Winter Camping at Arrowhead

Our first trip to Arrowhead Provincial Park was in the fall of 2023. We had a great time, saw some gorgeous sights, and posted some beautiful photos to my Facebook.

... at which point, one of our local friends mentioned that the park had a SKATING TRAIL during the winter. I’d had no idea... and was a little indignant that she’d held out on telling us that info!

So, I obsessively watched the Ontario Parks Snow Report for the following months, waiting to see some indication of the trail opening.

That day came, and we had a great time during our first time cold camping at Arrowhead. We’d recently purchased snowshoes on Boxing Day, and had a blast trying those out.

Weirdly... I hated the skating trail! As it turns out, I might be a bit of an ice princess these days... and that ice was terrifying. (More on that in a bit.)

Anyway, we spent some time being jealous of the skiers, and decided that we DEFINITELY needed to buy some cross-country skis to check out more of the park. The skiing looked fantastic!

Just as we took advantage of Boxing Day that year, we bought some beginner cross country skis on sale this year, specifically to go back to Arrowhead.

We planned a Valentine’s Day camping trip to both Arrowhead and Mew Lake.

Excessively cold temperatures got in the way and prompted us to cancel the short drive to Mew Lake (replacing it with an extra day at Killbear Provincial Park at the beginning of the trip.

We did still get to spend some quality time at Arrowhead, getting out JUST ahead of a big winter storm!

The weather was great for our visit, and we had a bunch of fun on the trails.

Anyway, let us tell you all about it, as well as everything you’ll need to know about winter camping at Arrowhead Provincial Park!

The Basics:

Campground Name: Arrowhead Provincial Park
Address: 451 Arrowhead Park Rd. Huntsville, ON P1H 2J4
Website: https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/arrowhead
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

Logistics

Some basic information to help you plan your winter season camping trip to Arrowhead Provincial Park:

Registration and Check In

We’ve been to Arrowhead several times now, each time booking through the Ontario Parks website. No complaints - it’s a slick system.

It’s a permitless campground now, which usually means just heading straight to your campsite if you’ve registered online.

Usually the main gate office is closed, but you can head to the Visitor Centre if you forgot to pre-register.

That said, sometimes they station people at that front park office in the winter months, checking for day passes. We’ve really only noticed this when the weather is really good, and the skating trail is open.

We ended up having some weirdness this time around, though - there were people parked in our spot when we arrived. Just parked, mind you. 3 empty vehicles, no tent or anything!

We waited til almost an hour after check in, they still didn’t show up... so we went to the park office to see what we could do.

Minutes later, they called to say that the people were leaving. We ended up losing our afternoon to waiting for these guys, which sucked - by the time we got into our site and did a quick set up, it was much colder and the weather had turned.

UGH it had been so beautiful when we arrived!

... and I still have no idea why they didn’t just park at the Visitor Centre. If I had all my stuff packed into cars, I’d go park there before going out skiing, so I wouldn’t have to watch the clock!

Though... I guess they weren’t actually watching the clock!

Maps and Signage

Arrowhead takes its winter operations seriously, and is probably the best of the Ontario Provincial Parks when it comes to winter maps and signage.

Here’s some information to help you get around Arrowhead Provincial Park in the winter months:

Park Map

During our most recent stay at Arrowhead, the winter map was the ONLY map available.

It’s a full colour, glossy, 11 x 17 map that is folded as a pocket map, specifically to be brought out on the trails with you. (A good thing, as there are a LOT of trails - and intersections of trails - to navigate!)

One thing that I really appreciate about the Arrowhead winter trails map is that the map is clearly designed around the park *as it is in the winter*.

I think it’s the only park map that I’ve seen like that - most have the winter trail information just superimposed over the summer map.

So, rather than showing all of the rows in the East River Campground (or even labeling it as such!), it just shows the two rows that are now a skating loop.

The rows that aren’t open, aren’t shown. Nice and clear, I love it!

There’s a ton of information present - the trails, segmented distances on the trails, every intersection is marked with a unique letter for identification.

Trails are colour coded for intended use and difficulty, the key is complete AND legible - seriously, the cartographer behind this map should be hired for ALL of the Ontario Parks maps.

