In our opinion, Pinery Provincial Park may be the only park in extreme southwestern Ontario that’s worth over night camping. Wheatley and Rondeau Provincial Park are great for a walk, and both are excellent for birding, but the Pinery just seems to offer better sites to camp. Maybe we are just camping snobs?
Pinery Provincial Park is around a 2 hour drive for us, and the only other time we have ever camped there was back in 2013 for a single night. We took full advantage this time around with sunny skies forecasted and went for 2 nights.
At just over 25 squared kilometres, “The Pinery” has 10 hiking trails, a bike trail and multiple campgrounds. The Old Ausable Channel runs right through the park offering a nice day paddle if you have a canoe, kayak, or stand up paddleboard. 10 kilometres of coastal dunes along the Lake Huron shoreline offer some spectacular sunsets which have been recognized by National Geographic to be some of the best in the world! The park is part of what little remains of the Carolinian Forest here in southern Ontario, notably for rare oak savannah.
The park is just big enough to offer solitude if we get out on the trails early in the morning. As for camping……well it was okay for a couple who find that even seeing another person is too crowded. We also had another reason to try some camping this weekend, as we bought a new MSR Elixer 2 tent.
Day # 1: Home to Pinery Provincial Park – Riverside Area 2 Site #567
Weather: Clear evening. Low: 1 C
As stated earlier, we saw that the weekend forecast looked favourable for camping so we took full advantage by leaving Friday afternoon with a stop in Chatham for a quick supper. We arrived at the park around 6pm, and after setting up the tent we bought firewood. For two bags of firewood along with one bag of kindling cost us $36.00.
Our site was medium sized and completely level. There was a picnic table, and a firepit with a built in grate. We could see our neighbours but we could barely hear their conversations which was nice. A chipmunk once in a while ran up to check us out. No doubt they are well fed here.
Tonight it was clear, calm, and cold. We had a fire and we even had some alcohol which we never bring with us backcountry camping. A Screech-Owl announced its presence nearby.
Our new MSR tent was really easy to put up and we both comfortably fit inside. There are 3 poles to this tent with the 3rd pole allowing us more head room than our old 2 pole tent. The pockets in the new tent are in different locations than our old tent so that is going to get some getting used to.
Wildlife Sightings: Eastern Cottontail, Eastern Chipmunk, Eastern Screech-owl, Grey Squirrel, Wild Turkey, Canada Goose, People.
Remember to: Buy a gear loft for the new tent.
Day # 2: Pinery Provincial Park – Riverside Area #2 – Site #567
Weather: Sunny and breezy with a few clouds. Clear overnight. High: 14 C Low: 0C
Marianne got chilled last night and had a hard time sleeping until Aaron gave her his sweater. As morning came we were looking forward to breakfast. Camping pancake was on the menu so we brought out our car camping stove and we put the frypan on the one burner for pancake, while the other burner boiled water for tea. Though not as great as it would’ve been in the backcountry, our pancake with peanut butter and homemade strawberry jam was still delicious!
It was a very chilly morning so we layered up. We walked to the Old Ausable Channel and saw a spot where you could rent canoes, though no one seemed to be there yet. By the time we got to the Visitor Centre we were shedding layers. At the Visitor Centre bird feeder we saw White-breasted Nuthatch and a couple of Tufted Titmouse. We walked down the road and hiked the 2.3 kilometre Cedar Trail that brought us through rare oak savannah habitat, some coastal dunes, and before we knew it we arrived at Lake Huron. The lake was really calm and we sat in the sun to enjoy it.
As we hiked back to our site we saw many people out enjoying the day. Arriving back at our site we had a quick lunch of GORP, an apple, and some beef jerky. We then walked over to the 2.0 kilometre Nipissing Trail. This was a nice trail with some elevation to it and even a tower where we viewed farm fields and wind turbines to the east, and Lake Huron to the west. In the far distance we heard and then spotted a pair of Sandhill Cranes migrating.
It was mid afternoon by the time we arrived back to our site to chill. Aaron had a whiskey and later we wandered around the campground to check out other people’s tents. We definitely had one of the smallest tents, and we were pretty confident we brought the least amount of stuff.
It was sausage and Eggs Diablo with a baguette on the side for supper. We had another fire tonight with some more drinks while the breeze died down almost completely. We were pretty tired after hiking all day se we retreated to the tent before 9pm.
Wildlife Sightings: Eastern Chipmunk, Grey Squirrel, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Canada Goose, Sandhill Crane, Turkey Vulture, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Blue Jay, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Hermit Thrush, People, White-throated Sparrow, Wild Turkey, Dark-eyed Junco, Kinglets, Red-winged Blackbirds
Remember to: Write a review (unfortunately a bad on) on MEC’s website regarding their MEC brand sleeping bag (Mallard -5). One of ours is falling apart already at the seam. -Add 2 guywires to the tent.
Day # 3: Pinery Provincial Park – Riverside Area #2 – Site #567
Weather: A mix of sun and cloud. Morning: 7 C
Surprisingly we got up as late as 7:30am. We went to bed last night at 9:00pm so that means we had a 10 hour sleep. WOW!
We had oatmeal topped with walnuts, homemade strawberry jam, and brown sugar for breakfast. No fire this morning as we burned the rest of our wood last night.
We wanted to go to the 3.0 kilometer Wilderness Trail but the road was blocked off for a run, so instead we drove over to the parking lot next to the Carolinian Trail towards the southwest end of the park. As the name implies, this trail has a lot of trees that are native to the Carolinian forest, with more Tulip Trees than we have probably ever seen! A series of stairs with some viewing platforms and a small pond are also along this trail. We constantly heard and then finally caught a glimpse of some Wild Turkeys.
Driving back to our site we stopped off at the public washrooms/showers for a nice long shower and then it was back to our site to take down the tent. Two of our 3 neighbours were also breaking camp so it looked like everyone was just out for the weekend. As for our new tent, we were pretty satisfied with it so far!
We left the park around 11:00am and had lunch just outside of Grand Bend before driving home. We had a great time and will come back to Pinery Provincial Park again. Next time we will bring our bikes or our canoe.
Wildlife Sightings: Eastern Chipmunk, Grey Squirrel, Wild Turkey, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Kinglets, People, Hairy Woodpecker, Eastern Towhee, Winter Wren, Hermit Thrush
Remember to: Go back to the Pinery the first nice weekend in spring!
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