Selkirk Provincial Park

Selkirk Provincial Park was the first of the Provincial Parks that we stayed at, after purchasing our RV.

As it was late in the reservation season at the time of that purchase, most of our PP reservations were a bit later in the summer/fall.

We were able to secure an earlier reservation at this park, though, so decided to try it out. The park is just a short drive from Hamilton, after all - less than an hour!

It’s also less than half an hour from Port Dover - in Haldimand County - so the location is good for a quick day trip.

Unfortunately - As with our time at Conestogo Lake Conservation Area - this camping trip started out on such a sour note, I felt bad posting about it.

The thing is, the circumstances behind us booking here ... kind of make us feel like we SHOULD be highlighting the issues.

More on that in a few minutes, though. I’ll save that weird bit of drama for the end of the post!

Anyway,

The Basics:

Campground Name: Selkirk Provincial Park
Address: 151 Wheeler’s Sideroad, R.R. # 1, Selkirk, ON, N0A 1P0
Website: Selkirk Provincial Park
Price Ontario Provincial Parks uses a pricing matrix across all their parks. See 2026 Camping Fees for more details.
Reservations: Ontario Parks Reservations
Park Classification: Recreational
Season: May 11, 2026 to October 13, 2026
Park Warden: (905) 776-2600 Ext.2

Logistics

Some basic information to help you plan your stay at Selkirk Provincial Park:

Registration and Check In

Online reservations were through the Ontario Parks site, which is a SLICK system - very user friendly.

It can be a tad overwhelming at first - so many options - but once you’ve found a site or two, it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.

Check in was simple, quick, and easy - we did have to go into the store at the park entrance to do so, as their window was not in operation when we signed in.

Maps and Signage

Some information to help you find your way around Selkirk Provincial Park:

Park Map

The Selkirk Provincial Park map is decent for what it is - it IS a very small park.

The only real issue we came across is that there’s no accessibility map on it. Not only does the park undersell itself as a result, but this does a disservice to visitors.

In terms of road signage, it’s decent. The only real issue is that pretty much all of the directional signage seems to be aimed in one direction, even on bidirectional roads.

So... when you’re coming into the park, it’s easy to find where you going.

When you’re at the outer edges of the park - day use area, etc - and moving back IN to the center of the park, you’re not going to have much in the way of directional signage.

Waste & Water Services

Unlike the majority of sites in Ontario Parks Campgrounds, a good number of the camp sites in Selkirk Provincial Park include both hydro and water.

Apparently this used to be a Conservation Area campground, and those do tend to have water hookups - at least in this general area!

The power and hydro hookups were in the back of our site, set into some bushes - not far from our camper at all.

While there is no sewer hookup in the sites themselves, there is a trailer sanitation station. It’s a a loop off Campground #2, near the park entrance.

This is set up as a single lane loop - no bypass lane - that you’re supposed to take clockwose.

It starts with a single, threaded water fill post on the driver’s side, followed by a single dump station - also on the driver’s side.

The road is in good condition, with a gradual curve that can accommodate large vehicles easily.

Additionally, there is a garbage and recycling center near the front entrance.

Connectivity

Back in 2023, our cell reception was decent to good for the duration of our stay, even in the camper when the reflectors were on the windows.

In 2026, we had pretty decent cell phone coverage throughout the park - both times were on Rogers Wireless.

Also, there did not seem to be a wifi option for this park.

Accessibility

Our first visit was before we got SUPER detailed in our accessibility reporting - as we didn’t use the comfort stations, etc, we didn’t cover that at the time.

The big accessibility issue I ran into at the time was in our own campsite - the ground was VERY rough, especially in the area right outside of our camper door.

It looked like someone had driven though with a big tractor on a wet day, then allowed the ground to dry like that.

Having a wonky achilles, this was a major accessibility issue for me, and definitely negatively impacted our stay.

For more able bodied people, it may be not as much of a big deal, beyond mostly cosmetic. Definitely want to avoid twisting ankles, though!

