Rock Point Provincial Park

Located on the shores of Lake Erie - in Haldimand County - Rock Point Provincial Park is very close to home for us. It was about an hour drive from our home in Hamilton.

It’s also a park that I’ve been looking forward to seeing for a WHILE now - it has a shorter season than some, and we weren’t able to fit it in last year.

I’m always a sucker for a nice hike and a great view, but Rock Point has a unique draw:

FOSSILS!!!!

The park is situated on an area that was once an ancient coral reef, and the park is known as a fantastic place to look for fossils.

LOOK AT, mind you - not keep.

As with everything else on Provincial Park land, you’re not allowed to take any of it home. Just a heads up.

Anyway, spending a day - or 3! - walking amongst a plethora of *very* visual representation of life from 350 million+ years ago is absolutely our idea of a good time.

Spoilers: our barely-informed ideas of what fossil hunting at Rock Point PP would entail in NO WAY lived up to the reality of it.

Loads to talk about - fossils and otherwise - so let’s get to it!

The Basics:

Campground Name: Rock Point Provincial Park
Address: 215 Niece Rd Dunnville, ON N1A 2X5
Website: Rock Point Provincial Park
Price Ontario Provincial Parks uses a pricing matrix across all their parks. See 2023 Camping Fees for more details.
Reservations: Ontario Parks Reservations

Logistics

Registration and Check In

As always, booking online was quick and easy.

Because we stayed early in the season - arriving on the Sunday of their opening weekend - we managed to avoid the “Hunger Games” booking bloodbath that tends to happen when booking summer stays.

Check in was quick, easy, and super friendly - as always.

Maps and Signage

Park Map

So, some good and bad with this. Overall, the map is pretty good - a 2 sided page with an overall map and a campground map.

The maps are definitely lacking some important details - like where the entry points to the beach are.

None of the stairs locations are indicated - so, when we were down exploring the fossils area, we weren’t even sure if there WERE any more stairs, much less where they may be!

Secondly, the trail situation is a mess. The park site mentions a 2km trail and a 0.5 km dog exercise trail... but they’re not indicated on the map. Well, at least they’re not LABELED on the map.

The map has trails marked throughout the campgrounds and day use area, all with the same green dotted line.

There’s definitely more than 2.5 km marked, and - in theory - the loop that goes around the day use area and group campgrounds could be the 2 km one.

... except that the description for the trail mentions the lookout that’s nowhere near that loop.

I think it would have been more helpful if they had just said “XX km of trails”.

On the upside though, this is the first campground we’ve seen that has a big custom shaded area labeled as “Fossils”, and that’s just cool!

Signage

The signage here is hit and miss.

The signs themselves are great - in good condition, high contrast, easy to read.

In the area where the roads converge near the front office, it’s a bit difficult to tell which way the campgrounds are, coming from one of the directions (I forget which).

Also, the signs for the camping areas are all mostly pointed towards the front of the park. We drove past the entry to our loop on our drive through, because there was no signage facing the direction we were coming from.

Services

As with the vast majority of provincial park campgrounds, Rock Point doesn’t have water or sewer hookups at the sites themselves, so there are water taps throughout the camping areas, and a “poop loop” near the front of the park.

It has two dump platforms, then 2 fill platforms - no bypass lanes.

It’s also in a bit of a weird location - you have to turn off the main road, headed towards the day use area. Not super far out of the way or anything, just an odd choice.

Connectivity

If you’re looking for a break from your phone’s notifications, this is the park for you!

If you - like us - need connectivity because you work while you’re camping, you’ll want to plan ahead here. Cell phone reception was terrible to non-existent pretty much everywhere in the park.

We were able to get a bit of signal in SOME places down on the beach, but it was hit and miss.

It’s about a 10-15 minute drive to Dunnville, so we just planned around driving into town for daily uploading, etc.

Not the most convenient, but not the end of the world.

Accessibility

Rock Point Provincial Park offers barrier free access in the comfort stations (all of them), as well as at the park office and the park store. The park store had nice wide aisles, relatively low shelves, etc.

... but that’s pretty much where the accessibility ends.

There was no wheelchair accessible way down onto the beach, and the few stairs that we saw were all very steep with very narrow footing.

A few had really rough, steep, and muddy hills to go down, just to get to the stairs - I definitely wouldn’t have been able to get down to the beach, if I was in a walking boot during our stay.

The main walking trail along the water is *probably* wheelchair accessible-ish. It’s flat, mostly relatively wide... it can just be a little rustic to actually get onto that trail.

You can get a decent view of the water from the trail, but if you’re a wheelchair user... you won’t have access to any of the attractions, like the lookout tower (stairs), the fossils, etc.

That said, all of that is depending on the weather - parts of the trail were far too muddy to attempt.

