We recently had the best little winter getaway to check out the Pinery Provincial Park cabins and today I’m sharing our experience during our trip as well as some information about the cabins themselves.
Staying in the Pinery Provincial Park cabins has been on my camping bucket list since the park started adding them in a couple of years ago. We’ve stayed in the yurts quite a few times and always really enjoyed them, so I was excited about the opportunity for a new but similar experience. The cabins are quite cute from the outside, but I expected them to be fairly similar to the yurts on the interior. I anticipated things to be quite rustic and utilitarian but functional and cozy. We were all so surprised when we checked into our cabin and found that it was absolutely beautiful on the inside. It felt so luxurious compared to our usual yurt experience. I’ll take sleeping in a tent over almost any other camping option if the weather is warm, but for a cold-weather trip to the park to enjoy the outdoors, I think the cabins have become the new standard.
If you’re an avid camper who would like to be out more in the winter, or if you’re just learning to camp, these cabins are perfect. They’re located in the park in an area that is a combination of yurts, cabins, tent sites, and an RV park with lots of wooded sections in between each site, so it’s one of the most interesting places to camp. Check-in for the cabins is at 4 pm and check out time is 10 am.
Another nearby winter camping option: Two Days in the Point Pelee National Park Otentiks
Our Winter Trip to Pinery Park
We’ve visited Pinery Park many times during all different seasons. We love to camp and take advantage of all the summer activities during the warmer months, but the park has so much to offer during the winter as well, so we never want to miss the chance to visit at least once during the cold season.
We often visit Pinery Park in the late winter or early spring, so the weather can be unpredictable. If you happen to visit at a time when there’s a lot of snow, the park has many cross-country ski trails that are very popular, as well as a little hill for sledding and tobogganing. Since things are usually half-melted when we’re there, our main activities are usually hiking and feeding the birds, mostly with the goal of getting chilly enough to be able to head back to our roofed accommodation and enjoy the cozy vibes of the fireplace. We had calm, sunny, but crisp weather for this trip, so it was ideal for all of our usual favorite Pinery pastimes.
We were able to hike on trails as well as along the beach pretty easily this time, but it can be equally nice just to walk along the roads or through the quiet campgrounds during the winter months if the trails aren’t particularly passable or are very icy. We always use our winter trips to scope out all the good campsites for summer while there are no tents on them.
Feeding the birds out of your hand is always a popular activity. You can bring your own birdseed, or you can often purchase some at the Visitor’s Centre, which is open only on weekends during the winter months. The forested area that’s most popular for bird feeding was very busy and there were many other families there but the birds didn’t seem to mind the company and it was still quite easy to get them to land on our hands with a little patience. If you don’t want to go stand in the forest, you can feed the birds quite successfully by standing near a low branch on a tree in the campground area or even on the deck of your cabin. The birds are very friendly and brave, so if you can hold your hand still for a few minutes and have a little patience, you will definitely have success.
Furnishings and Amenities
When I shared about our trip in my stories on Instagram, I had a lot of specific questions about different cabin amenities, so I thought I’d try to provide the information in an organized way as much as possible so you really know what to expect.
The cabins are described as one-room roofed accommodations, but they really have two rooms plus a little deck out front. There’s an entryway/mudroom area that you first enter into. This room is heated by electric baseboard heaters and very comfortable for taking off boots, or just enjoying the view from the many windows. Two sturdy Adirondack chairs and a coat rack are included in this space and it worked extremely well for our family of four and all our winter gear.
The main room of the cabin is beautiful, with natural wood walls, log furniture, and gleaming hardwood flooring. The cabin sleeps five and there is a queen size bed with a bedside table and lamp, as well as a bunk bed with a double bed on the bottom and a twin bed on the top bunk.
A large round table with two charming log chairs and two benches is located in one front corner of the room, and the kitchenette is found in the other. There are hooks on the walls in the main room and even a little shelf next to the top bunk to place a flashlight, your book, and a water bottle.
There is plenty of electric lighting in the cabin and multiple outlets, so battery-powered lanterns aren’t necessary for nighttime unless you want to use them just for fun.
More of our past Pinery Park camping adventures: 4 Days in Pinery Provincial Park
Kitchenette and Cooking Gear
Although we are avid tent campers and have all the camping gear that we could need, I love how these cabins have so much available in terms of cooking and food storage amenities. To seasoned campers used to national and state parks, this may feel like cheating or glamping, but I actually think it’s a good thing because it allows families who may be a little intimidated by the whole camping experience or who may not yet have all the camping gear to get out and experience a family camping trip in the park. Anything that encourages people to get out and walk on a trail or breathe the fresh forest air is a good thing, in my opinion.
In the kitchenette corner of the cabin, you’ll find a small counter with a bit of cabinet space and some open shelving above to organize your dishes and food. There’s also a mini fridge, microwave, electric kettle, coffee maker, dish rack, and dish pan. We actually weren’t prepared for all these things to be available, so we brought along our cooler, Coleman stove, and camping kettle like on all camping trips, but we could have done without them if we wanted to. We did use the freezer portion of the fridge to keep our hamburgers and veggie burgers frozen, which was very nice.
Outside, there’s a covered barbecue area with a full-size gas grill and a side burner, a firepit for cooking over a campfire with firewood, and a picnic table. Everything you could need for cooking year-round is available. You just need to bring your own dishes, cookware, and cooking tools.
Heating and Ventilation
The camping cabins are set up very well for both heating in the winter and for ventilation in the summer. I would describe the cabin during our stay as being “magically cozy” because it was just so surprisingly warm. The floors are so well-insulated that it almost feels as though they’re heated, and I didn’t even need to wear my slippers.
The cabin is heated by a thermostat-controlled fireplace located on one wall and it maintains its temperature very well once you get it set to your preferences for daytime and nighttime.
I was impressed to see that the windows were thoughtfully placed to allow for a cross-breeze in the summer if you happen to book a cabin when the weather is warm. There are remote-controlled ceiling fans in both the main room and the mudroom, and all the windows can be opened to allow a breeze to circulate the air in the room.
More adventures in the beautiful Canadian outdoors: 7 Days in Smithers, B.C.
The Washroom Situation
As someone who is very familiar with staying on campgrounds, I do feel that the cabins are quite luxurious, but others may still find them to be quite a bit more rustic and adventurous than what they’re used to. One of the ways in which these cabins maintain their rusticness is that there is no plumbing or running water of any sort in the cabins, and if you do decide to stay in a cabin or a yurt, you’ll be using the regular campground washrooms. We stayed in the cabin that was the furthest from the washroom and it was about a 45-second walk away, so the washrooms were still very easy to access.
The washrooms at Pinery Park are clean, bright, and warm, and definitely not something that should deter you from booking a stay at the cabins if you’ve never been camping before. They even have an abundant number of private rooms for a hot shower. There are a few cabins you can book that are very near the washroom if the idea of taking a little walk in the middle of the night is a bit intimidating to you or members of your group.
We will definitely be booking one of these cabins again and I was tempted to come home and try to book our next get-away right away because we just enjoyed it so much. We had such a comfortable time playing board games, making hot chocolate, and catching up on reading in between our hikes and the fact that the cabin itself was so beautiful was an unexpected but very much appreciated bonus.
Did I miss anything? I know that these cabins are still quite new and there isn’t a lot of information available about them yet, so please ask if you have any other questions and I’ll try to answer them right away!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.