Wheatley Provincial Park Review & Campground Guide

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

Making a reservation to camp at Wheatley 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, you will first need to have an Ontario Parks account.

Registrations begin at 7 am EST.

We booked our stay at Wheatley for mid-October, so there really wasn’t too much competition trying to get a prime spot.

But from what I saw, there are a ton of great sites in this park.

☑️ Expert Tip – Be sure to pre-register and check in online before arriving at the park. It definitely expedites the process once you arrive. This can easily be done by logging into your Ontario Parks account and heading to your reservation.

Wheatley is open for camping from about mid-April until the end of October.

Wheatley Provincial Park Address:
21116 Klondyke Road, P.O. Box 640, Wheatley, ON N0P 2P0
https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/wheatley

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Arriving at the Park

Once you arrive at the main entrance to the park, there is a short drive to the gatehouse.

There, you will find three lanes to choose from: one to take you to the gatehouse for check-in, one to bypass the gatehouse, and the trailer fill lane.

This is not something you usually see right in front of the gatehouse.

We also didn’t like the fact that there was nowhere to park, not even for vehicles.

And while we had already checked in online, we still needed to go inside to get a map, my park patch, and the vehicle slip for our car.

The check-in lane is not very long, so if more than three trailers are in there, it will block the entrance to the other lanes.

I am sure it gets busy in the summer, because even in October, we had several cars with us in the check-in lane.

Gatehouse

The gatehouse was small and also doubles as a park store.

Inside, you will find a decent selection of park merch, camping items, a small freezer with novelty ice cream, and even a coffee stand with Nespresso pods.

As I mentioned above, we were able to check in, grab a printed map, and even purchase ice and firewood there.

We arrived shortly before the 2 o’clock check-in time, and were able to head straight to our site.

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Wheatley Provincial Park Map

I have to say, the printed map that we received was not really helpful. While it does a good job with the campsite numbers, the overview of the park is not great.

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Navigating the Park

Because it’s not really a big park, Wheatley was really easy to navigate.

There were enough large signs to help you find your way around the park, to the beach footpath, and the campgrounds.

Even the campground loops are pretty well labelled, so you should not have any trouble navigating to your site, even without a map.

While the main park roads were paved, they were quite bumpy. Be prepared to shake, rattle and roll along them with your camper, car, or bike!

The one-way campground roads, on the other hand, were narrow and unpaved, but were in decent condition.

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Parking

From what we saw, the parking lots located throughout the park were pretty sufficient in size.

There was a large parking lot near the canoe launch and one at each of the comfort stations.

But as I mentioned earlier, they really could use one at the gatehouse.

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Wheatley Provincial Park Camping

Wheatley 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 and non-electric sites.

Just keep in mind that not all types of camping can be accommodated at all sites. So you will need to watch for this when making your reservations.

Wheatley Provincial Park has 4 main campgrounds – Boosey Creek, Highlands, Middle Creek, and Two Creeks Campground.

All in all, Wheatley is home to 222 campsites.

The Boosey Creek and Two Creeks campgrounds only offer non-electric sites.

Highlands campground offers a mix of electric and non-electric sites.

The Middle Creek campground only offers electric sites.

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Campgrounds at a Glance

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Group Camping

Wheatley Provincial Park also offers two large group camping sites that can accommodate from 9 to 50 people.

The sites have access to water taps, picnic tables and vault toilets. However, if you need to use the comfort stations, it will be a bit of a drive.

The group sites are very rustic, so expect the roads leading to them to be unpaved and uneven.

In fact, trailers are not allowed in the group sites, only tents.

Unfortunately, the group sites are not located centrally in the park, either.

They can be found at the north end of the park, before you even pass the gatehouse.

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Our Campsite Experience

During our visit to Wheatley, we stayed in the Highlands Campground.

The campsite was HUGE! It was also pretty level with a packed dirt pad and had plenty of mature trees for privacy.

The sites are set back from the road with a long, angled driveway, making it easy to back in our Teardrop Trailer.

Our site was creekside and also pretty private. We could only see our neighbours to one side which was awesome.

It was super quiet, a 2-minute walk to the Porto-John (no vault toilet) and about a 5-minute walk to the comfort station with showers.

Unfortunately, we did not have a water tap located anywhere near us. We needed to walk to the far end of our road to get to one, which was not convenient.

And for those of you who are birders, we saw or heard at least 10 different species of birds, without even leaving our campsite (more on this later).

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What Amenities Does Wheatley Offer?

Comfort Stations

Comfort stations with showers are centrally located in the Highlands and Boosey Creek campgrounds.

There is also a comfort station located between the Middle Creek and Two Creeks campgrounds.

We found the comfort stations to be clean and in great shape.

Just something to note, the Highlands campground did not have a single vault toilet. Instead, we noticed several Porto-Johns around the campground.

