Selkirk Provincial Park Review & Camping Guide

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Selkirk Provincial Park Reservations – What You Need to Know Before You Go

Making a campsite reservation at Selkirk Provincial Park is pretty easy.

Just like all the other Ontario Park campsites, you can book your campsite up to five months in advance of your arrival date through the Ontario Parks reservation system.

In order to make a reservation online though, you will first need to have an Ontario Parks account.

You can also call Ontario Parks to make your reservation over the phone.

Registrations begin at 7 am EST.

I am not sure how popular this park gets later in the season, but we noticed that many sites in each campground were empty in mid-June.

Selkirk is open for camping from the middle of May until after the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend in October.

Selkirk Provincial Park Address:
151 Wheeler’s Sideroad, R.R. # 1, Selkirk, ON N0A 1P0
https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/selkirk

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Arriving at the Park

Once you arrive at the main entrance to the park, you are able to check in at the gatehouse.

The gatehouse is the small building to the right that you will find as soon as you pass the park sign.

We almost drove right past it, as we had never seen this arrangement before!

The gatehouse is where you can grab your printed map as well as your parking permit.

There is a small store in the gatehouse as well, where you can pick up some Ontario Parks merch (like my patch), ice, firewood, and a few other small items.

This is one of the smallest Park Stores we have come across.

There is a small parking area (but large enough for a couple of RVs) right by the gatehouse.

We arrived right at about 1 o’clock and were able to make our way to our site.

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Selkirk Provincial Park Map

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Navigating the Park

This park is pretty small compared to other Provincial Parks that we have visited.

There weren’t too many roads to get lost on, and there were enough signs to help us get around.

The mostly gravel campground roads were in pretty decent shape.

Parking

In general, we found the parking lots located throughout the park to be quite small. This was not surprising given the size of the actual park.

We noticed a small parking lot near the hiking path trailhead, one at the gatehouse, and a few small lots by the day-use area, one at the boat launch and a few at the group camping area.

The only parking lots inside the campgrounds were the ones at the comfort stations.

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Selkirk Provincial Park Camping

Selkirk Provincial Park accommodates a variety of camping styles. From car camping to tenting, group camping, and RVs up to 32 feet (9.7 metres), you will find it all.

You will also have the choice between electric or non-electric sites.

Unfortunately, not all types of camping can be accommodated at all sites, so you will need to watch for this when making your reservations.

Selkirk Provincial Park has 4 main campgrounds with a total of 151 campsites.

Areas 2 and 4 offer exclusively electrical sites, while Areas 1 and 3 only offer non-electric sites.

While it’s not labelled on the map, nor is it noted on the website, Areas 2 and 4 also offer water hookups!

We were VERY pleasantly surprised when the Parks Staff that checked us in mentioned that we had water at our site.

This was definitely a first for John and I to have water in a Provincial Park.

We ended up taking a walk through all the campgrounds to investigate. And it seemed like most, if not all, electrical sites also had a water tap. BONUS!

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Campgrounds at a Glance

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Our Campsite Experience

During our visit to Selkirk, we were booked to stay at campsite #80 in the Area 2 Campground.

This was a nice pull-through site with the water and electrical box located in a really good spot.

We had a tree for some shade, but there was one large patch on the site that stayed muddy throughout our visit.

The campsite was not very private with direct views into the site across the road both to the front and back of our site.

The site was also located almost directly across the street from the only Comfort Station in the park.

So you can imagine how busy the area was with both the foot and vehicular traffic.

In fact, the parking lot for the comfort station was right across from our site.

So there were constantly headlights shining into our trailer at night. Good thing we have blinds!

Aside from the traffic, we enjoyed the campsite. We had a bit of a breeze, plenty of sunshine, and it was nice and level.

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What Amenities Does Selkirk Provincial Park Campground Offer?

Comfort Stations

There is only one Comfort Station at Selkirk Provincial Park.

The Comfort Station has 5 showers and is located in Area 2.

