Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park is known for its waterfall - the second-highest waterfalls in Ontario! - but also offers camping, hiking trails, and much more. Here's what you need to know!
Known as the “Niagara of the North”, it’s the second highest waterfall in Ontario.
I’d always known the falls as a tourist destination - much like Niagara Falls. I remember visiting it as a kid, en route between our home in Winnipeg, and my great aunt’s house, in Ottawa.
We’d start out in Northwest Ontario, and at some point we’d go to “the pee falls” (I’m sorry! It was VERY yellow as a kid, it made an impression!), then check out Lake Superior, and continue through Northern Ontario.
It was very much a “stop, look, stretch your legs” kind of thing. I had NO idea that Kakabeka Provincial Park also housed a campground, and extended pretty far beyond the parking lot I’d been to many times.
It was nice to have more time there, to see the falls at different times of day, check out the surrounding areas, trails, etc.
Also, it made for a nice short drive day to Quetico. Last year, we drove from Sleeping Giant Provincial Park to Quetico in one day - it was a bit much.
So, Kakebeka Falls was a great place to break up that drive day!
Anyway, LOTS to talk about, so let’s get to it.
Just a couple notes first:
1. If you’re looking at visiting Kakabeka Falls as a tourist destination - rather than as a campground - check out my Kakabeka Falls post. It’ll be more what you’re looking for.
2. Even after whittling down our photo pile to almost nothing, we STILL had too many for this post. So, be sure to keep going at the end - we posted all the extras there!
The Basics:
Campground Name: Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park
Address: Box 252, 4853 Hwy 11/17 Kakabeka Falls, ON, ON P0T 1W0
Website: https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/kakabekafalls/
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 to December 31, 2025 (Day Use), May 9, 2025 to October 14, 2025 (Camping)
Logistics
Some basic information to help you plan your stay at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park:
Registration and Check In
We had booked our trip 5 months before our stay, right at 7 am - to ensure we got a spot. As it turned out, that was totally unnecessary - the campground was not very busy at all.
Not only that, but we managed to move our stay up by 2 days - a couple days ahead of time - and had no problem at all... Even though our new dates put us squarely over a weekend.
Caveat: This was in September. I’d imagine it’s significantly busier in the summertime.
Maps and Signage
Oof. Kakabeka Falls is not a park that is heavily invested in helping you find your way around it.
Park Map
So. We’ve seen some pretty garbage maps in campgrounds, from wildly inaccurate ones, to those just lacking half the information needed, etc.
The park map we were handed at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park is *hands down* the worst I’ve seen to date.
It was a low quality photocopy of a full colour map:
Sure, things happen... but at least run to a print shop and get some colour copies for your guests after you “run out” of the real ones.
That whole quibble aside... Doing a low quality, black and white photocopy is bad enough - especially when there is a lot of colour-coded information on the original.
The black and white version is almost completely incomprehensible - an absolute mess of a map. Add that on to the signage issues (more on that in a minute)?
It’s frustrating!
I highly recommend printing off a couple - full colour - copies of their PDF map, before your stay. You shouldn’t HAVE to, but it’ll make things more pleasant.
Signage
This is another example of a park where the TYPE of signage is perfectly fine - when and where is actually exists.
The signage that IS there is nicely sized, clear, concise, high contrast... no complaints.
For instance:
1. Driving towards the Whispering Hills Campground - where we stayed - There was NO signage pointing where to turn off the main road, for the campground. (In either direction). The earlier two campgrounds do have a little signage pointing you in the general direction, but the actual mess of roads into/out of aren’t really labeled, so you kind of have to guess.
2. Coming from the Campground towards the Visitor Centre / Day use area, there’s no signage telling you to turn off for that whole area.
3. There’s no signage from ANY direction pointing down the road to the beach and dog exercise area. You just have to drive down the unmarked road near the gatehouse -- it looks like a private/maintenance road.
4. On that road, there’s a sign that points in the general direction of the dog area, and you continue onto a driving loop... with a bunch of “No Trespass” signs surrounding it. As it turns out, the dog park was slightly before the parking loop. It just wasn’t very clear, and suddenly you find yourself in very unfriendly feeling territory!
Seriously, just put a few more signs out!
