Winter camping in Algonquin Provincial Park can be an absolutely magical experience. Here's everything you need to know about doing so!
Originally Published December 10, 2024. Updated 3/6/2025
We’d just packed up the Yanksgiving leftovers the day before (We’d cooked our turkey up a day earlier than our American friends!), and woke up to some interesting numbers for possible aurora hunting.
I checked the cloud cover forecast for Algonquin, confirmed that we’d even be able to get a site, and suggested that we throw the cats in the truck and take a last minute cold camping trip.
Honestly kind of shocked that Porter went for it, as he hadn’t completely finished turning the RV over since our big fall trip!
Nonetheless, at about 8 am on Thursday we booked a waterfront campsite for 3 days, and a few hours later, we were on the road!
Algonquin was completely spared from those winter storms, though. We arrived to a scene straight out of a Hallmark Christmas movie, and it stayed that way for the duration of our stay.
We hadn’t gotten around to putting our skis, snowshoes, or skates in the truck yet - we honestly hadn’t been expecting snow, for some reason - but we had an amazing time. We spent a few days on the trails, seeing more wildlife than we’ve ever seen in a single camping trip!
It wasn’t our first time winter camping at Algonquin Provincial Park, but it was definitely our best time to date!
Lots to talk about, so lets get to it! (This post has since been updated with new info from our early March trip, as well!)
The Basics:
Campground Name: Mew Lake Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park
Address: Hwy 60 P.O. Box 219 Whitney, ON K0J 2M0
Website: https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/algonquin/mewlake
Price: Ontario Provincial Parks uses a pricing matrix across all their parks. See 2025 Camping Fees for more details on reservation and additional vehicle fees..
Reservations: Ontario Parks Reservations
Park Classification: Natural Environment
Season: January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025
Logistics
Algonquin Provincial Park is open year-round, though some aspects are gated or otherwise restricted in the winter months.
While most of the camping closes down over the winter season, camping is available year-round in the Mew Lake Campground. There, you’ll find electric and non-electric sites, as well as roofed accommodations - both yurts and cabins.
Something to keep in mind - Algonquin Provincial Park is about 55 km across - along Highway 60 - and all of the campgrounds and attraction locations are referenced by the km, reading from the west side of the park.
Mew Lake Campground is JUST past the 30 km mark, so it’s nicely centrally located.
Some more information to help you plan your trip:
Registration and Check In
As always, registration was quick and easy online, via the Ontario Parks registration portal.
Every time we’ve gone camping in the winter it was easy to get a great spot - even on short notice. (As expected, our summer stay involved a round of the 7am booking Hunger Games.)
During the winter trips, the Mew Lake campground office was closed for the season.
The park now operates on a paperless permit set up, and the park asks you to preregister online if you can - and we do.
(You can always check in at the east gate or west gate park office if not!).
Weirdly, there was someone set up in our site when we arrived in November. They said that they had intended to book at the gate, but arrived after closing time - so they just grabbed our site.
They were nice enough - and got out pretty quickly - but it was annoying to have to wait in the road, as the sun was setting.
There were plenty of non-waterfront sites that were empty, I guess I just found it really entitled and presumptuous to squat on one of the premium sites, you know?
Anyway, it was a bit of annoyance for us, but it ended up being the only negative point of the weekend - score!
Maps and Signage
Some basic information on finding your way around Mew Lake Campground, and Algonquin PP overall:
Park Map
At the time of our November trip, the campground map was the same giant newspaper map that is used for all of the Algonquin campgrounds, year-round.
Pretty unwieldy, especially when the vast majority of the park ISN’T open year-round. Most of it doesn’t apply during the winter!
We liked how Arrowhead Provincial Park had a winter-specific map - would have been nice to see a winter-specific info booklet for Algonquin.
It’s really hard to tell what trails / parking lots / etc are open or closed, especially with spotty internet.
One was a double sided, full colour, 11 x 17 sheet. On one side it had a map of the full Hwy 60 corridor, info on the trails, etc.
The other side had information about winter activities throughout the park, as well as some more general info. (You can find it as a pdf at Algonquin Winter Guide)
It had maps of all the ski trails, as well as the “skiers code” and some general info about cross country skiing in Algonquin Provincial Park - more on that in a bit, though!