Hubby said they were quite clean with no funky smells.

I’m not sure if this was the case with the other campgrounds, as I didn’t take notice of any vault toilets or Porto-Johns anywhere else.

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Laundry

A coin laundry is available in each of the three comfort stations.

The laundry rooms that we checked out were clean, with machines that were newer and in great shape.

The one we checked out in the Highlands Campground only had two washers and two dryers, as well as a large laundry sink and counter to fold your clothes on.

It even had a little book nook where you could borrow books, magazines, games, and even a few movies.

This was the first time I had seen this at a campground, and I thought it was a pretty awesome idea!

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Park Store

The Park Store is located inside the gatehouse and is a decent size.

Inside, you will find a variety of Ontario Parks merch, including hoodies, t-shirts, hats, stickers, stuffed animals, and more.

You will also find a variety of camping items that you may have forgotten when packing for your trip.

Wheatley also has a freezer filled with novelty ice cream, a fridge full of drinks, and a coffee station that has a Nespresso machine.

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Visitor’s Centre

Wheatley Provincial Park does not have a Visitor’s Centre.

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Day Use Area

The day-use area is a little tricky at Wheatley.

While it is really nice with views of Lake Erie over the cliffs, a forested trail, beach access, and a couple of picnic tables, you can only access it on foot.

There is no way to drive there, as the roadway that used to follow the coastline is actually washed out in a couple of places.

Yup! You can walk or bike that roadway now (with diverted areas, of course), but you can literally see where parts of it have fallen off the cliffside due to erosion.

What this means is that you will need to carry anything you need for a day at the beach, or a picnic, from either the Two Creeks campground (10-minute walk), or the Trailer Dump station (5-10 minute walk).

Definitely NOT convenient!

The footbridge from the Two Creeks campground is very wonky, with one side that appears to have sunk low into the creek.

It feels like you are walking in a fun funhouse! Not great to pull a wagon loaded with beach essentials, or even to push a stroller.

And while the roadway from the dump station is closer, there are only 10 parking spots.

So in the summer, when the park gets busy, it may be impossible to find parking anywhere near the beach.

Just something to think about.

If you want to visit the park for the day-use area only, you can reserve your daily vehicle permit to guarantee your day-use spot.

Permits can be obtained up to five days in advance.

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Boat Launch

While there is no actual boat launch at Wheatley Provincial Park, there is a designated area to launch your canoe into the creek system.

The canoe launch has a decent-sized parking lot with a short path down to the water.

There, you will find two levels of docks that will make it easy enough to get in and out of the water with your canoe.

Just a heads up, Wheatley does not offer canoe (or even kayak or paddleboard) rentals, so you will need to bring your own.

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Playgrounds

The Highlands campground was home to a small swingset located right next to the comfort station.

Nothing fancy, but in working order.

The playground located at the comfort station between the Middle Creek and Two Creeks campgrounds was fantastic.

It was newer with several different play structures.

There was also a small picnic pavilion next to the playground, perfect if you wanted to spend the afternoon at the park.

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Wheatley Provincial Park Beach

Wheatley Provincial Park is home to a really nice stretch of dark sand beach along the shore of Lake Erie.

During the summer, you will find that the water is shallow, crystal clear, but a little on the cool side.

The entry into the water was sandy, with very few rocks.

The beach area is not very wide, but it extends for almost the full length of the park.

Just a heads up, Lake Erie is known for having strong currents, so just be careful when entering the water with younger children.

During our stay, the water was quite calm in the evening, but the waves picked up considerably by the next morning.

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What Services Does Wheatley Offer?

You will find all the usual Ontario Provincial Parks services at Wheatley.

Water

There is one sanitation station and one fill station at Wheatley Provincial Park. They are both located right by the gatehouse.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, you will find a water fill station that runs parallel to the check-in lane by the gatehouse.

This lane has 2 water fills, both located on the driver’s side.

However, there is another water fill station which is located at the trailer dump station.

This water fill station can be accessed on either the driver’s or the passenger’s side.

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

There are no water hookups at the individual campsites.

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Dump Station

The sanitation area is located behind the gatehouse and down a short road.

There, you will find a total of 2 dump stations.

There are two lanes, with one dump station located in each lane.

The lane on the far right can also be used to access the water fill station.

The dump stations come first, so if you want to fill your trailer, it might be better to head to the other fill station during busy times.

And just like at other parks, expect the sanitation area to be busy around check-out time.

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Garbage and Recycling

There was a small garbage/recycling area located at the entrance to each campground.

There was one large dumpster for garbage, several small blue recycling bins, and one orange bin for recycling small propane tanks at each area.

However, I did not see a central garbage area like what you find in most other Ontario parks.

Incidentally, the garbage area at the Highlands campground also had a Porto-John (which was extremely clean and NOT smelly).