The only issue that stood out to me was that it was missing the washroom at the Lookout Trail parking lot.

Other than that, STELLAR.

Signage

The signage in the park is almost as thoughtfully done as the map.

There’s a lot of winter-specific signage. In some parks, you’re basically looking for any winter activities relative to where a non-operational summer point is, if that makes sense.

It’s nice that you can be pointed directly to “skating trail”, rather than be told that the skating trail is in the (non-operational) East River Campground, for example.

Anyway, all the signage is well placed, big, high contrast, informative, and generally includes image icons as well.

Love this - not only can you quickly see what you’re looking for at a glance, it’s more inclusive to those who may still be learning English.

The trails are also very well marked.

Water & Waste Services

So, the water and waste situation at Arrowhead is not ideal, and is definitely something to keep in mind when planning your stay.

The water gets completely shut off to all the campgrounds, including the comfort stations, flush toilets and water taps.

The one comfort station that is open is the one at the entrance to the East River Campground - but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Anyway, the trailer sanitation station is closed during the winter months, as that whole area is repurposed as a parking lot for the skating trail.

There IS a winterized water filling station in the parking lot of that East River Campground comfort station... but the hose isn’t threaded. Because of this, we end up having to use it to fill our 5 gallon water jugs with potable water, then use our pump & filter set up to get it from there, into our tank.

It’s... less than ideal, when it’s really cold out! So, it’s a good idea to bring your own water.

In terms of dumping, that can also be a tricky issue.

The two parks closest to Arrowhead - Algonquin Park and Killbear Provincial Park - also have their dump stations closed during the winter.

This makes multi-park trips tricky.

We weren’t aware of this on our first winter trip to Arrowhead, when we spent the last morning of our stay frantically calling around to find ANYWHERE to dump our tank.

There’s really nowhere nearby to do so, and we ended up having to hire a guy to meet us in a city parking lot with his septic truck. Almost $200!

Snow Removal, Etc

So, the main road through the park is in rough shape - monster potholes - but tends to be plowed really well.

Also, they really plow - and maybe shovel - the campsites out to a level that we really haven’t seen at other parks. Most will plow out an area big enough for your vehicles and tent. (And sometimes not even that, as we learned winter camping at Killbear Provincial Park recently!)

Arrowhead not only plows out the main vehicle parking area, but around the picnic tables and fire pit as well.

It’s nice - makes it a lot more welcoming, and puts you more in the mood for enjoying a winter fire. It also makes the sites FAR more accessible, both in the general sense, as speaking as a disabled person.

Anyway, all of the parking lots have been pretty meticulously plowed on each of our winter visits, as well.

Connectivity

Connectivity has been kind of hit and miss across our stays, but seems to be a bit better in the winter.

We tend to have decent cell coverage at our site in the pull-through section (the only camping area open year-round), Big Bend Lookout and the Visitor Centre.

Anything else can be really hit and miss, sometimes completely nonexistent. (We’re on Rogers Wireless.)

Accessibility

So far, every last one of the Ontario Provincial Parks we’ve camped at in the winter has led me to believe that winter camping is basically not going to be an accessible thing, full stop.

Otherwise great parks tend to completely drop the ball when it comes to matters of accessibility, unfortunately.

Well, I’m thrilled to be able to give a POSITIVE winter accessibility review for the first time!

First, the accessibility basics:

1. The camp store / Visitor Centre and the comfort station are both barrier-free.

2. Arrowhead does lose a few points for the comfort station location, though. Having to drive up the main road (it’s really not suitable for wheelchairs) to get from the campground to the comfort station isn’t exactly “barrier free”, and the toilet in the winter campground isn’t designated barrier-free itself.

3. As I mentioned earlier, the park goes FAR more in-depth with the snow removal at the camp sites than we’ve seen *anywhere* else.

4. On the subject of the campsites... while they’re not rated barrier-free, they’re flat, open, AND most of them have a wheelchair-accessible picnic table!

5. The Big Bend Lookout path and the walk to Stubb’s Falls are both easy walks. While not wheelchair accessible in the winter, they’d be ok for those with other mobility aids. (There are some stairs at the falls, though!)