I was having a good enough tendon day on the first day of our trip to get down to the fossils area, and I’m glad for it!

If I had to use any kind of mobility aid during our stay, I would have been mostly stuck in the camper, while my husband went looking at fossils without me!

Even our campsite was pretty inaccessible - very swampy and uneven.

So... definitely not the most accessible provincial park we’ve been to!

Pets

There is a small, rocky pet beach at the far end of the day use area - they’re prohibited on the rest of the main beach area.

There’s supposed to be a 0.5 km dog exercise trail, but it’s not marked on the map - not sure where it is!

Beyond that, dogs are expected to be leashed at all times, picked up after, and prevented from making excessive noise or bothering other campers.

Parking

For the size of the store, day use and beach areas, there seems to be plenty of parking - aside from the furthest lot, for the dog beach.

Not much / any parking space there - it almost seems like more of a driving loop, than a parking lot?

Anyway, this is the first campground we’ve seen that specifies parking limits on the posts at each site.

Every one that I noticed said 2 cars was the limit in terms of parking at the sites.

Miscellaneous

During our stay, the park was REALLY swampy. Our campsite was swampy - and I smelled mold as we pulled in - the hiking trail was incredibly muddy in places (to the point of not being passable), etc.

We hope it’s just a matter of seasonality, but the types of vegetation around some of the camp sites - especially between Niece and Kinsey campgrounds - suggests this may be more of a wetland camping situation.

The roads themselves were in good condition, though. Maybe not the widest, but mostly flat and well-maintained, packed gravel.

As a caveat: We camped opening weekend.

Campground Amenities & Info

Here’s some basic information about the amenities at Rock Point Provincial Park:

Creature Comforts

There are 3 comfort stations in the camping area: One in the Kinsey Campground, one in between Niece Campground and Minor Campground, and one in Lookout Campground.

All 3 have showers and flush toilets, and the first two have laundry facilities (The comfort station in the Lookout campground apparently does not).

Beyond that, there are outhouses / vault toilets throughout the park, and what looks to be a shower building in the day use area.

(It was far too cold and rainy to use the beach, during our stay!)

Park Store

It’s been a while since we’ve been to an Ontario Parks store that was separate from the main office, but the one at Rock Point is cute!

It has all the basic camping items you want, as well as ice, firewood, some basic groceries and snacks, and souvenirs, like you’d expect.

... but it also has a small ice cream shop / canteen type set up!

The kitchen was closed for hot foods when we went, but Porter ordered a Blueberry Cheesecake ice cream cone. The portion was generous and the ice cream was fantastic!

There was a really decent selection of ice cream flavours, too.

Anyway, they also rent bikes and BBQs out of the camp store.

Visitor Centre

There is no visitor center at Rock Point, which seems a bit weird.

We were talking about it when we were out looking at the fossils. Given the WILD number and variety we were seeing, we figured there must have been some amazing specimens found at some point.

You’d think they’d house them in a visitor centre type setup, to protect them?

We don’t usually notice the absence of a visitor centre, like we did here.

It really seemed like a missed opportunity - I would have loved the chance to learn more about the prehistoric coral reef that had been there, and about the fossils we were seeing.

Day Use Area

There’s a pretty large day use area stretching along the shoreline in the west side of the park.

There’s a large picnic shelter available for reservations, as well as a bunch of picnic tables through the area - and gas BBQs can be rented from the nearby camp store.

There was a pretty modern looking playground in the area - nicer than the ones in the campgrounds - and access to the beach, as well.

During our stay, though - it was really swampy.

There weren’t any paths across the field to get to the beach, playground, or picnic shelter... and the field was pretty flooded in spots.

Also of note:

Just outside of the first parking lot - the one with the park store - there was a baseball field.

I always wonder how much use the baseball and volleyball areas in provincial parks get - this one was pretty swampy as well.

Campsite Details

Camping at Rock Point is divided into 4 areas: Kinsey Campground, Lookout Campground, Minor Campground, and Niece Campground.

We stayed in the Niece campground, and the Lookout campground was blockaded off during our stay.

Kinsey and Niece are electrical campgrounds, open to everything from tents to large trailers. The sites in Minor and Lookout are smaller, non-electric, and cater to tents and small trailers.

All of the campgrounds have relatively easy access to the main waterfront trail through the park. Also, Kinsey and Lookout campgrounds both have playgrounds:

There are also three group campsites, located over at the other end of the park, near the day use area.

Each can fit 35-40 people, has a fire pit and picnic tables, and are close to a building with flush toilets.

Our Campsite

So.

Apparently I missed the note “conditions: Poor drainage” when booking - just noticed it now, as we’re writing the review. Whoops.

I don’t feel like going through all of the campsites on the reservation page to see if they’re all marked that way - it’s definitely NOT just our campsite though - the roads were swampy, the day use and trail areas were swampy, etc.