Signage
It’s a small park, but the signage left a bit to be desired on our first trip.
As first-time winter campers, we ended up taking the long way around to get to our first camp site, as the first turnoff wasn’t clearly marked - we didn’t want to end up having to try and turn around, if it wasn’t where we were wanting to go.
In the camping area, you basically had to be on top of a side road, before you could see which camp sites were down that road.
That said, if you go all the way to the row by the lake - where we were staying - you have one sign pointing you to either the main block of campsites to the right, or the smaller block off to the left.
Anyway, slightly annoying ... but it’s a really small park. After our first stay there, we had the hang of it all, and don’t tend to even look at the signs anymore.
Water & Waste Services
There’s only one trailer sanitation station that’s at all accessible in the winter, a short drive up the highway. It’s about 6 km east of Mew Lake, across from the East Beach area.
It’s closed for most of the winter, but - on our November stay - the dump platforms were open and functioning. No hose to rinse, but at least we could dump our waste.
Unfortunately, the platforms were completely blocked off during our March visit. We’d had our hopes up when we saw that the road was well plowed, but the plowing formed a GIANT snow barricade across the dump platforms.
It’s too bad - they plow that drive and parking lot as a staging area for dog sledding, you’d think it wouldn’t be much more effort to clear the trailer sanitation lanes.
There’s one tap on the outside (left side of the building, as you’re looking at it from the parking lot), and another in the laundry room.
We used the outside tap to fill 5 gallon jugs, and filled our tank from there.
So... you may or may not have access to dump, but water shouldn’t be a problem if you’re camping in the off-season. It’s a good idea your own water, if possible - less hassle!
Anyway, good news: you don’t have to travel too far for a garbage and recycling center - there’s one right in the Mew Lake Campground area.
We spent a long time at the garbage area during this recent stay... more on that in a bit, though!
Snow Plowing
The snow removal, when they did it, was pretty immaculate.
Our first two winter trips to Algonquin, our campsite was plowed really well. On the march trip, there was several inches of snow on the ground. It was the really light, fluffy kind, though, so it wasn’t awful.
That said, we definitely got snowed in at one point on our first trip - last year - and our car got stuck on the highway exit to the campground at another, as it seemed the snow plows didn’t start til later in the morning.
They also seem to triage the snow plowing, with the campground and visitor centre areas looking to have priority.
The Logging Museum and Spruce Bog Boardwalk also seemed to have some sort of priority, while other trail parking lots don’t seem to get plowed as quickly / as often.
You may or may not have access to the parking lot of any given trail, so I recommend having alternate plans in the general area, just in case.
Connectivity
Cell reception has been pretty spotty across all of our trips to Algonquin Provincial Park, but... consistently so, at least.
Generally speaking, it’s been fantastic at the waterfront sites, randomly either decent or nonexistent at the other hydro sites (between the waterfront row and the comfort station.)
We had barely any signal anywhere else in the campground, except for having decent reception along the Provoking Falls trail.
We tend to have decent reception along the boardwalk trail, and fantastic reception at the visitor center.
If you need to get work done online, camping out at the visitor center parking lot is a great way to get that done.
Also: We tend to have a better signal very early in the morning, for some reason.
Note: We’re on Rogers Wireless.
Accessibility
Unfortunately, I’m coming to the conclusion that winter camping seems to be less-than accessible, across the board.
In terms of Mew Lake Campground specifically, there are 2 barrier-free campsites, right next to the comfort station, and the comfort station has wheelchair accessible toilets and showers.
As I mentioned, they’ve been good about snow removal during our stays, so getting around the actual campground roads might not be an issue.
Also: the two vault toilets near the beach area were also marked as being wheelchair accessible.
The wheelchair accessible trails - Spruce Bog Boardwalk, and the Logging Museum are inaccessible in the winter months, with the boardwalk trail being open - and ungroomed - for snow shoeing.
We were able to walk the both of them during our stay, but the snow and ice definitely took the rails up to what I’d consider a “moderate”, from a hampered mobility point of view.
