Camping around Ontario I tend to cater to my dog’s needs and choose parks accordingly. Meaning does it have a nice dog beach, hiking trails, risk of tick-borne diseases, etc. I’ve come up with a list of my Top Dog Beaches in Ontario. Here’s a short summary of the places I’ve visited so far and their offerings. Ontario is vast and a lot to explore. Enjoy!
Pinery Provincial Park on Lake Huron– there are 9 beaches total. The dog beach is beach #1 and rightfully so and makes into my top dog beaches in Ontario list. In my opinion it’s hands down better than the human beach. Beach #1 is located at the north end of the park. The water is crystal clear, warm and the waves are just the right height. It’s so incredibly clean you can see minnows swimming around your feet. Rocks are always a big concern when you’re playing in the water since they can be hard to see and can cause a lot of damage should you hit one. So far I’ve not encountered any big boulders in the water as some other parks I’ve visited (i.e. Point Farms Provincial Park). There are sometimes small pebbles lining the shoreline if any, but for the most part it’s mostly sand.
Besides the abundance of beachfront, this park offers canoe rentals along the Ausable Channel, a restaurant, ice cream shack, bike rentals and a visitor centre.
Inverhuron Provincial Park– another great park on Lake Huron about 20 minutes north of Kincardine. This park although smaller than Pinery boasts a fantastic beach secluded from others just inside a cove. The water cleanliness and clarity is very similar to Pinery. I just discovered this park last year as we were looking for a less busy park and happened across this one. We’ll definitely be going again.
Killarney Provincial Park– while this park is quite secluded and about a 5-6 hour drive it’s one of my absolute favourites. The park is located on along the northern shore of Georgian Bay and straddles the La Cloche Mountains, unique quartzite hillsides. One of the most popular trails providing spectacular views of the La Cloche Mountains is the Granite Ridge Trail about a 2km hike with two lookout points overlooking the park. Killarney is a popular wilderness campground with back country sites and many lakes you have to canoe through to reach.
The park also holds some interesting history although not as popular as Algonquin Provincial Park. The landscape artists known as the Group of Seven painted many scenes around this park in the early 1920s. You can find maps and books documenting their explorations and trails leading to the exact position some of those tranquil paintings first emerged.
Now, on to the dog beach, while the park does not advertise a specific exercise area for dogs, there are areas along the shoreline away from the “human” beaches dogs can enter the water. One such place I was able to take my dog was in the radio free campground in George Lake off to the side of the sectioned off area for humans. The water temperature was just right and it glistened a beautiful turquoise colour. It was so serene with cliffs and smaller islands off in the distance only reachable by canoe.
Beware, if you are scared of snakes, during the spring they are abundant and making their way to and from the islands and can be seen swimming next to you in the water.
Sandbanks Provincial Park– Sandbanks has many beaches: Dunes Beach, Outlet Beach and Sandbanks Beach. My favourite out of all is the “Sandbanks” beach. Dogs are allowed on Sandbanks or the Outlet Beach. The beach at the Outlet River is pretty cool as dogs are allowed in the area just as the mouth of the river opens up into Lake Ontario. They actually have two areas on either side of the river to swim! I do find this beach to be a little overcrowded and much prefer Sandbanks because of this. I presume the crowds are drawn from both day users and campers. The park does get booked up fairly early in the season so be sure book campsites in advance. Plan your campsites, have backups, know your dates and book ahead. Even day users need to come early since the park does get full and reaches maximum capacity. If you do find yourself struggling to find a good beach spot, head to the canoe rentals and take your furry friend out on the channel. It’s quite relaxing rowing along the river with beautiful cottages on both sides which eventually opens up into a larger lake. It’s a nice alternative.
Killbear Provincial Park– Well if you’ve never been to the dog exercise area at this park, it’s a must see. It’s an off-leash area and it looks like it came straight out of the Lord of the Rings movie. I’ve never seen anything like it. The magical look to this off-leash area and it was all just for dogs. The rolling mini hills, uneven ground covered with tall grass and rocks with plantation hanging over them, the drops of the morning dew, moss growing alongside the trees and the little hint of sunshine twinkling between the trees. It’s a beautiful sight for your eyes. The off-leash also has a dog beach with a nice sandy entrance.
Even though there is a designated area for dogs, there are so many other entry points for dogs to take a dip in Georgian Bay as the Canadian Shield covers a wide span and you can basically jump in from wherever. During our hike over the Canadian Shield we came across another little inlet that was quite private that dogs were allowed as well. This is another busy park that requires forward planning in order to get a good spot. It’s quite north as well, so day trips may not be your forte as the drive can be tiresome, but trust me, even if you do make it up for just the day, it’s well worth the trip.
Algonquin Provincial Park– We’ve stayed at Algonquin Park and try to make it a tradition for the Canada Day long-weekend. I don’t think we could get any more Canadian than that! For car campers there are designated dog campgrounds, be sure to check out the Ontario Parks website to see which ones before you travel. We’ve camped at both Pog Lake and Kearney Lake campgrounds. My preference over the two would be Kearney Lake. There are no dog beaches on either of these campgrounds, but there is a designated dog beach at Rock Lake campground a little further east on Highway 60. Rock Lake gets pretty packed and parking is challenging if you don’t arrive early. We did try to swim here, but because we arrived later in the day and were unable to find a parking spot we headed to Lake of Two Rivers. There isn’t a designated dog beach at Lake of Two Rivers, but there are signs that signal where the human swim area is, so we found a spot just outside of the signs to launch our canoe and take our dog for a swim. The water was dark, but had a golden hue, with a beautiful mountain backdrop.
One thing to note at Algonquin, the hiking trails are located off Highway 60 requiring you to drive to them. Be sure to arrive early as parking spots start to fill up around noon. Even for the swimming area at Lake of Two Rivers, you may miss out on a great picnic/swimming spot if you arrive too late.
I hope you enjoyed my top dog beaches in Ontario and it makes outings with your fur pal easier. As I visit more parks, I’ll update my blog and share my findings with you. Check out Trizane Photography for pics of pups exploring the great outdoors.
Happy Beaching!