Anyway.

This was our campsite - in the Niece Campground - taken on the first day of our stay - it only got more flooded from there:

Interestingly, we didn’t see any tent campers during our stay. We didn’t go LOOKING for them, mind you - so maybe there were some... but we definitely didn’t see any - even when walking through the Minor Campground on the way back from the lookout point.

Might have something to do with the drainage issues - it’s just weird to not see any tents, you know?

We haven’t really camped anywhere I’d describe as swampy before, though... so maybe this is normal?

Entertainment and Activity

For such a small park, there’s actually a fair amount to keep you entertained - especially if you’re a couple of nerds 🙂

Fossils!!

Leading up to this trip, I was excited about the idea of looking for fossils.

A large section of the shoreline is just LOADED with fossils of a coral reef dating back to the Devonian Period- 419 million to 358 million years ago

Before arriving, I was under the impression that the “limestone shelf” that the fossils were located on was basically a wall of rock along the shore, that you could walk along and look at.

NOPE.

It’s actually a large section of shore where the ground you’re walking on is where the fossils are.

Let me tell you, nothing can prepare you for walking on rock and just being surrounded by fossils. It was absolutely wild!

We’ve been on beaches with fossils before, hunting to find the odd one.

This is NOT that.

Once you get into the fossils area a bit, you’d be hard pressed to find a rock that DOESN’T have some sort of fossil on it.

Sections of the shore appear to be beach, but they’re millions and millions of tiny shells! I’ve never seen so many shells in my life.

Anyway...

We found that the fossils closer to the swimming beach were a bit fewer and further between, and maybe not as clear as some... but the further in we walked, the bigger, more plentiful, and more spectacular the specimens seemed to get.

As a Word of Advice:

When the sun is directly overhead, it can wash out the detail of the fossils a bit - which may have contributed to our “They looked better near the end of the walk” experience.

As the sun comes down a little - late afternoon, early evening - the shadows it provides really makes the texture of the fossils POP!

See the end of this post for a few more of our favourite photos of the fossils. It was hard to narrow them down from the *hundreds* we took!

Seriously, we could spend *days* out there. What an amazing experience!

Hiking

The Rock Point Provincial Park website mentions two hiking trails - the Woodlot Trail as being 2 km long, and a Pet Exercise Trail, at 0.5.

Neither are marked on the park map, and the amount of trail on the map is definitely more than 2.5 km total, so you’re going to want to freestyle your walk a bit.

The Woodlot Trail is at least partially the trail along / around the Lookout Campground, and it’s the walking trail you can use to get to the Fossils area.

It takes you through Oak Savanna and Carolinian Forest, as well as wetland - VERY wet land.

Part of the trail was so muddy (between the lookout and the Minor Campground - that we had to double back to the lookout and use a boardwalk to cross over to the actual camp ground.

The parts of the trail that weren’t flooded out were all relatively easy to walk - flat, well packed gravel, fairly wide trail.

Each of the campgrounds have little connector trails that meet up with the main walking trail that goes along a cliff overlooking the water’s edge.

Every so often, you’ll come across stairs that can take you down to the actual beach.

Towards the far end of the Lookout Campground, you’ll come to the scenic lookout - a big wooden structure with a lot of stairs, ending up at a viewing platform overlooking Lake Erie.

It’s a nice enough view, but honestly - some of the open areas along the trail have much better views!

Swimming

There’s a 1 km long beach underneath the sand dunes, accessible via several staircases along the main walking trail through the park.

Not a really sandy beach, not really a rocky beach - more of a pebble beach.

It was too cold and rainy during our stay to really venture out onto the beach, but if it’s anything like the fossils area of the beach, I’d definitely recommend using swim shoes.

Broken shells are no joke to step on!

Anyway, there are no buoy lines, and - like most/all provincial parks - no lifeguards.

Note: The north shore of Lake Erie is known to have dangerous currents, undertow, and riptides at times.

Be really careful when swimming - especially on windy days - know the signs of dangerous currents, and have a good idea of what do to if you encounter them!

Birding, Wildlife, and Nature

This park is a nature lovers dream. They’ve recorded over 260 bird species in the park!

It was a stand out for us for a few reasons:

1. SO MANY YELLOW WARBLERS! They were *everywhere*!

As a note, they were very difficult to photograph - the young leaves on the trees are very yellowish at the moment, and the birds blend in.

2. We saw four “new to us” birds, which is always fun.

The lack of internet made it a bit difficult for us to Google what we were looking at for a few of them, but we eventually figured out that one batch of birds were Killdeer, and a couple that we saw on the trail were White Crowned Sparrows, and the weird one out back of our campsite - that sounded like R2-D2 - was a Grey Catbird.

