Sibbald Point Provincial Park

Located on the southern shore of Lake Simcoe - just east of the vacation town of Jackson’s Point - Sibbald is one of the most popular of the recreational class parks.

Not at all surprising, really. Its location makes it the perfect place for those living in the Toronto area to spend an afternoon on a nice beach - it’s just a short day trip away!

It’s a great park for day use - the beach is fantastic, there are plenty of cute places to picnic, and the boat launch is super popular.

Starting a visit on a Sunday afternoon is a great way to be able to check out some of these wildly popular parks.

Not only is it generally easier to get a reservation than it is for a Friday start, the party people generally go home by the time you’re setting up!

Luckily, we got to see and experience a bit of everything before the rain set in - which also may have been a contributing factor to the peacefulness of our stay.

Anyway, let us tell you all about it!

The Basics:

Campground Name: Sibbald Point Provincial Park
Address: 26071 York Rd 18 (Park Rd) Sutton West, ON L0E 1R0
Website: Sibbald Point Provincial Park
Price: Ontario Provincial Parks uses a pricing matrix across all their parks. See 2024 Camping Fees for more details.
Reservations: Ontario Parks Reservations

Logistics

While I’m a logistics person in general, Sibbald Point Provincial Park is a big - and chaotic! - enough park, that having a handle on the logistics ahead of time is definitely recommended!

Here’s what you’ll need to know:

Registration and Check In

We booked our trip 5 months ahead of time - DEFINITELY recommended for a park this close to the GTA, and this popular.

The registrations open at 7am every day, and this was definitely one of the parks that felt a bit “Hunger Games”-y, waiting for the clock to tick over to 7am and hoping for the best.

May the odds be ever in your favour - especially if you’re going for a Friday or Saturday check in, during the summer!

Pre-registering your vehicle is a good idea - it allows you to skip parking and having to go up to the office window to check in, when the office is open.

If you’re pre-registered, you can drive through and do it at the drive through kiosk - much faster. It’s a paperless park, so there’s no waiting for permits to print.

Bottleneck Nightmare

The day after we checked in, we left the park on a short excursion... and ran into an absolute mess on the way back in.

Only one of the two kiosks were open, and the office was closed. The line to get in was single file, all the way back to the entrance to the park. It moved incredibly slow.

A sign just before the kiosk said that day users were required to book online ahead of time, but then the attendant was taking payments. It was incredibly frustrating to sit in a hot car for half an hour, waiting to get into a park we were already checked into.

The best was that it was 1pm on a Monday afternoon. There’s just no reason for that nonsense - really, really bad logistics at Sibbald.

The service was fast and friendly when we eventually got to sign in - I feel bad for the employees. I imagine they face all kinds of abuse over this, which sucks.

Maps and Signage

Sibbald Point Provincial Park is huge, and the layout of the campgrounds can be pretty chaotic.

It’s easy enough to get around if you’re just going to the day use areas. Getting around the campgrounds - especially on the electrical side - can definitely be a cause to have a driver and a navigator, though.

Here’s some more information on the map and signage situation at the park:

Park Map

If you’re just using the day use areas (minus the hikes), you’ll find the park map to be perfectly adequate.

Aside from a little weirdness with the dog play areas, everything is simply laid out and clearly marked on the map.

Our issues with the map started when we went to do the Heritage Walk trail.

In actuality, the trail veers off to the left, spits you out at a road that isn’t represented on the map. There’s a maintenance area across the road that’s not on the map, and no signage that tells you to go to the right.

You follow that road to the church and graveyard. On the way back - going back down the trail you came from - the only trail sign you see is one that says “authorized vehicles only” - even though it was definitely marked as being the trail, on the way out.

Just really bizarre.

Then there’s just some weirdness like ... there’s a dotted line designating the swimming area of the lake, with “no boats allowed” marked on the outside of that line. Obvious what it’s meant to show, but just really poor map design.

Also: There are a bunch of campground trails that aren’t represented on the map at all. Main, well used trails connecting sections of the campground to other campgrounds or to comfort stations.

Definitely would be handy to see!

Signage

We appreciated the big road signage getting into the park, but it definitely made us catch our breath a bit.

We haven’t seen signage like that at any other park. In our experience, you only see signage like that when you’re headed into a large, choatic scene!

The park signage for getting around the main park - especially the day use - is adequate.

As I mentioned, the signage on the Heritage walk was confusing. The wild thing was that the start of the walk had several signs - along the same straightaway - needlessly reminds you several times that yes, you’re still headed in the right direction.

Then the signs just stop, right when you finally need one!

Trailer Sanitation and Waste

Sibbald Point Provincial Park is a WILDLY mixed bag when it comes to the trailer sanitation situation.

The Good

There are trailer filling stations EVERYWHERE, just randomly scattered throughout the campground areas.