Aside from the accessibility issues at our own site, the campground is more or less *decently* accessible, in my experience.

The distance between any two points in the park isn’t super far, and the roads are more or less ok. (Not paved, but pretty well packed/even).

Anyway, now that we’ve been back, I have a lot more to report!

First off - Selkirk Provincial Park is terrible as far as information accessibility goes.

As previously mentioned, there is no accessibility information on the map. The website has been updated to be a bit better - it mentions the comfort station, campground vault toilets, and a barrier-free campsite.

Beyond that:

Accessible Facilities

1. There's a nice ramp to get up to the parks gatehouse, but there's a probably about a 2" lip to get up into the actual building itself. Probably wheelchair accessible, just kind of ... rude.

2. The comfort station is barrier-free, with a couple of sidewalk ramping up to it - and they’re in good condition!

There is a single barrier-free shower, and each of the multi-stall, gendered washrooms has a single wheelchair accessible stall in it.

I will say that the handheld hose for the barrier-free shower seemed to be placed pretty high.

3. the vault toilets in the campgrounds and the one in the main part of the day-use area are mostly barrier-free.

The campground ones are all situated between 2 rows of campsites, and - in at least one case - it’s wheelchair accessible from one of the campground roads, but not the other. (Campground 3 - accessible from the inner loop, but up a hill from the outer loop).

Also, the accessible stalls aren’t marked on all of the vault toilets. They’re there, but you have to open doors to find the accessible stall(s).

Accessible Camping

We forgot to check on whether or not there is a barrier-free campsite before showing up, so we asked at the gatehouse.

The employee thought there might be one, but wasn’t sure where it was, if there was. She guessed that Site #90 might be, but it was occupied at the time of our visit, so we couldn’t photograph it or get any real details.

We looked it up online when we got home - the reservations page does not have an option for a barrier-free filter for Selkirk Provincial Park.

I checked the sites adjacent to the comfort station just in case that was a glitch - they’re not designated barrier-free. So... no barrier-free campsites at Selkirk Provincial Park.

Accessible Activities

When it comes to the trail, it’s not really wheelchair accessible, though it’s short/flat enough to mostly be ok for those with other mobility issues.

The day use area isn’t paved and doesn’t have any paved paths in it, but the ground is mostly flat, level lawn.

The beaches aren’t wheelchair accessible, and can be difficult to get down to.

The one closer to campground involves getting down a pretty steep embankment, while the one that is in the area of the dog beach just has a bit of a sloping hill to get down.

Pets

Pets are allowed at this park, and there is a dedicated dog beach / pet exercise area.

The dog beach is a bit of a weird situation - it’s on the map, but NOT signed in person.

The map has it labeled in the same general area as a swimming beach, so we’re not sure if it’s a shared beach, or if the dog beach is off to one side.

Best guess we have is that the dog beach part is at the bottom of the hill (coming from the parking lot), in that first area that feels like it might have been a boat launch at some point.

Otherwise, it might be the more secluded, unlabeled/unnamed beach that’s further down the path, if you walk past that area (kind of to the right, and around).

Anyway, beyond the dog beach, the usual Ontario Parks rules apply:

1. All pets are to be kept on leashes no longer than 2 meters / 6 feet in length.

2. You MUST clean up after you pet - capitalized emphasis is theirs.

3. Pets are not to be left unattended at any time.

4. Pets are not allowed on the main beach, just the dog beach. (Honestly, they’re not missing anything, and the dog beach is probably even a little nicer than the main beach.)

Parking

Most / all of the campsites appear big enough for an extra vehicle or two, though you need to pay extra for additional vehicles.

Additionally, there are parking lots scattered throughout the park: One near the boardwalk trail, one near the comfort station, one near the boat launch, one near the dump station, one at the dog park, and another at the beach.

All are fairly small, though - on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the summer - there seemed to be plenty of parking for the amount of people there.