Beyond those two, none of the trails are rated “Easy”, and the ones that we’ve done in the “moderate” rating generally aren’t anything you’d want to face with any other kind of mobility aid during the winter months.
The Visitor Centre itself is also barrier-free for the most part - they don’t tend to keep up on the snow removal, when it comes to the ramp out to the little fire tower thing out back.
Pets
We’ve definitely seen better campgrounds when it comes to dogs.
As always, dogs are supposed to be leashed at all times, and all the other normal rules apply - no excessive barking, no harassing other campers, pets, or wildlife, and owners have to pick up after their dogs.
Mew Lake Campground has a dog beach / “pet recreation area” ... sort of. In the regular season, it’s a tiny, kind of a gross area of the lake.
In the winter, you can’t really see where the beach there starts and ends, which can be an issue early in the season.
Beyond that, it has no parking nearby, and just wasn’t super inviting.
That said, we did see a few people dog sledding through the campground during our first winter stay, and THOSE dogs looked like they were having a blast!
More on that in a bit, though.
Parking
Anywhere you need to go is likely to have a parking lot - the trail heads, visitor centre, etc - and there’s plenty of parking available for the number of people who camp there in cold temperatures.
As mentioned earlier, though, the lots may or may not be plowed, and some may be gated.
In general, you’re good for the comfort station and visitor centre, likely to be good for Spruce Bog Boardwalk and the Logging Museum, and then the other trail parking lots can be hit and miss.
If it’s snowed recently, you’ll definitely want to keep your plans to the main areas for a bit.
Miscellaneous
Mew Lake Campground has a fantastic lack of light pollution, which makes for great night-sky viewing. The best view is from the beach - or the waterfront sites in the hydro section.
Alternatively, there’s the Old Railway Bike Trail in the former air field. It’s also a big open area with a great view of the sky.
Beyond that, you can get some pretty nice sunsets over Mew Lake, from the hydro side of the campground.
We haven’t actually had any auroral activity during our winter stays yet, but we spent some time out on a clear night, taking night sky photos right from outside our RV.
Magical!
Just remember: Algonquin is almost Northern Ontario, so dress warm and maybe have some hot chocolate on hand!
Campground Amenities & Info
As we visited during the off season, many of the regular campground amenities were closed for the season.
Here’s some basic information, though:
Creature Comforts
There’s a heated comfort station that’s more or less centrally located in the campground, with laundry facilities, flush toilets, and showers.
This is the first time I’ve had to mention heating for a comfort station, but hey - no one wants to meet a frozen toilet seat, when visiting washroom facilities in the winter season!
The comfort station itself - and the vault toilet we used once on the last visit - were in good condition. We haven’t had a reason to use the laundry facility, so far.
Park Store
The Algonquin Park Store - Lake of Two Rivers Store - only operates from early May-Thanksgiving. Opeongo is also closed - and the road is gated off well in advance of the store, anyway.
There was a small camp store at the west gate, but mostly just a limited selection of park souvenirs.
In terms of firewood purchases, there’s a self serve firewood station next to the Mew Lake Park office. There’s a payment box on site, so be sure to bring some cash!
Visitor Centre
We visited the Visitor Center - as well as the Algonquin Logging Museum - during our an earlier fall stay in another Algonquin campground - see our Canisbay Lake Campground review for all the details.
Anyway, the visitor centre was open during our winter trip, but the fire tower boardwalk trail has not been cleared of snow on any winter trip we’ve taken.
The visitor centre parking lot was a fantastic location for birding, during our earlier winter camping visits to Algonquin... that’s not the case anymore. (See the birding section - a bit further down this post - for details!).
Day Use Area
The beach and day-use area in the Mew Lake campground goes uncleared in the winter, and really ... not sure how much picnicking you’d want to do in the snow.
That said, it provides easy access to Mew Lake for snowshoeing and skiing, if you don’t have a waterfront site!
Campsite Details
Mew Lake Campground provides a few different types of camping opportunities for winter campers:
Car Camping
Mew Lake campground has just over 130 campsites. Many of the sites are waterfront sites, about half of the sites have electrical hook-ups, and most have at least some degree of tree cover.
