Length of stay: 2 days
Visited: April 2026
After a long, cold and snowy winter, we were finally starting to see signs of spring. But with the warmer weather came the rain. We planned to spend the weekend at MacGregor Point, located on the sandy shores of Lake Huron. Saturday was looking promising with nothing but sunshine, but on Sunday the forecast was calling for heavy rain all day. Nevertheless, we packed the car and headed off on an adventure to make the most of things.
We got off to a slow start. We both planned to work from home Friday so we could leave a bit earlier in the afternoon to have dinner at the cabin we booked. Except thanks to a last minute meeting, I had to go into the office. And by the time I got home, ate dinner and finished packing the car, it was around 6:30pm. From home it’s just over two hours to get to the park. But the nice thing about visiting in the spring is that the days are longer. We managed to make it there before it got dark outside.
We unpacked, stayed up for a bit and then hit the hay. All was peaceful and quiet. But at around 1:30am one of our neighbors decided to start blaring their music. Why!? Some people suck. This went on for about 30 minutes, which wasn’t great. But we managed to fall back asleep once the music subsided.
Day 1: Blue Skies and Boardwalks
The next morning we woke up to blue skies and sunshine. It was supposed to be a lovely day so we wanted to make the most of our time outdoors before the torrential rain on Sunday. After an early breakfast we headed into town to pick up a few groceries and snacks. We then hiked the Huron Fringe Trail (1.2km loop, rated easy). The trail consists mainly of a boardwalk that passes through a variety of different habitats including cedar forest, wetlands and beach. Along the way there’s a series of storyboards that explain more about the landscape and environment.
There were lots of critters enjoying the wonderful weather as well. And the birdseed too of course.
The trail leads down to the beach and provides access to the rocky shoreline. Once back on the boardwalk we passed through another swampy area before looping back to the parking lot.
Afterwards we drove to the beach area where there’s also a playground. We figured we might as well let toddler M tire herself out before nap time. It was then time for lunch so we returned to the cabin.
We headed out later in the afternoon to hike the Tower Trail (3.5km loop, rated easy). The trail passes through the forest and wetlands and features an observation tower as well as a bird blind. Along the way there’s a series of storyboards with clever captions that provide more information about the landscape and importance of wetlands.
After passing through the wetlands, the trail weaves deeper into the cedar forest. This portion of the trail was quite soggy, muddy and flooded in places. But we somehow managed to keep our feet dry, all the while carrying toddler M.
All that maneuvering and navigating around the flooded areas had worked up our appetites. We returned to the cabin to get started on dinner and just enjoyed a quiet evening indoors.
Day 2: Rain
Thankfully we had a much more peaceful sleep last night and didn’t hear any music during the early hours of the morning. But the weather forecast wasn’t so forgiving. Heavy rain was expected for most of the morning. We took our time getting up as we figured we probably wouldn’t go for a hike. Check-out time was at 10am so that’s when we aimed to leave. We made a hot breakfast then leisurely cleaned up and packed our stuff.
The rain started mid-way as we were packing our car. A sign that it was time to head home. While it would have been nice to stretch our legs before the drive back, we can’t complain too much as the day before was beautiful and we certainly made the most of it. Besides, I’m sure we’ll be back at some point.
L
Visiting a provincial park at the start of Spring or end of Autumn are always interesting – the barren trees and all that point. But also quieter, calmer and more peaceful.
I am an elder now in camping terms and I also get quite irritated at inconsiderate neighbors who forget to respect others later at night or early in the mornings. I would’ve said something.
I can’t wait even more now for this weekend’s camping trip!
One of the main reasons we started to “camp” (I use this term loosely as we’ve been staying in cabins and yurts) during the off-season is because the parks are typically much quieter then. We had some pretty bad experiences while camping in Ontario during the summer a few years ago and are so over the noise. I’ve become very curmudgeon-y with older age and need my sleep! I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did complain because we didn’t hear any music the following day (or night).
Glad to hear you had a wonderful time camping in Killbear. Gives me some encouragement that we can try tent camping in the summer again when toddler M is a bit older.
I hear you – I need my daily 8-9 hours of sleep and unruly and inconsiderate campers would grind my gears too!
T loved camping so much we’re considering fall camping but ideally in a yurt or OTentik. We’ll see what’s available at short notice.
It’ll be fun for you to do tent camping with M one day. Killbear is such a beautiful and family friendly park.
Fall camping is the best as the days are still warm, but the nights are cooler. Plus there are less people and bugs around. Hope you’re able to find a roofed accommodation available. But be warned: it may be hard to go back to a tent afterwards!!