But wait, there’s more!

Unlike other parks - where I think they’re mostly just doing the bare minimum, perhaps just for legality/insurance purposes - Arrowhead actually puts in an effort to INCLUDE disabled people!

For one, they have a sit ski available for rent!

I called the office and had a nice chat with an employee that was actually excited to talk about disability accommodations, which was amazing.

They just got a back rest attachment for the sit ski, to increase its usability - but it is optional, and can be used without it.

They also have a set of blades for it, so you can use it as an ice sled, as well as on the skating trail! It can accommodate an average size adult, but they’ve also used it for a kid recently.

The Roe Classic Trail is marked as being “Adaptive Cross Country”, which I haven’t seen before. Basically, it means that it’s an even, flat trail.

Also, the tracks are set in such a way as to make it easier to get out of, when you’re in the sit ski.

It was great to hear about all of it. The guy also told me about how the waxing room has tables with 10" tall edges on the inside of the tables, and he realized it would prevent wheelchair users from using them.

So, they removed the lip and sanded it down on one of the tables, to make it wheelchair accessible.

The thing that really struck me was how excited and proud he was to be doing this.

I think that - far too often - disability accommodation ends up being approached as an imposition to the park (or any business, really).

The way that Arrowhead actually gets INTO being inclusive was giving me the warm fuzzies - and reminding me of Bonnechere Provincial Park.

Anyway, beyond Arrowhead Provincial Park specifically, he told me that the Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club - which operates out of the park - is also big on inclusivity.

Apparently they have several different types of sit skis, including one that’s a kneeling style.

He told me about a former high school gym teacher that took the lead on starting a para nordic program there, too. He’s been working with the Canadian National team for para nordic sport, and is doing lessons and programs.

Very cool!

Pets

During the winter, the usual pet beach and dog exercise area aren’t accessible (Except by ski trails, and dogs aren’t allowed on those!).

That said, Arrowhead now has a multi-use trail that allows dog walking on it - the Lookout Classic Trail.

It’s 3 km long and rated moderate when it’s a biking trail in the summer.

If you’re into it, Skijoring is also allowed on that trail. Why walk your dog, when you dog can walk YOU? LOL!

Anyway - as always - dogs are to be leashed and supervised at all times, picked up after, and are not allowed to harass other campers or wildlife.

Parking

The winter pull-through camp sites are generally fairly large, we had no problem parking our car in addition to the camper.

There’s also a ton of parking available at the Visitor Centre area, and a moderate number of spots available at the Lookout Classic Trail head, near the bridge, and at the skating trail. Limited spots are available at the comfort station and Big Bend Lookout.

As mentioned, the parking lots have been really well maintained during each of our winter visits.

Miscellaneous

Once again, weather and sky conditions foiled our hopes of seeing Northern Lights at Arrowhead for the first time. EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS POTENTIAL!

Damn cloud cover!!! It’s so frustrating to get KP notices when there’s 100% cloud cover.

Anyway, the bridge would be a great spot, it faces north over Arrowhead Lake, with very little light pollution in that direction. Some day, we’ll time things right!
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

While limited camping is available year-round, most campground amenities close for the season.

Here’s some basic information on what to expect for winter camping:

Creature Comforts

Only one of the Arrowhead comfort stations is open during the winter season - the one near the entrance to the East River Campground.

This heated comfort station has flush toilets, warm showers, a dishwashing station, and potable water, but no laundry facilities.

Water gets shut off to all the campgrounds, so all of the other comfort stations, water taps, and washroom facilities close for the winter.

The unfortunate thing is that this comfort station is pretty far from the only winter camping area in the park - definitely more of a drive than a walk, especially given the condition of the roads.

Anyway, there are also washrooms at the Visitor Centre, and at the trailhead for the Lookout Classic Trail.

Park Store / Visitor Centre

The Arrowhead park store - in the Visitor Centre - is super cute, and it’s WAY too easy to spend a lot of money there.

There’s a whole rack of locally made maple syrup goodness - maple sugar, maple syrup, maple jelly, just all kinds of things - as well as locally roasted coffee, craft sodas, snacks, the usual camping gear, etc.