As always, picnic tables - and a fire pit - are pretty standard with the campsites.
The car camping are is divided into 3 sections:
Wabisheshi / Marten Campground: A small section of non-electrical sites, right next to the highway. Cute - seems to be mostly tent camping - but really loud from highway noise. Also, it seems to be available for only part of the winter season.
Pagwadjiminan / Berries Campground: The main block of camp sites, this is the hydro site section. It’s located in the center of the campground, with easy access to the beach and comfort station. HUGE sites, for the most part.
There’s also a little line of non-electric, waterfront sites between this campground and Makwa Campground.
Makwa / Bear Campground: A small section of pet and radio-free campsites, most of which are waterfront. These non-electrical sites have quite a bit more privacy than the Berries campground sites.
Our Sites
We’ve stayed at a few sites so far: 3 different electric ones, and a day at a non-electric one in the Makwa campground.
Our favourite sites have been the waterfront electric site we have had on our winter stays - gorgeous views of the lake and sky, fairly private, and HUGE.
The more interior electric sites are all huge, but don’t have much in the way of privacy - or cellular reception. It was fun to be such a short walk from the skating rink, though!
Really, all of the sites here seem great, though there are some drawbacks, depending on the location. (Road noise, lack of cell reception, lack of electricity, etc)
Note: Algonquin Provincial Park offers backcountry winter camping, but we are NOT backcountry campers. As we have no idea what we’re talking about on that front, we don’t have any information on winter backcountry camping.
Roofed Accommodations
There are two different styles of roofed accommodation at Mew Lake: Cabins and Yurts, available year-round:
Yurts
The yurts are cute little soft sided shelters, basically a step up from a four-season tent. Probably a lot warmer and more secure than a winter tent, when camping in the snow, too!
There are 6 of them in the Mew Lake Campground, also located in the Berries campground.
Like the cabins, each of winter yurt comes with 2 sets of bunk beds, a table, chairs, electricity (1 outlet), lighting, and heating.
Unlike the cabins, none of the yurts allow pets inside.
Bottom: Cabins
Rustic Cabin
The 4 “Rustic Cabins” are cute little wood-finished cabins, located in the “Berries” campground.
Each of the camp cabins comes with a couple sets of bunk beds, a table, and chairs, and has electricity, heating, and fluorescent lighting.
One of the 4 even allows pets!
Update: This MAY have changed, but we have conflicting information on it. The winter camp we were given has the line about dogs being allowed in onw crossed out with a sharpie. If you’re planning to bring a dog, be sure to check with the park when booking!
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Entertainment and Activity
Algonquin Park has a lot of opportunities for taking part in winter activities, and is just about the perfect place for winter outdoor enthusiasts. Here are the main options:
Hiking
Hiking is going to be INCREDIBLY dependant on weather, snow/winter conditions and skill level, as well as access to the trails.
Trails aren’t maintained by the park in the winter months. Snow cleats and walking sticks are usually a good idea, as you can expect to run into icy conditions.
Also, they don’t always plow the parking lots for the trail heads, so be sure to have a backup plan if you’re looking to do winter hiking in Algonquin.
Here are the trails we have done in the winter:
Logging Museum Trail - 1.5 km, Easy
We walked this trail before there was much in the way of snow accumulation, what snow WAS on the ground, was relatively well packed.
That said, the trails aren’t plowed during the winter - just the parking lot and highway entrance.
It’s a nice walk - relatively flat, but with some gentle inclines. You’ll walk through a forest, past a bunch of outdoor exhibits, a small lake, and even a log chute.
Provoking Falls Trail - 1.9 km, Easy
We wrote about this trail - and waterfall - in our Provoking Falls, Algonquin Provincial Park post.
It was a beautiful walk on our most recent trip. Still a very easy walk - it’s a popular one, so it was WELL packed.
We were hoping to see the waterfall iced over, but it was still flowing well at the time of our late November trip. We’ll definitely need to go back to see it later in the winter.
Note: This trail isn’t really shown on any of the Algonquin Park maps.