I’m counting down the hours until the end of the work day. Looks like we’re finally supposed to get nice weather and no rain over a weekend! And it’s a long weekend!
Carrying toddler M through the flooded stretch of the Tower Trail and still coming out with dry feet deserves some sort of medal. And the playground stop before nap time is exactly the kind of scheduling we run our own trips on. Sorry about the 1:30am DJ next door – that particular camping hazard never gets less baffling.
Thankfully my husband was the one that was carrying toddler M. I had no idea how he managed! Now that M is a bit older, our style of travelling has changed. And we’re trying to figure it out as we go along. We’re more mindful to build in some time for her to play and burn off some energy, which can sometimes be tricky if the weather isn’t the greatest. The late night music wake-up call was not ideal. Thankfully we were able to sleep in a bit the next morning.
Let me just start by saying: Who makes music at 1:30 in the morning (and loud enough so that the neighbours can hear it)? Really! Love the little squirrel (and I’m sure little – no, toddler M too 😊). You definitely made the best of a lovely sunny day.
Oh I know. Some people have no self-awareness. Or maybe they just don’t care. I’m pretty sure the whole campground could hear their music. I wonder if someone complained because thankfully we didn’t hear anything the following night. Squirrels are very cute. We could have easily emptied all our birdseed for the first one we came across!
In this age of headphones and earbuds, I will never understand why anyone would assume that the whole world has the same taste or desire for their music, especially in the early morning hours. People can be so thoughtless. People can be so thoughtless. Looks like a real soggy environment Linda, typical to so many areas in early spring. Glad you managed one good day of hiking. Happy Monday. Allan
Thanks Allan. I never understood why people play their music while camping. It’s a bold move to assume that everyone around you likes your taste in music and wants to listen to it. That’s actually one of the reasons why we no longer go frontcountry camping in the summer in Ontario anymore. Campgrounds have become way too noisy for our liking. Wet and muddy trail conditions are always a concern while hiking in the early spring. But sometimes it’s still worth it to roll the dice. Enjoy the rest of the week.
This sentence took me by surprise and made me chuckle: “Some people suck.” —- That’s the truth.
I bet everyone in the campground was disrupted by their music. It was that loud. I guess some people have no self-awareness (or just don’t care). Sigh.
Your neighbors blared their music at 130 a.m.? Who does that ?! You captured beautiful photos. I am obsessed with squirrels right now so seeing that precious baby made my morning !!!!! I’m glad you guys got a nice sunny day. It’s good you were able to keep dry. That’s one of the rough things about spring for sure is all the rain. Glad you stayed dry though. Glad you made the most of the time you had. Great post !
Losers. That’s who does that. Seems so unnecessary to play music that loud and during the middle of the night. I’m glad it didn’t let it ruin our weekend though. Doing anything outdoorsy in the spring is always a gamble with the weather and conditions on the trail. While we ended up leaving a bit early, at least we had fabulous weather the day before.
I’m glad you guys were still able to enjoy yourselves and that you had good weather the day before 🙂
For sure. That made it all worthwhile. Have a good Labour Day long weekend!
You too!!!
Another fun weekend! I felt as though I were on the trail. Lake Huron is very beautiful, I used to boat it years ago on the American side of course. The squirrel is sooo cute! Have a safe and wonderful new week, guys. ❤️🇨🇦☺️
Thanks John. Out of all the Great Lakes, we’ve probably visited Lake Huron the most. It was a bit too cold for swimming when we visited in the early spring, but we’ll have to return at some point during the summer.
You’re welcome! I remember swimming in Huron in summer off of my boat near Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario. So cold!!🥶
Not as cold as Lake Superior though!
🥶🥶
Good for you for introducing M to so many wonderful places.
Thanks! Travelling anywhere with a toddler, even somewhere closer to home, definitely takes more time, planning, preparation and packing more stuff. But it’s so worth it to share these experiences with her.
Looks lovely. (Suzanne)
After such a long and cold winter, it was finally nice to see the landscape without any snow.
It’s such a lovely park. The choices some people make in the middle of the night can be very questionable…
No kidding. Makes you wonder why they even bother going camping in the first place. Just stay home and hang out in your backyard if you want to listen to music! I think Ontario should copy Quebec and just ban all music in their campgrounds.
You made the most of that sunny day, and your hike through the boardwalks and wetlands was a nice look at early spring.
You bet! It was such a beautiful day and it was nice to see the landscape start to awaken again after the winter.
Ah man some people do suck. But what a great day you had on Saturday. Ah spring…wet and brown. No mosquitoes 🤣 yet though!
