Presqu’ile Provincial Park is an Ontario Provincial Park located on the shores of Lake Ontario and near the city of Brighton. The park is a bird migration hotspot and is therefore, very popular with birdwatchers. The second oldest lighthouse in Ontario is located here. It is also home to the largest protected marsh on Lake Ontario. It offers camping, trails for hiking including the boardwalk on the marsh and beautiful sandy beaches which is popular with day trippers.

Duration: 2 nights

We had visited Presqu’ile Provincial Park in late Winter to do some bird watching ourselves (this park is open in winters), but had never camped there yet. The park, as all other Ontario provincial parks, are there to protect and conserve something of significance. This park protects the largest marsh on Lake Ontario. Geographically, Presqu’ile is a Tombolo. 

A Tombolo is an island which is attached to the mainland by a sand and/or gravel bar. 

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombolo

The popular beaches of the park are on that sand bar and the campgrounds are on the island. The park is biodiverse and has 7 distinct habitats that makes it a magnet for migrating birds and insects. 

How to get there?

Presqu'ile Provincial Park is about 154 ksm or less than 2 hours east of Toronto.

This was to be our easy-going trip. We reached the park around 4:00 pm and got our camping permits.

One thing to note is that the park store is located at the end of the bar and before the registration office. So if you need to buy anything at the store, you either stop by the store first and then proceed to the registration office or if you missed doing that, you will have to go back.

Staying at Presqu'ile Provincial Park

There are 8 campgrounds for car camping and electrical sites for RV's. There are also 10 group camp sites. There is one roofed accommodation or cottage which can be reserved online or by phone. There are 3 soft sided shelters which can sleep 5 persons. These can also be booked online or by phone.

Our camp site was in the Craigs campground. After setting up, we took out our bikes and rode along the bike trail to begin exploring the park. We took the unpaved bike trail that goes along Lake Ontario and connects to the paved road called the Lighthouse Lane which has a dedicated bike lane, on the south side of the island. You pass along many beach tables along the lake where you can stop for picnicking.

Along the way, you pass the Nature Centre. 

At the Nature Centre, there are live specimens of certain animals like turtles, snakes and such and is an educational center where you can learn how these animals live and survive in the various habitats of the park.

Continuing along the road, you will reach the Lighthouse Interpretive Center which introduces you to the history of the place. There is parking near the Interpretive Center.

Next to it, is of course the lighthouse itself.

We returned to our campsite soon after and called it a day.

The next morning, we decided to checkout the trails in the park. The park has many nice trails. We covered as many as we could during this trip.

Trails in Presqu’ile Provincial Park

  • Jobes’ Woods Trail
    • Distance – 1.0 km
    • Time taken – 30 minutes
    • Difficulty – Easy
  • Marsh Trail
    • Distance – 1.2 km
    • Time taken – 30 minutes
    • Difficulty – Easy
  • Pioneer and Newcastle Trails
    • Distance – 8.1 km
    • Time taken – 3 hours
    • Difficulty – Easy
  • Cemetery Trail
    • Distance – 300 m
    • Time taken – 15 minutes
    • Difficulty – Easy
  • Lighthouse Foot Path
    • Distance – 300 m
    • Time taken – 20 minutes
    • Difficulty – Easy
  • Owen Point Trail
    • Distance – 1.6 km
    • Time taken – 45 minutes
    • Difficulty – Easy

We got our bikes out and headed to the Marsh Boardwalk. From the campgrounds, the Marsh and the Boardwalk are on the sand bar after the park store and the beaches. There is parking near the boardwalk. Biking is not allowed on the boardwalk, so we walked with our bikes.

Along the Marsh Boardwalk, there are many educational panels which illustrate the story and provide additional information of the marsh.

There are a few lookout points as well.

These unique looking trees are called Horse Trees and were formed over a hundred years ago due to a catastrophic event.

After completing the boardwalk trail, we proceeded to the beaches. The beaches are long, sandy and reasonably safe. The beaches are very popular with day trippers. There are two entrances to the beaches, Beach 1 and Beach 2 though they both take you to the same one long, sandy beach.

There is also a Kiteboarding Launching Zone right at the beginning of the beach near Beach 1.

After spending sometime at the beach, we headed to the Owen Point trail. which is at the end of the beach, near Beach 2. There are a few lookout points on this trail looking towards Ontario Lake.

After finishing this trail, we decided to take a dip in the waters of the lake to cool off as it had been a hot day. The lake floor where we stopped was rocky and slippery and we had to be careful.

Since the park is dedicated to the conservation of various migratory birds, turtles etc., some of them do nest in this park. You will find various signs informing about nesting areas.

We returned to our campsite and spent the rest of the evening enjoying a barbecue over a nice and warm campfire.

The next morning after breakfast, we packed up early and got our bikes out to explore the other trails in the park.

We headed towards the Lighthouse Lane and continued on the bike trail but entered the Pioneer trail on Paxton Drive and exited on the Lighthouse Lane. We did not complete the Pioneer and Newcastle Trail but did only a few short routes.

From here we headed to Calf Pasture Point on Atkins Lane where there is a lookout point to view migrating birds and a view towards Brighton.

We then climbed onto the overbridge with our bikes onto Bayshore Road. Here there is an old dock that still exists and was part of a hotel which no longer exists. It is now called the Government Dock.

This part of the island is private property and is outside the park. To return to the park, you will have to go along Bayshore Road and re-enter via Presqu’ille Parkway/Paxton Drive which will take you to the registration office and back in the park.

We returned to our campsite and after some final loading, left the park.

We sure will be returning again for spending some more nights here or even day trips to view some of the migratory birds and of course to finish off the remaining trails.

Happy Camping !!

For additional information, visit the links below:

https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/presquile
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presqu'ile_Provincial_Park

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