Areas 1, 3, and 4 only have access to Vault Toilets.

Realistically, it’s only a 5 to 10-minute walk from any site in the campground to the comfort station.

The Day Use area at Selkirk Provincial Park has two vault toilets with running water located in the main area near the parking lot.

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Laundromat

A laundromat is available in the Area 2 campground. It can be found attached to the comfort station.

Inside, you will find one washing machine and one dryer. The machines appeared to be clean and in good working order during our visit.

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Park Store

The tiny Park Store is located in the gatehouse/park office.

The park store sells Ontario Parks merchandise (like my patches!), clothing and snacks, as well as a variety of items that you may have forgotten when packing for your camping adventure.

It’s definitely one of the smallest Park Stores that we have come across.

But you could still buy novelty ice cream, cold drinks, and ice.

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Visitor’s Centre

There is no Visitor’s Centre at Selkirk Provincial Park.

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Day Use Area

Selkirk has a decent-sized day-use area for a small park.

The main day-use area is lakeside, with a nice picnic area full of large trees for shade.

You will find a children’s playground, plenty of picnic tables, water taps, vault toilets, and beach access.

We thought that the day-use area was quite nice. You will find a short gravel path that takes you to the beach on the one side.

If you walk in the opposite direction, you will also find a second beach a bit further away.

There were small parking lots at both ends of the day-use area nearest the beaches.

You can reserve your daily vehicle permit to guarantee your day-use spot at this park.

Permits can be obtained up to five days in advance.

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Selkirk Provincial Park Beach

Selkirk is home to two small pebbly beaches on Lake Erie. Unfortunately, we found the beaches to be a huge letdown.

The beaches were both rocky and uneven, making it hard to walk.

The water, at least when we were there, was NASTY!

Now, we have happily swam in Lake Erie before at different parks.

However here, the water was murky brown, with green algae and white scum floating all along the shoreline.

And the smell! YUCK!

Again, this could just be because it had rained the night before. But given it was such a hot day during our visit, it was quite disappointing.

There were people swimming in the water in different areas of the beach. But the water was the same everywhere.

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What Services Does Selkirk Offer?

Selkirk has all the usual services found at other Ontario Provincial Parks, with the added bonus of having water hookups at certain campsites.

Water

There is one sanitation station at Selkirk Provincial Park. It is located adjacent to the Area 2 Campground.

There was only one water fill station in the sanitation area. It came before the dumping station.

There is no bypass lane in the sanitation loop. It’s just a very narrow single lane that loops back around on itself.

You will find plenty of water taps located throughout the campgrounds, as well as in the day-use area.

And as we mentioned, there are water hookups at the individual campsites with electric service.

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Dump Station

Just like with the fill station, there is only one dump station in the sanitation area.

As we mentioned above, the dumping area is actually just a single-lane road without a bypass lane.

The dumping station can be found just after the water fill station.

So with only one dump station, just expect it to be busy around check-out time.

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Garbage and Recycling

There was a small area located just before the gatehouse and park exit with both garbage and recycling bins.

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Wi-Fi

Just like with most Ontario Parks, Selkirk has very little in the way of Wi-Fi.

While I was able to make a phone call from my campsite, there really wasn’t anywhere in the park where I could get online.

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Things to Do at Selkirk Provincial Park

1. Do Not Go Hiking

Selkirk Provincial Park is home to one trail, which was one of the most disastrous trails we have ever been on in a provincial park.

The Wheeler’s Walk Trail takes you from the campground side of the park across a marsh wetland, via a boardwalk, to the west side of the park.

You will then travel through remnants of the forest that pre-date the park and through a White Pine plantation that was planted in the early 1970s.

While the trail was well marked with a Trailhead that could easily be found, that’s where the positives ended.

The beginning of the trail starts off ok, with a wide path. There is even a wooden boardwalk that goes over a marsh area that was pretty nice.

The further you go along, however, the less-groomed the trail becomes.

At one point, John and I felt like we were walking through a jungle with low branches completely blocking the extremely narrow path.