There were even locally made lip balms and such!

This park has a bigger selection of campground stickers and such than others we’ve seen, including HOLOGRAPHIC options.

It felt classy, too. It looked really nice, we enjoyed the variety, etc.

The employee told us that the maple stuff in particular was made by a local family - that he could call them up and he’d have his order delivered by the kids within a few hours.

Very cool! There’s also a lounge area and fireplace - the perfect place for people to hang out in and warm up after an afternoon of skiing or snowshoeing.

You can also buy firewood in the shop, by the way.

Rentals

Arrowhead Provincial Park has such a robust winter equipment rental program, they have a whole separate building for it.

The Pavilion is located right next to the Visitor Centre, and offers both skate and classic cross country skis, skates, snowshoes, sit skis, and an ice sledge for rental.

They also rent out ski boots, poles, and helmets.

Campsite Details

Only one very small camping area is open for winter camping: The pull-through section, which has only 7 campsites!

Though these are generally considered trailer campsites, they’re booked for both car camping and hot tenting.

Weirdly, hot tents seem to be more popular than RVs or trailers, during our stays there in the winter!

Each of the sites has electrical hook up, a fire pit, and picnic table... though the picnic tables don’t seem to get much use in the winter.

There isn’t anything in the way of backcountry camping, but you can book roofed accommodations, in the form of rustic cabins.

Arrowhead has 13 camp cabins available for rent, each with a queen bed and a double/single bunk bed, as well as a kitchenette inside, and a gas BBQ outside.

They’re SUPER cute, and there are short paths connecting the cabins to parking and the ice skating area.

As a note: You can’t park RIGHT at the cabins, so there’s a rack of toboggans to help you bring your stuff to your cabin from the parking lot.

Entertainment and Activity

Arrowhead is a HAVEN of winter activities, and have something for pretty much every interest and skill level.

As always, you’ll want to check the Ontario Parks Snow Report page for updated information on winter conditions.

Anyway, some details on the winter activity options at Arrowhead Provincial Park:

Hiking

There’s really not much in the way of winter hiking available - pretty much all of the trails get converted to ski trails, and you’re not allowed to walk / hike on those ski trails.

You really have three options:

Big Bend Lookout

This one isn’t so much a hike, as it is a short walk to a sight seeing stop. The trail is not listed on the winter map, but the parking for it is - it’s the one near the far end of the pull-through winter camping area.

From that little parking lot, it’s less than a 5 minute walk from the parking to the viewing platform. Very flat, even, easy. It’s super popular, even in winter, so it’s always well-packed snow.

The platform looks out over a big loop of Big East River, and the surrounding area.

It was cool to see with the fall colours, but we both liked it even more in winter. Really great view!

Note: You’ll need to cross a ski trail to get from the parking to the walking path. Be sure to step OVER the ski tracks, to not mess them up for the cross-country skiers!

Stubb’s Falls - 2 km, Easy

This trail is marked as being a snowshoeing trail, but seems to get just as much use as a winter hiking trail.

During the non-winter season, the trail is said to be easy on the campground side of it, and from what we could see on our section, that was accurate - wide trail, quite flat, well groomed and well packed.

The other side of the trail is supposed to be a little more challenging, though I’m not sure exactly what all that entails, we haven’t done it yet!

At the falls themselves - regardless of which side you approach them from, be ready to climb down a fair amount of stairs.

While you can get a decent view of the falls from the bridge over them, the really stunning views come from leaving the main trail, and venturing off onto a side trail, down by the actual rock chute.

Here, you can walk out onto the rocks that border the waterfalls on one side, getting RIGHT up to the rushing rapids.

Gorgeous, always a fantastic experience!

As a note - for REALLY good views of the falls, you have to walk down over uneven embankments, rocks, etc... It can be dangerous even in the summer, and that’s WITHOUT all the ice involved in winter.

Having been there already was a definite advantage, we knew what to expect under the snow and ice.

If you’re going to do it, just be careful and don’t do anything stupid, eh?

