Grundy Lake Provincial Park: Video Review
Are you interested in visiting Grundy Lake Provincial Park?
Located at the intersection of Hwy 69 and Hwy 522, this popular park offers over 3000 hectares of camping, hiking, and paddling. With both car camping and backcountry canoe-in sites, six natural sand beaches, two dog exercise/beach areas, and four trails, there is something for everyone!
We visited Grundy Lake PP last fall, enjoying the fall colours over Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, tech wasn’t on our side, and we had to re-film the sit-down review portion of our video. Despite the delay, we are beyond excited to share our adventures at the park and all the stunning fall leaves.
For this trip, we were accompanied by our three dogs: Daviana, Indiana, and Lucifer. We kick off the video by sharing one of the dog beaches before showcasing the incredible views we discovered hiking the Swan Lake Trail (and the first official Indy Nose Cam). Then, we’ll sit down (back at home) to dig into our detailed review, discussing what the park has to offer, why we will be returning, and our final rating.
This video is part of The Kas Pack’s Ontario Parks Reviews series. CLICK HERE to visit our YouTube channel and subscribe to get notifications when new parks are added.
Grundy Lake Provincial Park – October 2022
Dog Beach (1:59)
Britt: Hey Lucifer, you gonna tell everybody what you found? Say… Grundy has a beautiful little dog area here. There is plenty of space for dogs to swim. There’s some picnic tables over there where you can sit down, and you can see.
I’m trying not to put people on camera without asking first, but you can see that there’s some people over there hanging out with their dogs. It opens up from a parking space out to the seating area, out to that whole area’s like a sandy beach. So, plenty of areas for your dogs to enjoy.
This is only 1 of 2 dog spaces. But with a view like this, it’s very easy for dog lovers and dog parents to be happy settling in and spending the day with their dogs while they play.
And another view of this exercise area. So, you can park. Beach area. Plenty of space for your dogs to hang out and play. It is off-leash. What do you think, little man? Eh, Goose? You’re just mad that Mommy decided that it’s time to go. Ya, you don’t want to go.
Our Review (7:24)
Britt: All right, well, as you see, we are not at Grundy Lake Provincial Park right now.
John: Nope, far from it, actually.
Britt: I mean, technology is a great thing, except when it’s not. And as we were going through our footage to get Grundy ready to post our review for all of you guys, we realized that we didn’t have the actual filmed review.
John: Oops! Life happens.
Britt: Exactly! So, we’re going to do that for you now. Before we get started, though, I just want to give a quick shout-out to my sister-in-law for this awesome branded coffee cup she made. I mean, John can attest that I am a coffee addict. So…
Oh, looks like the puppies are energetic today.
John: Ya, just a little speedy. But as you can see, we’re in a wooded area. We’re currently living on 100 acres of woodland, so the pups tend to run freely around here, with our supervision, of course.
Campgrounds & Facilities (8:30)
Britt: And hopefully, not tackling the tripod in the process. But, back to Grundy Lake. So, Grundy Lake is a Provincial Park that has multiple options for camping. That includes backcountry camping, car camping, group camping, and a rustic cabin for those who prefer a roofed accommodation.
John: And there’s 9 campgrounds at Grundy, 2 beaches. Or, sorry, 2 dog beaches and exercise areas. And 6 natural sand beaches.
Britt: So, plenty of places for you to get out and explore and spend time if on the water is what you want. We stayed in the Poplar campground.
Fall Colours (9:17)
Britt: Now, not everything was open. I’m sure seeing them in the background is really adding to this. But not all the campgrounds are open in the fall, and we did go to Grundy in the fall. The Poplar campground was one of the options we had, and we absolutely loved seeing the fall colours there.
John: We went on the closing weekend, which was Thanksgiving weekend. If you haven’t gone Thanksgiving camping before, it’s something actually to try. The weather was great. It didn’t snow.
Britt: Nope, no snow. Lots of fall colours.
