Arrowhead Provincial Park is an Ontario Provincial Park located near Huntsville, Ontario in the Muskoka Region. An extremely popular park during both summers and winters, it provides various camping facilities such as car camping, trailer, RV, cabins. Activities to be done are hiking and biking during the summer season and skiing, skating and snow shoeing during the winter season. The park also allows for day trippers with a nice beach specifically for day use. The nearby town of Huntsville is a charming town which is great for a day trip.
Duration: 2 nights
Being a popular park, the campsites at Arrowhead Provincial Park get booked quickly. Booking well in advance is recommended.
How to get there? Arrowhead Provincial Park is a little over 2 hours from Toronto, about 240 kms or 150 miles. The drive is nice passing through the scenic Muskoka region. Kayaking and Canoeing is a great pastime on the Arrowhead lake. Though the park has facilities for renting them, you can even pick it on the way at certain rentals along highway 11.
We booked at the Lumby North Campground at this popular park which is close to the park office.
We reached Arrowhead Provincial Park close to 5pm and got our permit at the camp office. Our campsite was smaller than we expected. It was just enough to fit our 6 person tent and the car. Putting up a gazebo was out of the question.
Staying at Arrowhead Provincial Park The park offers many campgrounds for car camping, RV and cabins. You can even book at a campground which is close to a specific attraction at the park. East River campground is close to the gorgeous Stubbs Falls. Lumby campground is located in a mixed deciduous forest and is close to the Pet Exercise area. Boat rentals is relatively close to the South Lumby campground. Roe campground is the most private and is close to a beach which is relatively less crowded and is great for fishing. It is also close to the Big bend Lookout.
After setting up our tent, we began our exploration of the park.
North and South Lumby campgrounds are on one side of the park close to the permit office. Once you pass the Lumby campgrounds, you reach the park store close to the Arrowhead lake. To the south of the Park store is the East River campground and moving further away, you get to the Roe campground.
Other than the Arrowhead Lake, the other popular attractions of the park are the Stubbs falls accessible via the Stubbs falls trail and the Big bend lookout also accessible via a short trail.
Beaches in Arrowhead Provincial Park
- Lumby beach – Near the Lumby campgrounds
- Beach 1 and Beach 2 – For Day use
- Roe Beach – Near Roe campground
- Dog Beach – Under and close to the bridge from where the Little East River flows from the Arrowhead lake
There is also a Pet Exercise Area which is close to the North Lumby campground.
We stopped by at the Park store to enquire about canoe renting for the next day. The canoe/kayak/bike/Standup paddleboards renting are reasonably priced at $20/2 hours. You cannot book in advance though. It is first come, first served only.
We walked to the Big bend lookout from the rental office via the paved road.
Big Bend Lookout The Big bend lookout trail takes you to spectacular views of a geological feature left over from the ice age. The feature started forming about 12000 years ago and is still changing. The Big East River has been constantly changing its path over the years and due to continuous erosion, the landscape would continue to change.
After admiring this geological wonder, we got into an unmarked trail which led us to the East River Campground. You can take a short cut to enter the Stubbs Trail from within the East River Campground or you could just follow along the road towards the bridge and start the trail from there instead.
We came to the road from our campground and entered the Stubbs trail from the bridge this time.
For a bit of an adventure, you can do the complete Stubbs Falls trail as well instead of just checking out the falls and returning the same way you came in. From whichever way you enter the Stubbs Falls Trail, continue on. The trail loops around the river and will exit on the other side of the bridge.
Darkness was already beginning to set in and we headed back to our site.
Woke up early the next morning to some dense fog. We decided to go for a walk to take it all in. The whole park had this mysterious feel to it.
We started on the Arrowhead Lake Trail passing close to our campsite towards Lundy beach.
On the way, we passed by the Pet Exercise Area sign.
The Pet Exercise Area is a large ground with parking space to give your pets some exercise.
It would seem that someone mischievously put the above table in the lake. But that was not the case. Apparently, there was a bit of a tide in the morning and the table got partially submerged. We came back later in the afternoon to check again and found the table at the very same spot with no water around it. But this made for a nice picture though.
Anyway, we continued along the beautiful trail.
We reached the beach and the view there over the lake was superb. The dense fog was hanging nicely over the lake and though you could literally see nothing but it was quite interesting.
As the fog started to lift, the views became even more mesmerizing.
The fog and a bit of sunshine provides some pretty cool light shows too.
We went back to the Big Bend lookout to see how it looks under the fog. But by the time we reached the Big Bend, the fog had completely lifted. We missed it, should probably have got there first.
We returned to the camp site for breakfast.
It was now time to hit the trails.
Trails in Arrowhead Provincial Park
- Arrowhead Lake Trail – Hiking and Biking trail. It completely circles around the Arrowhead lake. There are some very steep climbs on the trail.
- Beaver Meadow Trail – Hiking only. This trail starts and ends on the Arrowhead Lake trail.
- Big Bend Lookout – Hiking only. This trail takes you to the Big Bend. It is perhaps the smallest trail in the park
- Lookout trail – This is a hiking and biking trail. Starts and ends near the permit office. The trail is close to the Mayflower lake and the Little East river.
- Homesteaders Trail – Hiking only. This also starts and ends near the permit office. It is away from the campgrounds.
- Mayflower lake trail – Hiking only. Circles around the Mayflower lake
- Stubbs Falls trail – Hiking only. It starts and ends on either side of the bridge.
We started with the Bike trail. The Arrowhead lake trail is also a bike trail that circles around the lake. We started from near our campground and completed the whole trail. This trail has some pretty steep climbs with gravel that you could skid on, so we had to get down and drag our bikes up at those spots.
It was a hot day and by the time we completed it, we were exhausted. We returned to the site and napped for an hour.
Woke up recharged and after lunch, we decided to hit the water. We packed some snacks and spent the rest of the day on the beach.
We returned to the site just before sundown and soon called it a day. The next day was our last day at the park and we wanted to get on the water.
Had an early breakfast and were at the rental office bang on at 9am, right at the time it opens. We booked a canoe for 2 hours and headed to the lake.
The Arrowhead Lake is surrounded by hills which sort of helps to block strong winds and keeps the water on the lake very calm and steady.
No motorized boats are allowed on the lake.
By the time we finished, we could already see crowds begin to pour in on the beaches.
We went back to our site to pack up.
Though we wanted to check out the Mayflower lake before leaving but could not find any parking. We left the park leaving that for next time.
Edited: June 2022
We did another trip for 2 nights to the Arrowhead Provincial Park this summer and stayed at the South Lumby Campground.
This time we saw the Mayflower lake and almost completed the Mayflower lake trail as well.
After walking along the trail, we came across an Amphitheatre and even sort of lost the trail from there. Close to this, was also the Homestead trail which we did not do this time.
For additional information, visit the links below: https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/arrowhead https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrowhead_Provincial_Park
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