Waste & Water Services
The Trailer Sanitation Station is at the far end of the campground road, just past the Whispering Hills Campground. Unlike the campground itself, there IS a sign telling you where to go for this section!
It’s set up as a fairly big loop, starting with a dumping platform: 1 hose on a center island between 2 lanes, with a sewer platform on either side.
On the other side of the loop, there’s a center island between the two lanes, this time with two fill hoses.
At the time of our visit, only one of the two had a threaded connection - it looked like the end of the hose had broken off the other at some point, and just never been fixed.
Beyond the trailer sanitation area, there are also campsite cleaning stations (at least 2 that we happened across - they aren’t on the map), but they didn’t have any equipment on them when we visited, so ... not much to tell you.
There are also two garbage disposal areas - one across from the trailer sanitation station, and one at the entrance to the Fern’s Edge campground.
Connectivity
Cellphone reception was generally pretty bad.
We had essentially no connection in the campground areas - enough that the odd notification would come through, without actually being able to load whatever you go t the notification from!
There was a bit of reception in the area of the falls, though - to some degree in the parking lots for the Visitor Centre and Falls, but more so out on the boardwalk itself.
Accessibility
The Whispering Hills Campground has a barrier-free comfort station. Two electrical campsites are also barrier-free.
The beach area is mostly pretty accessible - two accessible parking spots, one on either side of a wide, well-packed, edged trail that leads along the playground to the main picnic area oevrlooking the beach.
There’s a little offshoot to an accessible vault toilet there, as well. (None of this is mentioned on the park’s website or map, by the way!)
The beach itself isn’t wheelchair accessible, though.
The views on the accessible parts aren’t as good / close as the staired sections, but you can still get a pretty good view of the falls.
The Mountain Portage Trail is wheelchair accessible, as are the lookouts on that trail - no bypasses needed.
The Village trail has a very short section at the beginning - you can see it right from the parking lot - that is a bit more steep and rough, getting up to the actual trail. Beyond that, it’s all the flat, well packed, wheelchair accessible kind of trail.
The Little Falls Trail isn’t really suitable for anyone requiring any kind of mobility aid, or with mobility issues. Very steep and rugged.
Pets
While it’s not listed on the website, there’s a leash free dog beach, just past the swimming beach.
It’s a short walk from the parking lot, and pretty cute!
Dogs are allowed in the grassy area of the main beach, just not down on the sand or in the water there.
Aside from that, dogs are supposed to be leashed at all times, picked up after, and not be allowed to harass other campers or animals.
Parking
There seems to be PLENTY of parking throughout the park, especially given that it’s a relatively small campground.
Along the road heading to the beach area, there’s a ton of parking - far more than the beach and related areas could really even support, much less actually require.
Miscellaneous
While you’ll be able to see the stars, expect a bit of light pollution from Thunder Bay.
Sunrise is best viewed from the campground side of the falls - especially from the corner closest to the bridge.
Sunset is best viewed from the main parking lot on the other side of the falls.
Theoretically, you can get a north-facing view of the falls via the platform / boardwalk close to the Visitor Centre, but trying to get the falls in a photo of the Northern Lights would be *difficult* given the overall layout.
Campground Amenities & Info
Here’s some basic information to help you plan your stay at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park:
Creature Comforts
There are two comfort stations in Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, though the park website only mentions on - in the Whispering Hills Campground.
To be fair, that one is much better appointed than the other one, which is kind of sandwiches between the Fern’s Edge Campground and the Riverside Campground.
The Whispering Hills comfort station is barrier free, and has flush toilets, showers, and laundry facilities.
The other one seems to just be a building with flush toilets.
Beyond that, there are a few vault toilets throughout the campgrounds.
The beach has a small, 2 stall vault toilet / changerooms building, which was absolutely pristine during our visit.
Park Store
There’s a really cute gift shop located in the Visitor Centre, which I checked out as Porter did the Little Falls Trail.
I didn’t have my credit cards with me, or a little sitting skunk stuffed animal would definitely have been coming home with us. SUPER cute!
Beyond that, there’s a pretty big selection of parks souvenirs and such available at the gatehouse as well.
Visitor Centre
The Visitor Centre is located on the south side of the falls, next to the picnic area.
It’s only open from the May long weekend until the Thanksgiving Weekend, but our trip fell during that time, so I checked it out.