I counted 4 of these fill setups in the electrical campground area.

The Bad

Those trailer fill stations don’t have a threaded hose fitting, which is annoying.

Some are also situated weirdly, such that they’re going to be really awkward for anyone with a larger trailer, and will block campground traffic.

Also, there’s only one actual trailer sanitation station in the park - just a single fill platform, with a single dump platform. 1 dump platform is nowhere near enough for a park this size, but it gets worse...

The Ugly

That single trailer sanitation station is located in a small parking lot, on an offshoot road headed to the Maidenhair Fern Trail.

The dump and fill platforms are located just on the side of the parking area, not in any way blocked off from the rest of it. You basically have to pull a tight, right-hand U turn to get back out of the area, as there’s not really enough room to turn around in the following parking lot.

Which, you know, isn’t great as-is.

The bigger problem comes when people are using that lot as overflow parking for the hiking trail. This was the situation we saw when we went to do the trail.

With the way people were parked in the trailer sanitation lot, it would have been really difficult - if not impossible - for us to get out, after using the dump and fill platforms.

Also: The setup is absolute chaos at the end of a weekend, as we observed when checking in. The trailer lineup extends up along the main park road, with attendants flagging traffic to get around them as a makeshift alternating 1 way road.

Another reason to book your stay on the weekdays!

Waste Management

By contrast, the waste disposal area of the park is spacious and well appointed.

The lot is HUGE, easy to get around, and there are plenty of garbage and recycling bins lining the area. Everything seemed to be clean and in good condition, too!

Connectivity

We were really shocked at the lack of cell phone coverage in this park.

The last few parks were relatively decent, and - with us working our way back to the GTA - we just sort of assumed this one would be no problem at all.

I was not able to get a signal to my phone anywhere in the park. We were able to get some coverage at our site - SOMETIMES - but only via wifi from the router we have installed on the roof of our RV.

We weren’t able to get a signal to our phones in the same spot, if wifi was turned off.

Accessibility

While they have the absolute basics covered, Sibbald Point Provincial Park is not super accessible.

As far as the basics go, each of the comfort stations in the day use area and campgrounds have barrier-free washroom stalls, and the comfort stations in the campgrounds also have barrier free showers.

There seem to be only 2 barrier free campsites - #533 and #804 - each is right next to a comfort station.

While you’re covered if you have to pee, your options for getting around are much more limited.

Neither of the two trails are wheelchair accessible, though they should be easy enough for anyone with other mobility aids to do.

Heritage Trail might be difficult on crutches, but a walking boot, cane, etc wouldn’t be too much of an issue - it’s the first leg, going across a field - that gets you.

The museum has two ramps to get in, so it seems like some effort was made to make it accessible - we didn’t go in, though.

There is no wheelchair accessible path to the amphitheatre, and I wouldn’t recommend the trail from the campground if you’re mobility impaired at all.

Then, there’s the matter of the day use area...

Day Use Accessibility

The Park Store isn’t wheelchair accessible from the store’s parking lot, you have to access it via the beach trail / beach parking.

If you’re mobility impaired, you’ll definitely want to park in or as near the accessible parking spots as you can (11 total), as they’re right by the only 2 trails that go to the beach.

The non-trail area still leads to the beach, but it’s hilly, rough, rocky, and varies between “spongy” and “marsh”.

One trail was chained off at the parking lot, literally right beside the accessible parking. This is the trail that leads to the store, which had HUGE, water filled potholes on the way to the park store.

The trail from the beach doesn’t QUITE meetup with the trail to the store, so I wouldn’t say it’s at all *nicely* accessible.

The other trail from the parking was in terrible shape right from the get-go, and was chained the next day (along with the first).

Neither trail gets you to the actual beach - just the grassy area before the beach - and the beach doesn’t have any of those accessibility trail/mat things.

Pets

The pet situation is a little weird at Sibbald Point.

Dogs aren’t allowed on the actual beach - fair enough - but the dog area next to the beach... doesn’t really match up with what’s on the map.

Then there’s a second area on the other side of the boat launch. The website mentions it being near the Lake Simcoe Fisheries Assessment Unit, the map shows it as being on a little mini peninsula of a beach... and we couldn’t find it.

There was no signage at all for the dog area, in that area. There was a spot that it MAY have been, behind some seriously overgrown grass... but if that was it, it definitely hasn’t been used in a very long time.

Parking

For regular park function, there’s plenty of parking. The sites are pretty big, and there are small lots of additional parking in most of the campground sections - several, in some.

On a hot sunny day, though? Nowhere near enough. Late on Sunday afternoon, the beach parking was overloaded. Even early in the morning on a Friday, the boat launch area was full, with people parking up on the grass, and some parking in the museum parking, nearby.