The worst part was, that the low-hanging branches all had thorns on them! This made it even more difficult to navigate.

We won’t even discuss the amount of muddy patches we had to jump, skirt around and wade through.

Our recommendation is to give this trail a pass!

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2. Go for a Boat Ride

Boating is not offered within Selkirk Provincial Park.

That said, boats can be launched at a nearby marina on Sandusk Creek to access the lake in front of the park.

There is, however, a boat launch located within the park to launch canoes.

Paddlers can head out through the marsh area along Spring Creek and into the lake at the mouth of Sandusk Creek.

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3. Enjoy a Bike Ride

Selkirk does not have dedicated bicycle trails.

But you can cycle along all of the campground roads which are fairly flat and easy to navigate.

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4. Do Not Go for a Swim

While this park does have the facilities to go swimming, technically speaking, we would advise against it.

Not only does the lake water not look appealing, but the beach isn’t much better.

Again, we could be totally wrong about this being the permanent state of the water.

But if you do decide to brave the water, we would recommend wearing water shoes, as the pebbles lead right into the water.

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5. Do Some Birding

While we are not birdwatchers at heart, you can see quite a few different types of birds at Selkirk.

🐦‍⬛ Fun Fact: A bird banding station once existed in the park. This program monitored and banded migrating birds as they crossed Long Point Bay and across Lake Erie during their migration south in the fall, and back north in the spring.

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6. Play a Game of Horseshoes

This was something that we had not seen at any other park, a horseshoe pitch.

You will find the smallish grassy area with four poles sticking out of the ground right before the entrance to the day-use area.

Not sure if the park rents the horseshoes, or if you have to bring your own.

While the grass was neat and tidy, we did not see anyone playing on it the entire weekend we stayed at the park.

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7. Take Part in the Discovery Program

From what we can see on the website, a basic Discovery Program is offered at Selkirk.

During July and August, kids can pick up a Discovery Activity Book, and use the equipment and materials provided to explore the park.

There was actually an Exploration Station running during our visit in June. We noticed a table set up in the day-use area with Parks Staff speaking to families with young kids.

They had colouring sheets and crayons, as well as a treasure hunt of sorts going.

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Is Selkirk Provincial Park Accessible?

The accessibility at Selkirk was only so-so.

The comfort station allowed for barrier-free access to both flush toilets and showers.

But that was where the accessibility pretty much ended.

The Park Office was not barrier-free with three steps leading up to the door.

Neither the website nor the map indicate any accessible campsites.

And unlike Darlington Park which has an awesome wheelchair mat taking you from the day-use area down to the beach, Selkirk did not have barrier-free beach access.

And the one hiking trail in the park was most definitely NOT barrier-free!

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Are Pets Allowed at Selkirk?

Yes. Dogs are welcome at Selkirk Provincial Park.

Pets are allowed at the campground and on the hiking trail but must be leashed at all times.

Dogs are only allowed on a small portion of the beach near the day-use area.

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Is There Winter Camping at Selkirk?

No. The park is not open for winter camping. It is also closed to any winter activities like hiking or snowshoeing.

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FAQs

What time is check-in at Selkirk Provincial Park?

Like most Ontario Provincial Parks, check-in is at 2 pm. Check-out is also by 2 pm.

Does Selkirk Provincial Park have showers?

Yes, Selkirk Provincial Park has showers. they can be found in the comfort station in the Area 2 campground.

Is Lake Erie clean to swim in?

Lake Erie is generally clean and safe for swimming, but water quality can vary. It’s best to check local advisories before heading out for a swim.

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Our Park Rating

We give this park 3 out of 5 stars for having:

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Selkirk Provincial Park Reviews – Final Thoughts

Aside from the not-so-nice beach, we enjoyed our stay at Selkirk Provincial Park.

From the scenic day-use area to the wonderful surprise of having a water hookup at our campsite, it was a really nice stay.

While there aren’t many amenities at this small park, it’s not bad for a short stay.

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