It’s cute - lots of information (and a little library!) packed into a small area.
It’s not one of the museum presentation types of Visitor Centres, but it’s cozy and informative.
Day Use Area
The day-use area at Kakabeka Falls is actually kind of spotty and sprawling.
There’s a bit of day use area as you enter the park, before crossing the bridge to the other side of the falls:
There’s a main picnic area near the visitor center, with a small picnic shelter and scattered picnic tables in a grassy area along the boardwalk:
Finally, the beach itself has even more picnic areas, including another small picnic shelter.
Campsite Details
There are 3 campgrounds at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park: Fern’s Edge Campground, Riverside Campground, and Whispering Hells Campground.
Fern’s Edge and Riverside are more rustic - the roads aren’t in great shape, none of the campsites have electrical hookups, the comfort station shared by these two campgrounds only has showers and toilets... etc.
There are a few pull-through sites in this area, but in general the campsites are pretty rough and uneven.
There’s even a playground near the comfort station - you have to go to the end of the road and walk down a short trail to get there.
Anyway, overall, a nicer place to stay than the other campgrounds, IMHO.
... and that’s where I booked!
Our site was nice enough. Decent privacy, big enough for our needs, etc. Nothing special, but got the job done - aside from cell reception, anyway!
In general, that’s how the campsites were, though. Nothing stunning, but also nothing actually offensive.
Group Camping
There are a few group campsites at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park.
While the site mentions 3 groups sites “isolated from the other campgrounds”, this is actually a set of 4 campsites. It’s located at the end of a road that extends past the Whispering Hills Campground - probably 1.5 - 2 km further.
There’s also a 5th group campsite located near the Visitor Centre. You can see the location on the reservations map, but the signage around the visitor center is, again, lacking.
Anyway, apparently each of the group sites will accommodate up to 50 people.
Share the Love!If you’ve made one of our recipes, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you post it to Bluesky, be sure to tag us - @2NerdsInATruck, or you can tag us on TikTok, if you’re posting video. We're also on Pinterest, so you can save all your favourite recipes and park reviews to your own boards! Also, be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of our nonsense. Well, the published nonsense, anyway! |
Entertainment and Activity
Beyond looking at the waterfall, there are a lot of activity options at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park:
Hiking
There is a weird variety of nature trails in this park, and they run the gamut of difficulty and accessibility.
Two of the trails are wheelchair accessible (for the most part, anyway), and one is part of the historic portage around the falls, used by fur traders and other early travelers in the area.
Also: One is listed on the map - but not the website - and two of them are not maintained in the summer, and really intended more for the cross country skiers in the off season.
Here’s some more detailed information on each of the Kakabeka Falls hiking trails:
Village Trail - 500 metres / 1 km, Easy
This is the trail not detailed on the website, but is represented on the park map. It’s a linear trail that starts at the east end of the main parking lot and sort of follows the highway to a point near the Village of Kakabeka Falls.
Porter did this one by himself, so I’ll let him tell you all about it:
“The Village Trail is wide, well-packed gravel with timber on each side and slight sloping.
This makes this an easy trail, which leads to the village of Kakabeka Falls.
It follows along the highway for a bit, then ends at a road at the power plant. A short distance away are two gas stations, so this is a good path to take when you are looking for a convenience store.
There isn't much in the way of a view on this trail, I only recommend it if you're looking to go to town.”
Boardwalk Trail - 750 metres / 1.5 km, Easy
This is the trail I’m most familiar with, as I’ve visited it - for the viewing platforms - several times over the years.
I don’t know if the whole trail was in place ~30 years ago when I was a kid, but I clearly remember the same amazing views of the falls from way back then.
Anyway, this trail is MOSTLY wheelchair accessible, and allows for excellent views of the falls on both sides of the river.
The main parking lot has several different platforms, allowing you to view the falls from several different angles, while there’s basically one main deck - and a walkway- on the campground side of the river.
A pedestrian bridge between the two areas takes you over the Kaministiquia River (Or “Kam River”), for a view from the top of the falls.
Mountain Portage Trail - 1.25 km, Easy
This is a cute little trail that starts out from the Visitor Centre parking lot, and is an easy 1.25 km loop.
