Point Farms Provincial Park

Point Farms Provincial Park is located just outside of Goderich, Ontario on the eastern shores of Lake Huron, on what Ontario Tourism calls “Ontario’s West Coast”.

One hundred years ago, Point Farms Provincial Park was the site of a splendid Victorian resort hotel. The hotel no longer remains, and in 1965 Point Farms Provincial Park was established. Point Farms Provincial Park is perched atop a 20-metre bluff along Lake Huron. It has a beautiful natural beach and picture-perfect sunsets.

Site Review:

There are 2 campground areas within Point Farms Provincial Park:

• Colborne campground
• Huron campground

There are a total of 200 campsites, and 131 have electric hook-ups. Huron Campground is radio-free. There is only one electric site in the entire park that has a view of the lake, and that is site #55.

The campgrounds are heavily treed which makes for some excellent private sites but ultimately restricts any lake views.

We stayed on site #58. According to the Ontario Parks website, the information regarding this site says that it is adjacent to a body of water. This is misleading. You cannot see the water from any of the sites except for #55, and you cannot access the water from ANY site in the park. Technically though, the lake is on the other side of the wall of trees that are across the camp road from the site.

There is a good assortment of sites and most are of good to exceptional quality. They are generally large, private, and level. The sites around the perimeter of the campgrounds are probably the best.

Activities:

Hiking:

There are a couple of trails within the park; the main one being the “Old Farms Trail”. Named because the park used to be an orchard. In the spring the trees are alive with apple blossoms and in the fall there is a bounty of apples that can be picked while you enjoy the trail.

Beach:

The main draw here is the beach. It is long and it is natural. There are some rocky sections, but there is also a nice large sandy area as well.

The water is shallow and perfect for wading in. We visited Point Farms Provincial Park on an exceptionally calm day. Lake Huron was like glass. Having lived and grown up in South Western Ontario; I have visited Lake Huron a lot, and I cannot ever recall having seen the lake so still. Normally I would expect a good breeze to be coming off of the lake. 

There is also a dog beach, but my dog is too fussy to hazard possibly getting his wee toes wet. Other normal dogs looked like they were having fun though.

To access the beach you need to descend from the top of the 20-metre bluff where the campgrounds are to get to lake level. There is stair access from the Huron campground.

You can also drive to a beach parking lot and access the beach directly. The road though is narrow, winding and quite steep. There are restrictions regarding the size of vehicles allowed on the road. An alternate parking lot is available if you are attempting to access the area in a size-restricted vehicle. There are signs that will direct you where to park. I would not have attempted this with our motorhome.

When we went we rode down on our bicycles- but remember what goes down must come up. We walked our bikes up.

The beach is not wide, but it is long. It shouldn’t be a problem to find a private spot to enjoy.

There is no place to launch a boat within the park boundaries.

Biking:

When we went to investigate the campground, we easily logged over 7 km just biking around. The roads are flat and easy to pedal (except for the hill down to the beach).

Goderich is the closest town. The population is about 8000 and it calls itself “Canada’s prettiest town”. That’s a pretty tall order given that I have been to a lot of pretty towns in this country, but it did warrant a closer look, so I decided to bike in.

Goderich is 7km down Highway 21. The road is in good condition and is flat until you go down the hill into Goderich itself. The road is busier than I like. There is a large crushed gravel shoulder, but the asphalt lane is very narrow. 

Once in town, I went to the town square. There is a courthouse building in the centre, the traffic travels in a one-way direction around it. It reminded me a bit of the clock tower in the “Back to the Future” movie. This courthouse is more modern, and while there is a clock, it is unlikely that lightning striking it would send Marty McFly and his DeLorean back to 1985.

I went to the Tourist Information Centre and got a map that detailed some trails in the area. I ended up going on the Tiger Dunlop Trail.

This got me back to Highway 21, without having to go back up the long steep hill I came down when I entered town. Altogether my roundtrip from the campsite totalled  21 km.

Sunsets:

This is Lake Huron and it is known for its beautiful sunsets. National Geographic has described the area as having one of the top ten best sunsets in the world. It doesn’t disappoint that’s for sure.

Things to know:

1. This park is well signed to indicate areas where larger rigs can comfortably go and what areas are restricted. In Colborne campground there is an entire area of the campground that does not allow trailers over 16ft, watch the signs and you will be fine. This is an older provincial park in a forested area, so there is always the possibility of tight turns and low branches. We didn’t encounter any problems with our 30ft motorhome.
2. There is no store on site. You can buy firewood at the office where you check-in. If you have forgotten anything, then a quick trip into Goderich is likely what you will need to do. 
3. Getting to the sandy beach is a nice hike from the Huron campground (it is closer to the Colborne campground). If you are loaded down with all of the beach paraphernalia required to spend the day, you are going to have to drive.  
4. Inverhuron Provincial Park, another recreational park in the Ontario Parks system, is less than 45 minutes down the road and is also located on the shore of Lake Huron.

IMO:

We enjoyed Point Farms Provincial Park. It offers a good authentic camping experience without all the bells and whistles. It’s the kind of place I remember as a kid. A where camping memories are made. I would recommend Point Farms Provincial Park as an RV Place to Go