Miscellaneous

1. While we didn’t personally see poison ivy ourselves, we’ve read that it can be an issue for some sites in this campground.

2. This is a really smelly park. The beach area to the west of the day use area (the dog beach) smelled overwhelmingly of dead fish, though we didn’t actually see any.

The beach on the east end of the day use area was covered in slime and smelled accordingly... and you could smell each of the vault toilets at least 5-10 metres away. One had me actually retching.

For reference, this was late July - not sure if any/all smell issues are seasonal, but it was really... a lot.

The outhouses were at least as bad as the one at Raccoon Lake Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park, a few years ago... and the level of the stench off that one was borderline traumatic!

3. Due to the location of this park - fairly far south, and with no north-facing views - it’s not a great place for viewing the Northern Lights.

If you’re interested in possibly seeing the northern lights, check out our posts: Aurora Hunting, How to Photograph the Northern Lights, Can I See the Northern Lights Tonight?, and Where to See Northern Lights in Ontario.

Campground Amenities & Info

Some information on the amenities at Selkirk Provincial Park:

Creature Comforts

Each campground has a vault toilet, with only one campground - #2 - having a full comfort station with showers, flush toilets, and laundry facilities.

It’s a small enough park that the comfort station is probably less than a 10 minute walk from anywhere in the park.

Anyway, there are five regular showers, a wheelchair accessible shower, and two multi-stall, gendered washrooms. Each washroom has a single wheelchair accessible stall in it.

There's also a small laundry room on the back of the comfort station.. There's a single washer and single dryer.

The dryer is $2.50/load, and the washing machine has a few options: $4.25 for a power wash, $3 for a mixed was, $11.25 for a delicate wash, and $2.50 for a normal wash.
... if that $11.25 is a typo, it's not MY typo. I called the park to ask about it, after we got home... and they didn't know if it was correct or not!

Anyway, the machines take Loonies and Quarters, only.

In addition to the vault toilets near the center of each campground, there is also a couple of vault toilet in the day use area. Every one of them has at least one barrier-free stall, but I have two warnings here:

1. The non barrier-free stalls are the most claustrophobic outhouse stalls I’ve ever seen in my life.

2. As previously mentioned... we could smell each of the outhouses long before we got to the building. Yes, I get it, outhouses smell... but we’ve been to MOST of the Provincial Parks now, and these ones... stood out.

Visitor Centre

There is no Visitor Center at Selkirk Provincial Park.

Park Store

There's a fairly significant park store in the gatehouse.

It has a LOT of stuff for a small store / small park, and it’s well organized. There are a lot of clothing options, some camping essentials like cooking utensils and such, some toiletries / OTC healthcare goods (like allergy meds, and Tylenol), a wall of games and such, souvenirs, and a freezer of ice cream treats.

They also sell ice and firewood.

Day Use Area

The day use area is kind of a sprawling lawn area between the campground parking lot - to the east - and the little offshoot parking lot for the dog beach, to the west.

There are picnic tables scattered along that lawn, with some overlooking Lake Ontario, over a bit of a cliff. There’s at least one grill - closer to the outhouse side of the area.

There’s also a playground - that seems to be missing some equipment from the last time we were there - and access points down to a couple of beach areas.

Outside of that main day-use area (but only a minute walk away!), there’s a small lawn with a horseshoes set up, on the corner of Campground 4.

The horseshoe pitch is kind of underwhelming - just a few poles in a lawn, kinda low-effort compared to some of the other Provincial Parks.

Rentals

We were surprised to see what looked to be a rack of rental kayaks, by the canoe launch.

There’s nothing on the Ontario Parks website about Selkirk having any kind of rental program, and we hadn’t seen any posters about it.

After we got home, I called to ask for the details. Yes, they’re rentals - Single person kayaks - and that can be arranged at the gatehouse.

Campsite Details

There are four campgrounds in the park, two of which are serviced - 2 and 4 - and two which are not (1 and 3).