Spruce Bog Boardwalk Trail - 1.65 km, Easy
If you manage to get out to Algonquin Provincial Park early enough in the winter, you can walk the Spruce Bog trail.
Later in the year, it can be snowed over to the point where you really need snowshoes - and it’s a great snowshoe trail! Before the snow gets that deep, though, it’s a lovely walk!
The water was a lot lower than it was on our last trip, when the boardwalk was actually partially submerged in one area. This time, we walked it several inches above the waterline, no worries about getting wet.
The boardwalk crosses the bog then goes back into a wooded area, before curling back around, going over a cute foot bridge, and taking you back to the parking lot.
Expect to see a lot of friendly chickadees along the way - they like to dive bomb visitors!
Whiskey Rapids Trail - 2.1 km, Moderate
November 2024 is the first time we’ve done the Whiskey Rapids Trail, and it was after at least a couple of snowfalls.
I’m sure we’ll eventually do this one in the spring/summer/fall, but really... we’re assuming it’ll be a let down at any other time of year.
You’ll definitely want some winter boots that are waterproof and have good grip, as there are a couple steep sections, and they get slippery.
You start off with a fairly steep descent, then walk along Oxtongue River all the way - about ⅔ of the loop - to Whiskey Rapids.
Once you reach the rapids, the trail turns back and beelines to the parking lot - a much shorter walk, and nowhere near as scenic as the first section.
Most of the trail is easy, but there are some difficult sections. There are a few sets of stairs, some boardwalk, and a few places where we had to cross water. It gets icy! Also, the signage says it’s 2.1 km, it’s actually over 2.34.
Update: Scratch that. At some point, the driveway to this trail is gated -we probably got in right before that point, I kind of wonder if December 1 is the gating point?
Anyway, the trail doesn’t even appear on the winter trail map at all, so clearly it’s not intended to be a winter possibility.
Hiking Trail Update!
During our March trip, we were given a winter guide that had much better information on the status of the trails in the off season - see the image below.
The ones listed under the red bar are the ones that seem to have regularly plowed parking lots.
The ones under the orange bar are more iffy. During our March stay, at least half of the parking lots for the orange section trails were either gated or just completely unplowed / barricaded off by snow banks.
Birding, Wildlife, and Nature
Up until this most recent trip, the extent of our wildlife viewing on our Algonquin winter camping trips was pretty much just birds.
Bird Watching
The bird watching is great, particularly at the Spruce Bog Boardwalk Trail, West Gate, and the Visitor Centre parking lot.
That parking lot is a particularly great place for birding, as they put up bird feeders around December 1st. We’ve seen lots of grosbeaks and crossbills there in the winter.
All told - on our winter trips - we’ve seen: American Crow, Black-Capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Canada Jay, Common Raven, Evening Grosbeak, Pine Grosbeak, Pine Siskin, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Red Crossbill, White-Winged Crossbill, & Wild Turkeys.
There was a single Red-Breasted Nuthatch that was OBSESSED with us, at the boardwalk trail parking lot during our March 2025 visit. It kept flying up to us individually, landed on Porter’s camera lens and stared him down for a while.
It even hovered like a hummingbird a few inches from his face at one point - I didn’t know they could do that! It was super cute though.
Update:
Our November trip ended before they put up the bird feeders for the year, we assumed it was the same situation as last year.
That is not the case.
They no longer have bird feeders at the Spruce Bog Boardwalk, Opengo Road, or in the Visitor Centre parking lot. This seems to be a last minute change, as all three are mentioned in the bird watching section of the winter map we were given.
... but they’re crossed off with a Sharpie.
Anyway, the visitor centre still has bird feeders, but now they’re out back. You can view them via the observation deck out back. Unfortunately, that requires you to go through the visitor Centre... so you’re limited to bird watching during their open hours.
That said, there IS the Algonquin Park Wild Bird Cam that is a live stream of the feeder.
It’s a bit annoying - fairly low res, from a distance, and it randomly goes from close up to very wide angle... usually when there’s finally something of interest at the feeder!
2nd Row: Evening Grosbeak, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Wild Turkey
Bottom: White-Winged Crossbill, Pine Siskin, Red Crossbill, Pine Siskin
Campground Wildlife
That November trip, though, was a wildlife jackpot!