We saw a few Baltmore Orioles, but knew what they were - we've been hoping to see one for a WHILE!

3. There were SO many songbirds out, that it was actually super loud in our campsite for most of our stay.

It was just really nice, getting our work done while hearing many different types of birds chirping away outside!

*****

Anyway, in addition to the ones already mentioned, we heard Blue Jays several times (no sightings), saw some Common Grackles, as well as a ton of Robins, Seagulls, a few Cormorants, etc.

Aside from birds, there were several deer out on our first day, and we saw quite a few rabbits out and about.

Boating

You CAN go boating on Lake Erie, but there’s no boat launch or dock in the park itself.

There are a lot of boats - and the requisite facilities - nearby in Dunnville and Port Maitland, though.

Fishing & Hunting

Rock Point Provincial Park allows fishing from the limestone outcrop on the shore - probably the area that separates the main beach from the fossils area.

The weather was crummy enough during most of our stay, that we didn’t see anyone fishing in the park - and didn’t venture out to try it, ourselves.

There were a few people fishing off the Port Maitland Pier and Esplanade, though!

Aside from fishing, the park allows duck hunting after the park closes for the season, in the fall.

Discovery Program

As with most - all? - Provincial Parks, Rock Point Provincial Park operates a Discovery Program during the summer months.

It didn’t appear to be operational when we were at the park, but - when in season - the educational opportunities involve things like slide shows , hikes, and campfire programs.

There wasn’t any info when we were there, but I’d love to see one that goes into the fossils, maybe showing interpretations of what the various species are.

Yes, I’m still salty about the lack of a visitor centre at this particular park, LOL!

Niantic Games

There were at least five portals and two gyms in the park, but the connectivity is so bad here, you’re best off going into Dunville if you’re wanting to do much.

Nearby Attractions

While we didn’t get out a whole lot during our stay, here are some details about the major attractions in the area that we did manage to see or visit:

Mohawk Island

During our first stint of looking for fossils, we noticed an old lighthouse off in the distance.

As it turned out, it was the Mohawk Island Lighthouse, now a National Wildlife Area.

Located near the mouth of the Grand River, it’s accessible only by water and visiting it is restricted during certain parts of the year, on account of the birds that nest there.

Dunnville & Port Maitland

We went into the nearby town of Dunnville - and Port Maitland - a few times during our stay.

There are a few grocery stores, a Canada Post, and various parks and scenic areas.

On our first day, we went to Centennial Park in Dunnville, having made note of the existence of Muddy the Mudcat on our way in to the campground.

It’s a cute little park!

Aside from the GIANT fish sculpture - the largest mudcat in the world - there’s a little picnic pavilion that’s lined with information about the various animals in the area.

We spent some time looking over the photos and information, making note of what we hoped to see during our stay - loved it!

There’s also a small walking bridge and short trails.

On our second day, we visited Port Maitland Pier & Esplanade - about a 20 minute drive from the camp site.

I’d heard about how it was a huge tourist draw, after a couple articles in a Hamilton newspaper, and figured it wouldn’t be busy on a random Monday afternoon.

It wasn’t.

It was a nice enough pier, a decent view... but I’m having a hard time picturing people flocking from an hour away to party there?

The news articles made it sound like it was basically Niagara Falls Jr, in terms of tourism nonsense.

People are weird.

Final Thoughts

Our stay in Rock Point Provincial Park REALLY showed us how important it is to pay attention to the site notes, beyond just the slope!

We LOVED going down to the fossil beach and just being surrounded with very visual history. Loved it, way up there in our Provincial Park memories!

... but it really sucked not being able to enjoy our campsite itself.

We would have loved to be able to spend more time outside in our own site, cooking over the fire, just hanging out in our chairs... but it was so swampy, we basically stayed inside our RV whenever we weren’t going somewhere.

That’s totally on us, though.

We’ll definitely be back - no amount of mud and standing water can undo the cool factor of a beach full of fossils - but we will DEFINITELY be paying more attention to our choice of site, next time!

More Provincial Park Campground Reviews

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

Awenda Provincial Park
Balsam Lake Provincial Park
Bass Lake Provincial Park
Bon Echo Provincial Park
Canisbay Lake, Algonquin Provincial Park
Chutes Provincial Park
Driftwood Provincial Park
Earl Rowe Provincial Park
Emily Provincial Park
Inverhuron Provincial Park
Killbear Provincial Park
Lake Superior Provincial Park
Long Point Provincial Park
MacGregor Point Provincial Park
MacLeod Provincial Park
Mara Provincial Park
McRae Point Provincial Park
Neys Provincial Park
Pinery Provincial Park
Point Farms Provincial Park
Port Burwell Provincial Park
Quetico Provincial Park
Rideau River Provincial Park
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