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Wi-Fi

We were pleasantly surprised that we could get full phone reception anywhere in the park.

Just like at Sturgeon Bay, Mara, and at several other provincial parks, I was actually able to write my blog post while enjoying the scenery at my campground!

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Things to Do at Wheatley Provincial Park

While there isn’t a lot to do at Wheatley Provincial Park, John and I certainly didn’t have trouble keeping busy during our weekend visit.

1. Enjoy a Bike Ride

Wheatley Provincial Park, unfortunately, does not have any dedicated bike trails.

Instead, John and I rode our bikes along the campground roads, as well as along the shoreline trail.

Both were quite bumpy, but we really enjoyed the views.

The shoreline road is closed to vehicular traffic and can be accessed at two different points in the park (I talked about this in the day-use section of the post).

If you have kids with you, we would definitely recommend this trail compared to the main park road, which can get busy and is a little narrow.

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2. Go for a Paddle

Wheatley is home to a secluded coastal estuary, where several creeks flow through a southern-style Carolinian forest.

And as I mentioned earlier, there is a really great canoe launch area in the park.

The launch puts you into Sugar Creek, where you can paddle all the way through Boosey Creek and back for a total distance of approximately 3.2 km.

And even though the park does not rent out canoes, they do offer lifejacket rentals at the park store.

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3. Take the Plunge

Since John and I visited Wheatley towards the end of October, we were unable to go for a dip in Lake Erie.

That said, we noticed that the water was clear, clean, and shallow with a nice sandy entry.

Our only advice is to keep in mind that the water can get rough on this lake, especially further out.

And keep in mind that there are no lifeguards on the beach, so keep an eye on your kids.

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4. Take Part in the Discovery Program

According to the website, Wheatley Provincial Park offers a Discovery Program for kids.

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

There is also a weekly calendar of events posted throughout the park.

These activities usually include children’s programs, guided hikes, and campfire programs. 

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5. Do Some Birding

While we are not avid birders, Wheatley offers some incredible opportunities to bird watch, as it is located on a major migratory bird route.

During spring and fall migrations, you can view a variety of bird species, including warblers, hawks, thrushes and flycatchers.

You can also see herons and egrets as they wade in the shallow creeks that wind their way through the park.

And if this isn’t enough, Point Pelee National Park, Rondeau Provincial Park, and the ferry to Pelee Island are all within a short drive from the park.

John and I counted a total of 10 different birds that we saw or heard just while sitting at our campsite.

These included Blue Jays, Cardinals, Nuthatches, Chickadees, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, a hawk, a horned owl, ducks, geese, and a heron.

Of course, it helped that the people who were on our site before us left a small pile of birdseed on our picnic table.

I got some great shots as a result.

But I’m pretty sure that the park staff would not be happy if you did this. It can bring other (unwanted) critters to the site, not just birds.

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6. Enjoy a Hike

Wheatley Provincial Park is home to only 1 hiking trail.

The trail runs along the coastline from the area nearest to the Trailer Dump all the way to the opposite end of the park.

Because the trail is basically along the old park road, it is flat and easy to walk along.

There are some offshoots that go across grassy areas, but they are also flat and easy to walk on.

I was not able to find out any info about how long the trail is, but it didn’t take John and me long to ride the full distance.

Just keep in mind what I said about the Beach Access Bridge being really wonky to walk across if you have any mobility issues.

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Is Wheatley Provincial Park Accessible?

We found the buildings at Wheatley to be pretty accessible.

All the comfort stations allowed for barrier-free access to both flush toilets and showers.

The Park Store/Gatehouse was also barrier-free.

During our walks through the campgrounds, however, we did not notice anything special about the designated barrier-free campsites.

While some parks (like Earl Rowe or Craigleith) have paved pads, special picnic tables or campfire pits in the barrier-free sites, the sites at Wheatley looked just like any other.

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Are Pets Allowed at Wheatley?

Yes. Dogs are welcome at Wheatley Provincial Park.

Pets are allowed at the campground and in the day-use area, but must be leashed at all times.

There is no pet beach at Wheatley, however.

One thing that I did notice is the pet waste disposal bins located at each comfort station.

They were pretty neat and made disposing of your pet’s poop really convenient.

I wish other parks would also have these!

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Is There Winter Camping at Wheatley?

No. Wheatley Provincial Park is not open for winter camping.

The park is also not open for any winter activities such as cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.

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Our Park Rating

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

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Final Thoughts

After visiting Wheatley Provincial Park, I can honestly say that this park was pretty nice to visit for a weekend in the fall.

We really enjoyed the beautiful wooded campsites, as well as the one hiking trail.

And while our experience was nothing but positive, I’m not sure it was worth the 3-hour drive for us to get there.

That said, I would have no problem returning for a multi-night stay, maybe this time during the summer.

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Pin This Post for Later!

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