The park’s map only shows which are electrical and which aren’t, not which have water hookups.

During our stays, we saw a wide variety of RV sizes and tent set ups all over the place, and there’s generally pretty good privacy, from the sides.

The sites in campgrounds 1 and 3 have good privacy all around the sides and back, but most of the most of sites in sections 2 and 4 are pull-though sites. Those ones don’t have great privacy, front-to-back.

On that note, Campground 3 is radio-free, but that also isn’t indicated on the map. It’s also non-electrical, as is Campground 1.

Anyway, the average lot size seems to be decent to large, with the largest sites (as far as we could tell) on the spike right near the beach.

Entertainment and Activity

Some information on the things you can see or do while staying at Selkirk Provincial Park:

Hiking

While there isn’t a lot in the way of hardcore hiking, there’s a short hiking trail - Wheeler’s Walk Trail - a short path that loops through some hardwood forest and marsh area.
Porter did this trail during our first visit, a few years ago.

It’s a nice winding trail through the hickory woods, not a lot of hills or obstacles for those on foot, through some large overhanging branches may pose issues for those on bikes - just keep your eyes open!

The boardwalk was a really cool feature to experience, walking through a bunch of marshy vegetation that was coming up onto the boardwalk itself.

On first walk, the trail loop was probably 1.2 km, once you access the trail itself from the road. We later realized that the second loop is actually two loops - we took the smaller loop and accidentally missed the larger section.

Apparently the two loops that make that second loop are about 1 km together, with the first loop also being a km or so.

From our camp site - #144, close to the beach - walking up the main road, to Wheeler’s Walk Trail, most of that trail (minus the second part of the second loop) and back to our campsite was 2.8 km, total. So, probably 3.5 km if we hadn’t missed the section.

WEAR BUG SPRAY.

No, I’m not going to launch into a bastardized version of “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Suncreen)”, even with as much as my brain is trying to take me there.

Though, if I could offer you only one tip for your future walking at Selkirk, bug spray would be it

The long-term benefits of avoiding tick bites have been proven by scientists...

CRAP. Sorry. Couldn’t stop myself.

Anyway, there are a LOT of ticks, mosquitos, and flys around here. Be safe!

Also, a tip: Apparently if you take an antihistamine before you know you’re going to be exposed to mosquito bites, the fallout isn’t as bad / not as itchy.

Haven’t tried it personally, but figured I’d pass that along.

... but trust me on the bug spray.

Biking

There are no bike trails at Selkirk Provincial Park, but campers can go cycling on the campground roads. They’re all in really good condition for it!

Swimming

As with most of the parks we’ve booked at, water is the main attraction at Selkirk park.

The two main beach areas are on either side of the day use area, with one (the western side) designated as being a dog beach as well. There is also a third, more secluded beach that is not shown on the map.

None of the beaches are staffed by lifeguards, so use at your own risk.

During both of our visits, the beach that’s to the east - adjacent to campground 4 - was covered in slime. We’re assuming it's a long standing issue.

The beach just on the other side of the day use lawn had a fair amount of washed up plant matter in the sand - it looked like it had been there a long time, but it was NOT that bad, a few years ago.

Both of these mapped beaches are said to feature shallow waters, which start out rocky on the shore, and become sandy several meters out.

The sand part is what we’ve been told, anyway - the beach and water were both so disgusting during both of our visits, that we did not make use of them.

On our second night in the camp ground during our first stay - we ventured past the dog park, in the direction away from the main beach.

We discovered that there’s another, more secluded beach there. It’s not labeled on the park map, but is definitely part of the park property. This beach was much nicer, though I still wouldn’t necessarily think of it as a “swimming beach” - just nicer to walk along.

During our second visit, though ... it was also very slimy. As with the other two - labeled - beaches, this one was completely empty any time we visited, during our first stay.

We were camping on weekdays, so I have no idea if they ever get busy, or how popular the unlabeled beach may be. The weather was nice, so I was surprised at how empty the beaches were.

