We hadn’t been back to dog friendly Huntsville, Ontario in a while. We wanted to revisit the town and visit Algonquin Park. I wrote about our visit in 2022, check it out here. In 2022 we stayed in the Comfort Inn instead of camping as it was fall time. This time we tent camped, albeit a bit wet, and there was beautiful weather. We challenged ourselves to the Track and Tower Trail in Algonquin Park. Arrowhead Park was also on our list as a place to visit. And of course, we had to visit our favorite ice cream joint – Kawartha Diary.
Historically, we have camped at the Provincial Parks. As I am sure you know, getting a site with hydro is nearly impossible. You need to dial in the first minute possible and try to book a site. We decided to try private campgrounds and see how they are! We choose the Algonquin Pines Campground in Dwight and we loved it. In fact, we booked another weekend in August.
Algonquin Pines Campground
Dog friendly Algonquin Pines Campground is about 15 minutes away from Algonquin Park. It is also 25 minutes from Arrowhead Park and about 20 minutes from downtown Huntsville. We were in lucked out as we booked just as they opened up a couple of extra sites. Check in time is 2 p.m. and check out is 11 am. This is a fully dog friendly campground!
Our particular site was small but it housed our tent, our trailer, our car and our kitchen tent. The cost was $52 per night. It didn’t have any hydro or water, but we were OK with that. We were just happy we found someplace to accommodate our last minute plans! Here is a video of our set up.
Here is the map of the grounds. We were T11 and next time we are staying at F1. If you need a middle of the night bathroom visit, then choose a site that is close to the bathrooms.
There is so much to do here. The activities includes:
- Basketball
- Horseshoes
- Volleyball
- A field to play soccer or football
- Playground for toddlers
- Playground for kids
- Mini put course
If you didn’t bring your ball, they have one for you! They also have live music under the pavilion. Check out their Facebook page (click here) to see what is coming up! Here is some pics of the grounds.
The best part about this campground while traveling with Maze & Nyx? It is very dog friendly. It has a HUGE leash free fenced in area! And they even have their own fire hydrant. I spoke to the gentleman that had the task of putting that in. His story is one of triumph! There is also a Chuck-It we can use, poop bags and a garbage can.
Of course we didn’t stay at our site all weekend. Actually we barely ate there as it rained each evening. We had dinner at our favorite Boston Pizza on the river in Huntsville. If you haven’t already discovered it, it is a gem. Their “dog patio” is fully covered and has about 8 tables in its own section overlooking the river. It is a perfect place to have dinner and watch the rain come down.
Algonquin Park
We also went back to our favorite park, Algonquin Park. This provincial park is also very dog friendly but the dogs must be on leash at all times. This is for your dogs safety but also the safety of the animals.
My husband had done the Track & Tower with little Nyx in 2022. It was pouring rain and quite a challenge. We thought we would hike it again.
It poured rain the night before so the trail was quite a challenge once again. There was sinking mud sections (no, not puddles) that you had to work your way through. It took us four hours to hike. Despite what all the literature stated (7 km or 7.5 km), both of our Samsung watches had the trail at 9.2 km.
The scenery is so beautiful in Algonquin Park.
Arrowhead Provincial Park
On Sunday, it was a sunny beautiful day. We choose to head to Arrowhead Provincial Park to visit the dog beach. We think Arrowhead Park is one of the more dog friendly parks. With it being the weekend before Canada Day, the park was busy! We had our paddles boards and dropped our trailer off at the Visitor Center. We were searching for a parking spot when one of the game wardens suggested we visit the “Pet Exercise Area”. I explained we wanted to swim with the dogs. He said yes, you can do that there. Well – he was right and only a few people knew about this place. The busiest it was that afternoon was four families. I am leaking the secret spot. It is a must visit to have fun with your dog and avoid the crowds.
The area is an on leash area. Nyx thought it was appropriate if she was to carry her leash while she swam.
We are heading back in August to find more adventures! Stay tuned!