Lookout Classic Trail

This 3 km trail exists on both the main season and winter trail maps, but the only description of it on the site is that it’s a “moderately challenging mountain biking trail”

That said, it’s the only listed trail that is designated for walking and hiking during the winter months.

It’s actually a fully multi-use trail, for hiking, classic cross country skiing, skijoring, snow shoeing, fat biking, and walking dogs. The trailhead is at the parking lot that’s right after the first park office, as you’re entering the park.

One cool thing to note is that it had a sign at the front, showing you which activities it was open for at the time. Weirdly, it listed the skiing as closed, but the skijoring as being open. Huh.

Anyway, it’s a relatively hilly, well groomed, and wide trail. Porter walked it, and didn’t feel like snow shoes were at all necessary, as it was so well packed.

It has a nice enough lookout - no deck or anything, just a view out over the area. Honestly, the view at Big Bend is a lot nicer.

Overall, a really enjoyable walk through a few different kinds of forest.

Fat Biking

I don’t find myself writing about bike trail availability much, when it comes to these winter camping reviews... but they actually do offer winter biking at Arrowhead Provincial Park!

As previously mentioned, the multi-use trail (Lookout Classic Trail) allows for snow biking - this is the only trail you’re allowed to fat bike on.

It’s 3 km long and rated as a Moderate trail for summer, I have no idea how this would translate to a fat bike!

Birding, Wildlife, and Nature

While I think Arrowhead is supposed to be a great place for birding in general - and we’ve definitely seen a ton of cool birds on previous trips - it’s been kind of a bust during winter camping trips.

This time around, we heard: American Crow, American Goldfinch, Black-Capped Chickadees, White-Breasted Nuthatch.

Just heard - didn’t see a single non-human sign of life during our stay!

Cross Country Skiing

Arrowhead’s big draw is their cross-country skiing - including 28 km of classic ski trails and 16 km of skate ski trails, covering all levels of difficulty.

The cross-country ski trails make up the bulk of the winter trails in the park, and the trail conditions are kept updated on the Ontario Parks Snow Report.

The skiing seemed very popular while we were there the first time, and the last day most of the trails were closed off for what seemed to be a pretty large competition.

We didn’t know much about skiing - neither of us having been skiing in 30 years or so - but it inspired us to buy skis for the following year!

We finally got to check out the skiing at Arrowhead this season, and had a blast!

We barely scraped the surface in terms of exploring the ski trails during our recent stay at Arrowhead, but here’s the quick overview of what they have:

Arrowhead Provincial Park Ski Trails

Arrowhead Lake Trail - 5.1 km, Moderate, Classic and Skate Skiing.

Beaver Meadow Trail - 5 km, Moderate, Classic Skiing.*

Bunny Trail - 1 km, Easy, Classic Skiing

East River Trail - 6 km, Easy, Classic Skiing

Homesteaders Trail - 2.8 km, Difficult, Skate Skiing

Lookout Trail - 3 km, Moderate, Multiuse Trail

Lumby Trail - 4.5 km, Moderate, Classic and Skate Skiing

Roe Trail - 2.5 km, Easy (Accessible/Adaptive), Classic and Skate Skiing

Sprint - 1 km, Difficult, Classic Skiing

* You’ll need to ski a couple moderate km each way to get to and from that trail, not included in the distance listed.

Snow Shoeing

Living in the tropics of Canada, we haven’t seen a lot in terms of winter these past 5 years.

That didn’t stop me from buying 2 sets of snow shoes on clearance on Boxing Day last year, though - talk about hopeful optimism, LOL!

We finally got to try snowshoeing on our trip last year - the first time either of us had done it since elementary school!

Arrowhead has 8+ km of snowshoe trails, and we got our start on the Stubb’s Falls trail, starting out from the Poop Loop parking lot.

We ended up getting WAY further than we thought we would for our first time out, had a blast!

Beyond the Stubb’s Falls Trails (there are 3 branches that kind of converge near the falls), there’s also:

Mayflower Lake Trail - 2km, Moderate

Lookout Classic Trail - 3 km, Moderate (Mixed use trail)

Ice Skating

I may not know about cross country skiing, but my focus was FIRMLY set on the ice trail on our trip last year.

