground, with a survey marker.
*The signage at the homestead has it spelled “Malloney”, but the map says “Maloney”. Not sure which is right!
The Educational Garden
This area isn’t mentioned on either the website or the map, so I’m not sure if there’s an official name for it or not.
It’s a little enclosed picnic area with fenced in garden displays, as well as informational signage.
The signs give information about archeological artifacts in the area, the concept of the “Three Sisters” gardening that Indigenous peoples in the area utilized in the past, and about a hibernaculum “snake haven” that was installed there.
Lime Kiln
Along the Chain Trail - near the south end of the Gunn Point - you can see the remnants of an old Lime Kiln.
The sign tells you that the kiln is immediately behind you, with a big heading that says “More than just a pile of rocks”.
It goes a bit into the history of it - with a diagram ... But I’m going to be honest here. Even with being told that it was directly behind us... I’m not sure if what we were looking at was actually the kiln.
It was definitely a pile of rocks, though!
The Pioneer Cemetery
This small cemetery is located near the entrance of the park - on your way out.
It’s a small, rustic cemetery with the graves of people who passed in the 1800s and early 1900s - for the most part.
There was at least one that was for someone who passed away about a decade ago - seemed weird and out of place.
It was interesting to see the headstones, dates, and some random information about those buried there... though it was sad to see how many had died so young.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, THAT PORCUPINE!
We’re sitting here discussing our final thoughts, and just talking about that encounter - it really did make our trip, and kind of overshadowed everything else.
We loved our campsite, the trails were nice, and we really enjoyed soaking up a few (early May!!!) rays on that sandy beach.
Having a fat little porcupine toddle right up to us, though? That was magical.
Anyway, we were already considering it to be on our “definitely visit again” list before the porcupine encounter, FWIW.
I love that we basically repeated the same sort of experience - in the same campsite - a year later, but with a Merlin. Really a stand-out memory!
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!
Arrowhead Provincial Park
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
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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Randy Hiltz
Nice post. You might be interested in knowing Inverhuron is a heritage park. There are many native North American and early pioneer sites within the park. The Natives used the park for thousands of years (at least 20 archology digs have been completed there) and over 19 pioneer sites are present. All those hills you encounterd were deep shifting sand dunes underneath . Beyond squirrels, chipmunks, racoons, rabbits and porcupines you will find many fox, bear, turkey, and coyotes sharing the ecosystem and living off each other.
The chain fence you encountered was installed in 1976. Before then, the area beyond was referred to as a "scenic drive" for campers (no camp sites there). It became an exclusion zone when the nuclear plant began heavy water processing. Likewise the "Rainbow Bridge" was built to provide an evacuation route for campers should there be a nuclear event.
Several incarnations of beach access and boardwalks existed over time. The ones you encountered once provided direct access to the beach but were washed away when Lake Huron reached high water levels in 2020.
There is so much more here. If you ever find your way back, let me know as I live the in village and would be happy to give you the tour that Ontario Parks has long forgotten.