Hiking Trails (9:59)
Britt: There are 4 trails in the park. Now, if you’re watching this, you’ve already seen that we did do some hiking with the pups. We took what’s called the Swan Lake Trail, which is considered a moderate to difficult trail. It is 1.5 km. They estimate it will take about an hour to do.
But there are 3 other trails that we didn’t have a chance to explore on this trip, and that’s the Gut Lake Trail and the Beaver Dams Trail, which are both also moderate to difficult. And then an easy trail is the, and I’m going to butcher this name, but the Pakeshkag Lake Trail. It’s actually a linear trail instead of a loop like others.
It’s 2.6 km either way, but it’s considered easy difficulty because there’s less obstacles for your pets (and you), so if you are hiking with a senior dog or a young puppy that isn’t quite as accommodated to those obstacles and those challenges while hiking, it’s a great option.
Firewood & Grundy Lake Supply Post (11:02)
John: You covered all the trails, right? Okay! And firewood. So, we tend not to buy provincial park wood. Like I said before if you want to get rid of bugs, sure, buy a log of it. Or, if you want to put out your own fire, get a log of it and put out your own fire with provincial park wood. Probably not the greatest plug, but…
Anyways, there was the Grundy Lake Supply Post. I’m sorry, I butchered that. Ya, the Grundy Lake Supply Post. If you need firewood, they’ve got it. If you need propane, they’ve got it. If you need a Coleman stove, they have it. They just had everything. They had groceries. The only thing, I think, that they didn’t have was beer.
Britt: Which, I mean, we believe that’s a staple when we’re camping. So… Ya, it’s close. You can get your supplies close at hand.
John: Ya, it’s right across the road from the park, pretty much.
Britt: So, you’ve got your supplies close at hand. If you do forget something, it’s there.
Paddling (12:17)
Britt: I forgot to mention the lakes. If you enjoy padding – if you’re a canoer, or a kayaker, or a paddleboarder, I should include that. I don’t paddleboard, but I know a lot of people do with their dogs and their cats.
The great thing about Grundy is that all of their lakes are non-motorized. So, you’re not going to be dealing with motorized boats on those internal lakes. It gives you a nice calm area to go out and explore, and if you’re trying to teach your dog how to canoe or kayak.
The first time that we took Lucifer out, he was a little nervous. Like, he was a little skittish and scared. He understood what the canoe was, but the waves and the motion of the water were a different experience.
So, going on a non-motorized lake like that is a great way to kinda minimize those problems for that first trip. And it’s also a great way just to get out and enjoy a trip with your pet of all experience levels.
Oh, ya, you missed.
Fall/Off-Season Camping (13:18)
Britt: As for fall camping, as we said, we went for Thanksgiving. Grundy is usually a very busy park. But when you go in the fall, there’s very few people there. We actually only saw one or two other groups camping, like one or two other sites in our loop that were occupied.
So, it’s a great way to get out and enjoy the park but avoid some of that constant traffic. If you’re not a huge people person and you camp with pets because that’s who you’d prefer to be around, going there in the fall is a great option.
Our Rating (13:57)
John: So, to sum it all up, what would you give Grundy Lake Provincial Park?
Britt: Oh, that’s difficult. It’s definitely one of our highest-rated, I would say, so far. I don’t want to give a 5 because I’m afraid I’m going to give a 5 to a park, and then we’re going to go to another one, and it’s better, and there’s nowhere to go from there. So, I’m going to say 4.5 paws.
John: Ya, that’s exactly what I was thinking, 4 and a half paws.
Britt: So, there we go. 4 and a half paws for Grundy Lake Provincial Park. We invite you guys to check it out and let us know. We want to hear all about your travels, and your trips, and your adventures. Just share your thoughts in the comments. If you have any questions, concerns, issues, or things that are holding you back from travelling with your dog or cat, we’re always open to that. Drop your questions in the comments, let us know, and we will do our best to make sure that we answer everything.
John: Stay Toasty!