The only fully wheelchair accessible trail in the park, this one follows part of a historic route of the voyageurs. It has a couple of platforms that overlook the river valley.
Overall, a nice walk through the woods.
Poplar Point Trail - 4 km, Moderate
Porter did this trail as a run, so I’ll let him describe it:
“Poplar Point Trail is basically a dirt road - two ruts running through the forest. It looks like it allows vehicle traffic, since there's a sign saying that trailers and RVs are not recommended.
Note: I don't recommend any vehicle besides a truck, if you're doing to drive it. Several sections have very deep ruts, our car would definitely get high-centered.
In terms of running, some sections are also quite steep, but just for short distances.
I'm surprised by the name, because you'd expect the trail to have mostly Poplar trees, right?
Well most noteworthy to me are the Birch trees - they could be Aspen, they're very similar when you’re running past!
On the East side of the loop you have the option of continuing on to another trail, which is longer and starts out pretty steep. That trail is gated off to disallow vehicles.
Skipping this, the trail heads off to the other side of the campground.
I opted to do the trail as a run, going from one end to the other, then doubling back instead of going through the campground to finish the loop. It was a great trail for a run, as there are very few tripping obstructions.
Doing this as a double-C route made it a 6.15km trail for me.”
Little Falls Trail - 2.5 km, Moderate to Difficult
This is the other trail Porter did by himself, so here’s what he had to say about it:
“From the very start you can tell this is a challenging trail, as it starts with a moderate decline on a rough path.
It quickly meets a split, allowing you to travel clockwise or counter-clockwise.
I recommend going taking the right, counter-clockwise path.”
In general, though, it’s a nice hike through varied surroundings, rocky and hilly in areas.
When I finally reached Little Falls I understood how it got its name. Wow, that is little, indeed!”
I took a quick break to look for a Pileated Woodpecker that screamed nearby, but couldn't find it. The trail continues downstream a short distance where it meets the main river.
I didn't realize this was the bottom of the loop, so I spent a few minutes trying to see where the path would cross the little stream before I realized the trail actually continues back upstream along the river.
Multiple outlooks provide a good view of the river.”
Near the end of this route is that extreme hill that I mentioned earlier. I'm glad the ground was dry, I'd hate to try this when it's muddy.
After that wild ascent, the loop meets back up where you started, then you get the easy trek through the Mountain Portage Trail to get back to the parking lot.
At that point, Marie asked me about the million-year-old fossils she’d read existed at the bottom of the falls.
I was so distracted by the Pileated Woodpecker and Bald Eagle when I was along the river bank, that I had completely forgotten about the fossils!”
Beaver Meadows Trail - 4.5 km, Moderate
This trail is one of two interconnecting loops of trail that are accessed via the Poplar Point Trail.
Both are intended as cross-country ski trails, and are groomed in the winter... but not maintained in the summer. They’re not even included on the trail map for the park.
River Terrace Trail - 3.5 km, Moderate
The other of the interconnecting ski trails, this one has two lookouts over the Kaministiquia River valley.
Biking
The Poplar Point Trail - see the hiking section for details - is a mixed use trail that allows cycling.
Beyond that, campers are welcome to bike on the roads throughout Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, most of which are paved and in decent condition.
Swimming
Kakabeka Falls Beach is a small beach, but super cute - see the day use section for more photos of this area.
Anyway, it’s upstream of the falls - which seems a bit weird when you think about it - but it’s far enough away that you can’t see it, can barely hear it, and the water is quite still.
That said - a little further upstream is the dog beach, and THAT had a giant warning sign about sirens going off when the water level changes suddenly, so I’m not quite sure why we didn’t see anything like that at the swimming beach.
It’s not THAT far away, and if there’s a risk of water level changes at the dog beach presumably being life threatening, you’d think that would absolutely apply at the swimming beach, which is even closer to the falls.
Actually, now that I look it up, the park’s website specifies that the water levels on Kaministiquia River are controlled by Ontario Hydro, can fluctuate wildly, and that when the volumetric flow of the river exceeds 50 cubic meters/second, you’re prohibited from entering the river at the beach.
There was no signage to that effect, though - weird.
Anyway, nice sandy beach, SUPER well maintained at the time of our visit. The washroom building at this beach isn’t listed on the map, but it is straight up the most pristine vault toilet I have ever seen.