It started with daily visits with the beavers along Opeongo Rd. On one trip, one was maybe 10 meters away from us, facing us, munching on a branch - so cute! The next day, one of them came right up onto the road!
Then, we finally saw Pine Martens!
At least 3 of them hang out by the garbage cans in the Mew Lake Campground... and they’re RIDICULOUSLY cute. We went to see them several times, and saw at least one of them each time.
I don’t know if it’s normally such a sure bet, but they were reliably there for our whole stay. (A bit less reliably so during our March stay, but we saw one!)
Those little growls! They were hilarious, coming from such cute little faces. They really thought they were hunting the Blue Jays, but it was pretty obvious that the Blue Jays were trolling them.
Blue Jays are jerks, but still - very entertaining to watch!
A Red Fox came right up to us when we were watching the Martens one time... gorgeous, but WAY too friendly and unafraid of humans. No wonder there were so many signs about not feeding the animals :(.
THE MOOSE!!
This trip, however... we finally saw a moose!
Every time we’re in Algonquin, we’re up early, hoping to see one - and we’ve never had any luck on that front. We’d pretty much given up on it, the day we were pulling up.
We were driving along Highway 60, just checking out the road conditions before taking our alternate route home. I look over, and - all of a sudden - I find myself shouting “Moose. MOOSE! I SEE A MOOSE!! It has HORNS!”
Yeah, I said “horns” rather than “antlers”. Yes, I knew the difference - the whole thing seemed to happen without me having any control over it, I was so excited.
This was near the entrance to the East Beach area, and he was in the woods. We got a few crappy, obscured photos before he moved on...
We slowly drove ahead to a side road and pulled over, hoping he’d cross into that clearing - which he did!
He was crouched on the ground photographing the moose, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye, near him.
Another fox! I have no idea where he came from, but he walked right up behind Porter - it was like something out of those wildlife photographer posts you see!
The moose started walking towards us, so Porter got back into the car... as the fox stole his glove. He hadn’t even noticed that he’d dropped the glove, but the fox started running off with it.
It was all very cute. He dropped the glove, so it all ended well. Porter wouldn’t have even noticed he’d dropped it in the first place, had the fox not run off with it!
Anyway, yeah. The whole encounter was surreal. We finally saw a moose!
2nd Row: Moose, Red Fox
Cross Country Skiing
While we didn’t own any cross-country skis last winter, our experience on that trip inspired us to buy a pair on spring clearance, looking forward to later this season!
Anyway, Algonquin has a few networks of dedicated cross-country ski trails, with all kind of different lengths and degrees of difficulty.
These are:
Fen Lake Ski Trail (West Gate of the park): 4 different groomed and track set ski trail loops, with a 6 km section that also has a lane for skate skiing. Fen Lake Ski Trail Map
Leaf Lake Ski Trail (Not sure where this one is, I don’t see it on the map!): Groomed trails ranging from 5-51 km in length, and of all difficulty levels. Many of the trails are track set trails, and there are 3 loops for skate skiing. Leaf Lake Ski Trail Map
Minnesing Trail (Near Canisbay Lake): This is a bike trail in the summer. Not sure if it’s actually going to be open for cross-country skiers, as the trail was closed to hiking both last fall, and during our summer trip. If it is, it’s 4 loops of ungroomed trails. Minnesing Wilderness Ski Trail Map
Can’t wait to try it out later this winter!
If you’re looking at going skiing, check out the Ontario Parks Snow Report to see current conditions.
Snowshoeing
We bought some snowshoes as a Boxing Day deal, and finally got to try them our during our winter trip last year. (We were too early in the season, for our late November trip this year).
Anyway, snowshoeing on the lake was amazing!
It would have been nice to see some sort of indication on ice safety/thickness - for all I know, it would have been safe to go all the way into the middle.
That would have been fun, but without any information we played it safe and kept close to the shore.
Later, we went snowshoeing at the Spruce Bog Boardwalk trail, a surprisingly great place for snowshoeing.
Unfortunately, I learned an important lesson about newbie technique in new, somewhat deep snow, and ended up screwing up my hamstrings by kind of scooping up the snow as I went.