I’m hoping Ontario Parks will follow Quebec and just ban music from all their campgrounds. One of the reasons we stopped tent camping in the summer in Ontario is because the noise just became too much. We couldn’t have asked for better weather on Saturday. And yes, even though the trails can be a bit wet and muddy in the spring, at least the bugs weren’t out!
That type of sudden awakening in the night like that drives me nuts since I know I’ll have trouble getting back to sleep. Agreed – some people are so rude. Just use your headset or AirPods or whatever. Ugh.
Your pictures really have a spring sense about them; well captured, Linda, especially the little squirrel. Carrying M and maintaining dry feet is definitely a feat!
I have the same issue. And it didn’t help that I got all riled up from the loud music either. But at least we were able to sleep in the next morning. I’m such a fan of the early days of spring as it feels like the forest and landscape are waking up again after the winter. But the hiking can be a bit of a mixed bag in terms of wet and muddy conditions on the trails. Thankfully we managed to keep our feet dry and hiking shoes relatively clean! And I’m so glad my husband was the one who was carrying toddler M through the sketchy parts of the trail.
Sounds like a lovely time away in nature, except for the rude, inconsiderate neighbor; sheesh! Spending time in the woods is always good for the soul.
I never understood why people listen to music (especially without headphones) while camping. Part of why we enjoy camping is to be surrounded by nature. Thankfully the loud music was only for about 30 minutes or so, but it was still pretty disruptive to be woken up and then have to fall back asleep afterwards.
They’re everywhere! They probably think that sharing loud music in the middle of the night was sharing their appreciation of the music. Good that it wasn’t on two consecutive nights!
Who knows what those clowns were thinking! But you’re right, it could have been worse. I was secretly hoping they got a noise complaint.
Maybe they did 🤗
Good! I hope they got fined too 🙂
Some people suck indeed, especially those who have zero consideration toward other people. Blaring music at 1:30am? Come on! But I’m glad you managed to fall back asleep, and woke up to such a beautiful sunny day. That squirrel looks so cute!
Oh I know! Who does that!? Thankfully it was only for 30 minutes or so, but it was still pretty disruptive (and annoying). Even though we were all a bit tired the next morning, I’m glad we made the most of the beautiful day.
Going anyway when the Sunday forecast is heavy rain all day is the correct call, and one I wish more trip reports admitted to. The 6:30pm departure after a surprise office day is painfully familiar — every trip we take seems to start about three hours later than planned. A cabin on the Lake Huron shore in early spring sounds like exactly the right kind of shoulder-season weekend, rain and all.
We have no interest in hiking in a torrential downpour and were perfectly fine cutting our time short to head home in the morning! At least we made the most of the beautiful weather from the day before. Glad to hear we’re not the only ones that seem to underestimate how long it takes to pack up and head out before a trip, even if it’s just a short one. It’s incredible how much more stuff we bring with us now that we have a toddler!
That is so frustrating to be by such inconsiderate people. But that is a beautiful park, even in the late winter early spring. I love the boardwalk across the water.
Oh I know. But it’s definitely not the worst experience we’ve had with noisy neighbours while camping! This was our first time dealing with noise issues during the off-season though. Besides the sleep disruption, we had a lovely weekend. It was a nice preview for spring.
I’ve never understood the need to blare music when visiting nature. Yes, I love loud music sometimes, but not at the expense of nature or my neighbors (that’s what headphones are for?)…. I love how you guys always manage to make the best of every situation – the weather, the mud, other people… 💞💞
Same. When I go camping it’s to enjoy nature. Listening to loud music kind of defeats that purpose. It wasn’t ideal to be woken up in the middle of the night, but I’m glad we didn’t let that ruin the next day. While we cut our trip short because of the rain, I’m glad we were still able to go away for the weekend and get a bit of hiking in.
The music… what is wrong with people? It’s so inconsiderate. I’m glad it didn’t happen again the next night and you guys were able to do some exploring in the sunshine!
Oh I know! Quebec recently banned all music from their provincial parks, which sounds really nice. I go camping to enjoy nature, not to listen to someone else’s shitty music, especially in the middle of the night!
Good! More places should follow suit.
Agreed! I would fully support that change! We have some quiet free zones in our provincial parks in Ontario, but we clearly need more!
People playing music at 1.30am is the absolute last thing you need! People are so ridiculous sometimes. The walk on the Saturday looks absolutely beautiful, the weather is perfect 🙂 Shame about the rain on Sunday, definitely a sign to head home.
No kidding. Makes you wonder what these jabronis were thinking. Some people have no self-awareness. But despite being a bit sleep deprived, we managed to have a lovely day afterwards and took advantage of the nice weather before the rain.