Basically, if you’re looking to use the beach or the boat launch in the summer, aim for a weekday, or plan to get there EARLY.

Miscellaneous

The beach at Sibbald Point Provincial Park is north facing into Lake Simcoe, so it’s good for sunrise or sunset, off to the sides.

There is some light pollution coming from Georgina Island - and the other side of the lake - but I’ve seen some pretty decent Aurora Borealis photos taken from there, when the conditions are strong enough.

Campground Amenities & Info

Some general information on the amenities offered at the park:

Creature Comforts

There are a TON of comfort stations in this park, and each one that we ended up using seemed to be in really good condition.

In the campgrounds, there are seven comfort stations with showers and flush toilets. There are also 5 pseudo comfort station buildings along the day use area - just flush toilets though.

I wish these large beaches - especially at smaller parks, with manmade lakes - had showers at the beach. Anyway...

For as well maintained as the comfort stations are... these are NOT. They all looked fairly sketchy, and some were surrounded by grass that was about 2' late on getting mowed.

Park Store

The park store is a bit weird to get to - road signs throughout the park point you to the lot for it, but the building there is unlabelled aside from an “authorized personnel only” type sign.

The front of the building is actually around the other side, definitely marketing more to the day users.

The store is HUGE, with lots of lots of park souvenirs, good selection of snacks, worms for fishing, camping supplies, and some boutiquey type food options, like fancy individual packets of gourmet hot chocolate.

They definitely get bonus points for having Great Canadian Meat co AND Jelly Belly products - two of my favs!

There’s also an ice cream bar and hot food snack bar.

They sell some groceries, but if you need anything else, there’s a Variety Store right outside of the park, across the street.

Visitor Centre

The park doesn’t have a Visitor Center in name, but they have two buildings that seem to more or less serve that function.

One was labeled as the Discovery Centre, which was not open during our stay. Not entirely sure what it offers, as a result - there’s no info on the website.

This small museum - and the adjacent lands - memorializes the Sibbald Family estate, as it was in the late 1800s.

You can view some of the original furniture and other artifacts from the family estate, once belonging to Susan Mein Sibbald, a pioneer woman from Scotland.

St. George’s Anglican Church is a short walk up “Heritage Walk” from the Sibbald museum. A historic church that still hosts services, its graveyard is the final resting place of Canadian author Mazo de la Roche, and famous author/humourist Stephen Butler Leacock.

Day Use Area

The day-use area is a bit of a mixed bag.

There are a bunch of large grassy picnic areas for day-use visitors to use - plenty of picnic tables, wherever you look.

Some are in great shape - and some have amazing views - and others are almost completely overgrown.

An awful lot of the day use area was desperately in need of a lawn mower and a weed whacker.

Too bad the visitors couldn’t respect that, it was a wasteland of trash the next day, with garbage and broken balloon remains all over the place on Monday morning. DO BETTER, people!

Park staff was out there cleaning up after people first thing Monday morning, but they shouldn’t have to - not to that degree.

It’s adjacent to one of the rental picnic shelters, but there are no washrooms nearby - you’ll have to cross the road and use the one near the park store.

Campsite Details

There are two different campgrounds, divided by the main park road.

The East Campground has all of the non-electrical sites, while all of the electrical sites - and the group campsites - are in the West Campground.

Each of the two main campgrounds are divided into a bunch of smaller campgrounds - 10 in total. These are named on the reservations page, but not on the park map.

Also, each of the two main campgrounds has a designated area for radio-free camping, “for a more natural camping experience”.

One is a big loop with a center road and fairly straight roads throughout (mostly!), and the other is a wild tangle of loops, sub loops, etc.

One section of loops in the West Campground was designated as exclusively being for trailer sites - it’s radio free.

Also: The West Campground has a playground.

The roads were pretty bad in spots, with particularly big potholes in the trailers-only area.

Group Camping

The group camping area has a nice layout - 6 separate campgrounds for large groups (15-50 people each), 3 each on either side of a central loop with vault toilets.

Each campsite has its own potable water tap, and the overall section is both easy to access from the entry to the park, and is connected up with the electrical campground. This gives easy-ish access to a full comfort station, located fairly near by.

I could see this being a really great park for youth groups. The beach is a relatively walkable distance for the young and able-bodied.

Entertainment and Activity

Whether you’re camping or visiting the day use, there are all kinds of things to do in the park. Here’s what you need to know:

Hiking

There are two named hiking trails at Sibbald Point Provincial Park, in addition to many un-named (and un-mapped!) trails throughout the camping area.

Maidenhair Fern Trail

This is an almost completely forested hiking trail, marked as being a 2 km loop and easy.

(We measure distances, this was 1.86 km - close enough!).

The park’s website mentions trail brochures being available at the trail head, we did not see anywhere to get one.