Whoops! I’ll know better for next time. Ah well, it was magical while it lasted!
Anyway, there are all kinds of opportunities for snowshoeing in Algonquin Provincial Park. You can’t go on the groomed ski trails, but pretty much everywhere else is fair game!
Ice Skating
When the weather cooperates, they turn the comfort station parking area into a skating rink! (Again, we were too early in the season THIS time, but had a great time LAST year!)
There was a little shack near the rink to warm up after being out in the cold air, with a park-branded fire pit going nearby, and Christmas twinkle lights everywhere.
The rink was AMAZING.
The ice wasn’t great* (Though not as terrifying as it was when we visited Arrowhead Provincial Park!), but the ambiance was fantastic - the lights overhead, the fire next to it, the friendly people coming and going.
Had a great time!
* I use competitive figure skates, with a fairly short radius rocker. This is great when it comes to spinning and footwork, but doesn’t work well for really rough ice. Recreational skates tend to have MUCH more of the blade in contact with the ice, though!
Northern Lights
In general, Algonquin Provincial Park is a great spot for watching the aurora borealis, but it gets a little more... complicated... in the winter.
Generally speaking, the best places to see the aurora are all on the north side of the highway... and gated off for the winter.
The easiest spot to see aurora activity - when it hits - is going to be from the Mew Lake Campground, over the lake.
The area between the hydro and non-electric sites - along the south side of the lake - will have the best north-facing view... but it’s limited to campsites, so you’ll want to book those specifically, if you want that view. (They’re non-electric, though).
Luckily, the highway is more or less obscured by the trees in the campground, so that reduces some of light coming from highway traffic - a problem we’d had at the LOTR campground in the summer.
If we should end up getting lucky during a future winter stay at Algonquin, I think we’ll try Spruce Bog boardwalk. I’d imagine that the foot bridge would be a great spot to watch the lights from!
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.
Winter in the Wild Festival
Every year, Algonquin hosts the Winter in the Wild Festival.
This year, it’ll be on February 15, 2025 - but the schedule hasn’t been released yet. See the link above for details, as they’re announced.
Dogsledding
Apparently there are a couple commercial companies offering dog sledding opportunities in different areas of Algonquin Provincial Park.
We didn’t see any information about those during our stay, but we DID see more than one team dog sledding up the campground roads during our stay.
What a great idea - and it was fun to watch, too!
Anyway, there’s a staging area in the parking lot for the Trailer Sanitation Station - km 35 - and a Sunday Lake Dogsled Trail Map for the trails connected to that lot.
Discovery Program
The Discovery program is mostly limited to the summer months, and seems to get paused completely in the winter.
Niantic Games
As of our winter trip, there were 2 Pokestops and a gym in the Mew Lake campground, all kind of near the comfort station.
If you’re playing during an event, best to just drive to the visitor center parking lot. Several stops and a couple of gyms there, as well as plenty of signal!
Final Thoughts
We were already big fans of Algonquin Provincial Park - and winter camping at Algonquin, specifically - but this recent trip was just amazing.
We keep saying “magical” when talking about this particular trip, but it really was.
Everything from the way the snow glistened in the campgrounds, to the wildlife we saw, to the amazing winter vistas on the trails... just spectacular.
Because so much of our experience was based on weather / conditions / luck / etc, I should say...
To us, Algonguin Provincial Park is the gold standard of what Provincial Park winter camping should be. A good amount of the summer opportunities are still available, just... different.
The boardwalk trail may not be suitable for hiking all through the winter, but it’s fantastic as a snowshoe trail - that kind of thing.
The open facilities are kept up, and the park clearly invests time, money, and effort into making the winter camping experience as *whole* as any summer camping experience.
The thought they put into their rink area, for example, is something we haven’t seen matched anywhere. Some parks just let you have a bare-bones camping experience in the off season, Algonquin seems to really want it to be an experience all by itself, if that makes sense.
We had a great time - and we’re already looking forward to our next winter camping trip to Algonquin Provincial Park.
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:
Arrowhead Provincial Park Winter Camping
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
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