Thankfully, my neighbours aren’t as worse as playing music at 1:30 am😁 But they can do karaoke whenever they want until 10 to 11. That’s how rock and lively they are!
The nature there is so interesting. When it’s snowy, very snowy, and when it’s dry, it looks so dry.
The world is fascinating always. Beautiful images, Linda.😍
Thanks Hazel! Despite the loud music disrupting our sleep, we had a lovely weekend enjoying nature. I love the early days of spring when new growth is just starting to appear. And the longer days are nice too, especially when the weather is nice.
Yeah..my pleasure, Linda.
Sounds like you made the most of that one beautiful day! The boardwalk, wetlands, and little squirrel look lovely. 🌿🐿️ Shame about the 1:30 a.m. music, though!🙂
That’s always the risk when planning a camping trip, you can’t control the weather. You also can’t control your neighbours! We definitely made the most of the beautiful weather. Even though we left home a bit earlier than we’d like, we still had an enjoyable weekend.
Exactly! 😊 Sometimes the unexpected parts become part of the adventure. Glad you still had a great weekend!
Very true. And they can sometimes make for a funny story afterwards. Quebec’s provincial parks recently banned all music in their campgrounds, which sounds amazing. I would totally be in favour for that if we did something similar in Ontario’s provincial parks too!
Absolutely! A quiet campground sounds like heaven to me. I’d definitely support that rule in Ontario too! 🌲😊
Looks like a lot that could go wrong, did go wrong: an unexpected meeting, rain, and inconsiderate neighbours. Some people really do suck! The Saturday walk looks lovely, the perfect spring weather. It’s really nice that the trail passes through a variety of habitats and the squirrels were out.
I never understood why people play music while camping, let alone in the middle of the night. Next time we’ll bring our white noise machine! We had fabulous weather on Saturday and it was nice to finally do some hiking and enjoy the early days of spring. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Linda
So beautiful 😍
Thanks for reading and leaving a comment. It was nice to get away for the weekend and just soak up some sunshine and beautiful scenery.
💐👍🏼
Well a short weekend at the lake is better than nothing. Hopefully you get back, but hopefully the partying campers aren’t there. They do suck. 😊
Very true. Even though we went home a bit early because of the rain, I’m glad we still went. I could have done without the loud music waking us up at 1:30am though! Some people just shouldn’t go camping …
You all certainly do make the most of things. Beautiful and inspiring. Thank you and a wonderful weekend to you.
Thanks Michele! It was nice to get away for a week and just enjoy nature and time together as a family.
Truly Beautiful … It sounds like you made the most of the beautiful day, and the pictures are wonderful.
Thanks for taking us along on another adventure 😊
God’s Continued Blessings to you and your beautiful family….
Thanks for reading and leaving a comment. While we ended up coming up a bit early because of the rain, I’m glad we got to enjoy some sunshine and do a bit of hiking. And it’s always nice to just spend time together as a family and get away for a few days.
I’m always impressed by how resilient you guys are. You are pivot-masters! I’m glad you got a good day of hiking before it started to rain – I had to look up what body of water that was – Lake Huron, right? We are getting ready for a trip out west to do some hiking – originally the Grand Canyon, but they are having problems with their water supply so we are going to Sedona instead – lots of trails there! Happy hiking 🙂
Thanks! You can never predict the weather while travelling. Sometimes we’re forced to change our plans or try to make the best of things. Even though we left a bit earlier because of the rain, overall we still had a wonderful weekend. And yes, MacGregor Point is located on Lake Huron. Out of all the Great Lakes, we’ve probably spent the most amount of time on Lake Huron.
Sorry to hear that you’ve had to change some of your plans. Sounds like you’re a pivot-master too! But Sedona is super charming. And you’re right, there are lots of great trails there. Enjoy your trip out west. You’re going to have such a great time!
Thanks, Linda – I was wondering if you’d been there! We had a great time and hiked 4 out of the 5 days we were there. 🙂
Wonderful to hear. Makes me want to return to Arizona. The red rock landscape is fascinating. Plus, I’m such a fan of all the cacti!
We saw a lot of that! Now if I can manage not to overwater the succulent my friend gave me…😉
Ha! Succulents are my favourite types of plants to care for as they do better with being under-watered and neglected!
Mine is doing okay, although I underwatered, then overwatered another plant and now I can’t figure out if it needs water again or if it’s still drying out!
Lovely peaceful place.
Great that you manage to still enjoy the weekend even though it rained the sunday.
Even though we ended up leaving earlier than planned because of the rain, I’m glad we were still able to get away for the weekend. And at least we had fabulous weather on Saturday when we were there for the full day. So I can’t complain too much.