There were a handful of swimmers at the dog beach during our second visit. It was FAR fewer people than I would have expected for a sunny, hot Sunday afternoon in July, though!

Birding, Wildlife, and Nature

Our first visit happened before we got into birding, and we did not note any bird sightings.

My big wildlife memory, the first time around, was watching the fireflies as we sat at the campfire. I’d never seen them before, it was fun to watch them blinking on and off, near the bushes.

We had DECENT luck with birding on our second visit, though most of the birds were too hard to photograph, in the conditions.

Overall, we heard and/or saw:

American Goldfinch, American Robin, Canada Goose, Carolina Wren, Common Grackle, Common Yellowthroat, Downy Woodpecker, European Starling, Gray Catbird, Killdeer, Mourning Dove, Northern Cardinal, Northern Flicker, Northern House Wren, Northern Yellow Warbler, Red-Winged Blackbird, Ring-Billed Gull, Song Sparrow, Turkey Vulture.

Boating

There’s also a canoe launch - completely separate from the beaches, and accessible through Campground #1, with its own parking there.

There’s also a rack of solo kayaks there, you can arrange with the gatehouse to rent them.

Fishing

Apparently fishing is a popular activity in this section of Lake Erie, with lots of perch available, as well as bass and catfish.

Discovery Program

Selkirk Provincial Park runs Discovery Programming in July and August.

These look to be almost - if not completely - exclusively on Friday/Saturday/Sunday mornings and afternoons.

Niantic Games

In terms of Niantic games, there is a gym and a Pokestop / 2 Ingress portals at the beach, both accessible from a couple park benches that lay between the main beach and the dog beach.

There are also 4 portals / 2 pokestops at the main entrance. None are within range of any of the camp sites, but again - not a super far walk.

Final Thoughts

I’m re-writing this, as of July 2026... but I’m breaking my usual habit, and leaving my original “final thoughts” below. It was just so weird and sketchy, I feel like I should leave it up for posterity.

Anyway, I know we said we wouldn’t be back, but hey... if we can give MacLeod Provincial Park, I figure we should do the same for Selkirk Provincial Park.

I’m glad we went back, though I’m not sure it changes our opinion all that much.

I was glad to see that none of the campsites were like the way ours was, the first time we stayed there. They all seemed to be in good condition, this time around.

The beaches all being as gross - or even more gross - than we saw the first time around? That’s a deal breaker for us.

Not only was all the slime gross to look at ... wow, I did NOT remember it smelling so bad.

It’s one thing to not want to go in the water (last time), but the smell was so bad, we didn’t want to be anywhere NEAR the beach.

Beyond that, there’s really not much there for us - just one short trail. It’s not a particularly scenic park, so the beach is pretty much IT, IMHO.

I’m sure there’s something there for someone - the park was probably half full, at the time of our most recent visit - it’s just not the park for us.

So, I’m glad we went back to give it a second chance, but we’re not likely to return.

Original Final Thoughts

Usually, I use this section to just sum up our feelings on the park. In this case, that’s just “meh”.

However, there was some bizarre drama that went down on our first night, that I think should be addressed. It was sort of... suspicious?

On our first night here, I was feeling pretty disappointed, between the gross beach and our campsite being fairly dangerous for my foot issues.

So, I posted a fairly innocuous post to an unofficial Provincial Parks Facebook group that I’m a member of, just asking if the park is normally so meh, or if we got it on an off day or whatever.

A small handful of people responded to agree, with comments like "It's the last place I would book", "It was such a disappointment", "Selkirk is a dumpy park", and "I'll never go back. We also felt like it was meh".

... and then I got a notice that my post was removed, with feedback from the admin:

I was shocked, not only at how incoherent it was, but for 2 other reasons:

1. I checked the rules when I got the notice, and it didn’t even come close to breaking any of them.

And

2. The current top post in the group was a guy *shredding* another PP campground, FAR more negative that my post had been.