It’s only 1.3 km long, but the idea of skating through a forest on a trail lined with torches sounded AMAZING.

We brought our own ice skates, but they do offer ice skate rentals at the park.

As it turns out, we were unable to book during one of the “Fire and Ice” events - they’re only on Friday and Saturday nights - so we went skating first thing in the morning.

Arrowhead has a super cute setup for getting your skates on - two little areas with benches, cubbyholes for your stuff, and even fire pits:

As it turns out, it was probably a good thing that we weren’t able to book during the evening skates - that ice trail had the scariest ice I’ve ever skated on in my life!

I can’t imagine navigating it in the dark!

Though we were the first ones on after the morning ice conditioning, there were super deep ruts in the ice, it was incredibly uneven.

Beyond the ruts, the ice had a weird texture, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was almost like stacked layers of thin ice, with air pockets between?

The layers would crack and break as you skated over it - super disconcerting. The best way I can describe it is that the ice texture was a lot like baklava. SO weird!

One of my friends from figure skating commented on my ice photo (below) to say she’d been there a previous year, and had a magical experience with great ice.

We’re both chalking it up to the weird weather we’d been having that winter.

Ice Fishing

While it’s not really mentioned on the website, according to Arrowhead Provincial Park Management Plan, you can apparently go ice fishing on both lakes during regular rainbow and brook trout fishing season.

That said, Arrowhead Lake isn’t necessarily a great place for it, especially in the area near the road / beach / etc. Moving water = the ice nearby isn’t likely to be safe.

The park does not encourage you to go ice fishing, by the way, they just won’t STOP you from doing it.

Anyway, we did see a few people ice fishing on Mayflower Lake on our recent stay.

You'll need a fishing license, of course. Also, they don't allow fishing huts or fires out on the ice.

Discovery Program

Arrowhead Discovery programming is limited to the summer months.

Niantic Games

Cell service - on Rogers Wireless - has been pretty spotty in general (across multiple stays), but enough that we were able to get a few daily spins and catches in, no problem.

There’s a stop and a gym at Big Bend outlook, a few around the visitor center area - not a ton, but enough to get your dailies anyway.

That said, if you’re camping during an event and need to get some tasks done, Huntsville is just a 10 minute drive away, and has a TON of stops and gyms all through town.

Final Thoughts

Aside from a few little issues, Arrowhead Provincial Park is pretty much the ideal when it comes to winter camping in Ontario.

There’s a great variety of trails - different lengths and difficulties, as well as variety in terms of what winter sports you can do.

Whether you’re into classic cross country skiing, skate skiing, snow shoeing, ice skating, skijoring or even just taking a hike in the snow, there’s something for you at Arrowhead Provincial Park in the winter.

The trails are really well groomed, have a great layout, and the park has the set up and has the capacity to host a TON of people for those activities.

Arrowhead is a park that clearly has been doing this for a while, and is VERY good at what they do.

I think for some parks, the winter camping is almost an after thought. Like they’ll open for it, but not put any special effort into it.

At Arrowhead, I’d go so far as to say that they’re even better in the winter, than in the summer. It’s a real DESTINATION for winter outdoor enthusiasts!

It’s unfortunate that they have a VERY limited amount of campsites, though - so you’ll definitely want to plan ahead! They’re meticulously maintained, though, and the fact that they’re all pull-through and 50 amp service is especially nice when it comes to winter camping.

Obviously we’ll be back!

More Winter Camping Posts

Want to try winter camping in Ontario? Here are our reviews on a few of the parks that offer winter camping, as well as some of the more winter-specific recipes we make, etc!:

Winter Camping in Ontario:

Algonquin Provincial Park Winter Camping [Mew Lake Campground]
Killbear Provincial Park Winter Camping
MacGregor Point Provincial Park Winter Camping
Pinery Provincial Park Winter Camping
Silent Lake Provincial Park Winter Camping
Valens Lake Conservation Area Winter Camping

Winter Camping Recipes and Activities:

Campfire Roasted Spiced Nuts
Gingerbread Pancake Mix
How to Make Maple Taffy over a Campfire
How to Roast Chestnuts on an Open Fire