Birding, Wildlife, and Nature
The only birds mentioned on the parks website are the bald eagles that like to hang out in the gorge - and Porter saw one of those on his Little Falls hike.
Other than that, we saw a TON of pigeons around the falls - they seemed to be nesting in the cliffs - and a bunch of Blue Jays at our campsite.
Overall, we saw: American Crow, American Robin, Bald Eagle, Black-Capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Canada Goose, Common Raven, Golden-Crowned Kinglet, Hairy Woodpecker, Pigeon, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, White-Throated Sparrow.
... and we heard: Pileated Woodpecker.
Boating
We didn’t really see any opportunities for boating at Kakabeka Falls.
The area near the dog beach would make for a nice kayaking spot, but - given the signage about water levels changing rapidly (there’s a siren for that!), I get the feeling that they probably don’t want people paddling there.
Fishing
Fishing doesn’t seem to be much of a thing at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park.
Apparently it was, historically - until the power generating plant downstream closed off access to that area of the Kam River.
You could probably fish from the shore at the end of Little Falls Trail, but that sounds like a lot of hassle.
Discovery Program
We visited during the off season, so the Discovery Programming had already wrapped up for the season.
It sounds like the park mostly does the Exploration Station / Discovery Activity Book thing; I couldn’t find any information about presentations beyond that.
Weirdly, the amphitheatre isn’t on the map at all - it’s on the back of the Visitor Center.
Winter Activities
While the campground is closed during the winter, the park itself is actually open year-round for winter activities.
There are over 15 km of groomed cross-country skiing trails - both classic and skate ski lanes - for beginner and intermediate skiers.
The Mountain Portage Trail becomes a snowshoeing trail in the winter, and apparently you can even snow shoe on Little Falls Trail.
Note: There’s a different entrance for skiing and snowshoeing, as the campground itself is closed during the winter. You can access that gate - with parking and fee stations - via Luckens Road.
Finally: The falls look great when they freeze! I’ve seen winter photos, but never seem to be in the area at that time of year... so I’m not sure what the boardwalk situation is like in the winter.
Niantic Games
There are several gyms / Pokestops / Ingress Portals through the park - especially in the area near the falls - but cell reception is incredibly spotty.
You may or may not be able to get your games to load, and if so... they may or may not actually work!
Your best bet for game play - in my experience - is in the main parking lot. Higher concentration of game features, plus a slightly better chance of actually having some degree of connectivity.
Final Thoughts
This is a nice enough campground. I know that sounds negative, but I guess it is what it is - it’s a campground tacked onto a “Capital A” *ATTRACTION*.
Were it not for the falls, the campground itself... is nice enough. Not really a destination itself, but generally non-offensive*, and conveniently located enough to be a good stopover point.
The trails are nice enough, but again - not really a destination themselves.
The said, we really do enjoy the falls, and it IS really convenient - so we’ll definitely be back.
* Except for the signage and map issues. Good lord, Ontario Parks... you could definitely do a whole lot better on this front, and it wouldn’t take a lot of cost or effort!!
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!
Agawa Bay Campground, Lake Superior Provincial Park
Arrowhead Provincial Park
Awenda Provincial Park
Balsam Lake Provincial Park
Bass Lake Provincial Park
Bon Echo Provincial Park
Bonnechere Provincial Park
Bronte Creek Provincial Park
Canisbay Lake, Algonquin Provincial Park
Chutes Provincial Park
Darlington Provincial Park
Driftwood Provincial Park
Earl Rowe Provincial Park
Emily Provincial Park
Fairbank Provincial Park
Ferris Provincial Park
Grundy Lake Provincial Park
Inverhuron Provincial Park
Killbear Provincial Park
Long Point Provincial Park
MacGregor Point Provincial Park
MacLeod Provincial Park
Mara Provincial Park
McRae Point Provincial Park
Neys Provincial Park
Pancake Bay Provincial Park
Pinery Provincial Park
Point Farms Provincial Park
Port Burwell Provincial Park
Quetico Provincial Park
Rabbit Blanket Lake, Lake Superior Provincial Park
Rainbow Falls 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
Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park
Turkey Point Provincial Park
Wheatley Provincial Park
White Lake 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! |
Leave a Reply