There were multiple admins, I had no idea who had deleted my post, so had no idea who to ask about it.

FB had the option of editing the post, which I assumed would put it into moderation to be approved.

So, I edited it at the end of my post, with a note to ask the admin to message me or whatever, as I didn’t know who to contact to find out what I had done wrong.

... and it got posted like that, and I was immediately banned from the group!

Not only did that leave a really sour taste in my mouth for the WTF aspect of it, but there was also this.

When I had searched that group for information about Selkirk, the posts were positive. It definitely influenced my decision to book at the park.

When I POSTED about it, the responses were all negative, with one exception that was more neutral. (It was just talking about the clay in the water and seaweed this time of year).

Given what I’d seen on my earlier searches, I was shocked to see such an overwhelmingly negative response to the park.

I’m not a fan of that kind of biased censorship in general - and there were NO rules about “positive only” - but the fact that my post was deleted, and posts that were even MORE negative (about other parks) were allowed... just doesn’t sit right with me.

I’m unable to see the admin list - having been banned! - and I don’t know which admin or mod I was dealing with, but I’m REALLY curious if there was some sort of conflict of interest happening there.

It’s absolutely bizarre to me that only positive posts are allowed about this one specific park, even as an unwritten rule.

... but I guess that explains why I was shocked at how “meh” this was, given that negative posts were probably deleted.

To be faaair, I understand that this mod/admin could be completely detached from the park. It IS sketchy enough, however, that it does leave a bad taste in my mouth with the park in general.

Suppressing less-than-glowing reviews or questions is NOT helpful - why set people up for a bad experience?

Anyway, we will be joining the others who commented with “we won’t be back”.

More Southwest & Central Ontario Provincial Parks & Places to See

Want to read some more about the parks we've camped and at places we've seen in Southwestern & Central Ontario? Here are some more posts!

Southwest/Central Ontario Campground Reviews:

Awenda Provincial Park
Balsam Lake Provincial Park
Bass Lake Provincial Park
Bronte Creek Provincial Park
Bruce Peninsula National Park
Conestogo Lake Conservation Area
Craigleith Provincial Park
Darlington Provincial Park
Earl Rowe Provincial Park
Elora Gorge Conservation Area
Emily Provincial Park
Falls Reserve Conservation Area
Fifty Point Conservation Area
Inverhuron Provincial Park
Long Point Provincial Park
MacGregor Point Provincial Park
Mara Provincial Park
McRae Point Provincial Park
Meaford Memorial Park
Pinery Provincial Park
Point Farms Provincial Park
Port Burwell Provincial Park
Rock Point Provincial Park
Rondeau Provincial Park
Sauble Falls Provincial Park
Sibbald Point Provincial Park
Turkey Point Provincial Park
Valens Lake Conservation Area
Warsaw Caves Conservation Area
Wheatley Provincial Park

Southwest/Central Ontario Places to See:

Big Bay, Ontario
Big Creek National Wildlife Area
Canada's Dinosaur Park
Cheltenham Badlands
Devil's Monument
Doubes Trestle Bridge
Eugenia Falls Conservation Area
Flowerpot Island
Hogg's Falls
Inglis Falls Conservation Area
Indian Falls Conservation Area
Jones Falls
Keith McLean Conservation Lands
Lion's Head Lookout Trail
Mark S. Burnham Provincial Park
Menesetung Bridge
Mono Cliffs Provincial Park
Niagara Falls White Water Walk
Niagara Glen Trail & Nature Centre
Peterborough Lift Lock
Petroglyphs Provincial Park
Point Pelee National Park
Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area
Scenic Caves Nature Adventures
Spirit Rock Conservation Area
Springwater Provincial Park
St Thomas Elevated Park
Wasaga Beach Provincial Park

Want to explore beyond Southwest and Central Ontario? Check out our full list of Campground Reviews, Ontario Waterfalls, and other Places to See.

We also have a ton of Camping Recipes to cook up, while on your adventures!