Arrowhead Provincial Park: Campgrounds and Its Winter Season

If you're picking an Arrowhead campground for a warm-weather trip, book Lumby first — it's the largest of the park's three campgrounds at roughly 138 sites, so there's more inventory in the reservation pool on a popular weekend. East River (roughly 106 sites) and Roe (roughly 104) are close behind each other in size. If you're asking about winter, the honest answer is that none of the three campgrounds is confirmed open through the season — Arrowhead's winter reputation comes from its day-use side, especially a skating trail that runs through the forest, not from camping in a tent or trailer.

Here's the fuller picture on both.

What Arrowhead is

Arrowhead Provincial Park sits just outside Huntsville, in Ontario's Muskoka region, making it one of the more accessible parks from the Highway 11 corridor. That location — close to town, close to the highway — is a big part of why it draws both summer campers and, separately, day visitors chasing a winter activity that doesn't require a long drive north.

The three campgrounds by size

Site counts shift as the park adjusts loops from year to year, so treat these as approximate and confirm current numbers on the Ontario Parks page before you plan around them.

Lumby

At roughly 138 sites, Lumby is Arrowhead's biggest campground. More sites usually means a somewhat better chance of finding an opening on short notice or in shoulder season, so it's a reasonable default if getting into the park matters more to you than a specific loop.

East River

East River runs a bit smaller than Lumby, at roughly 106 sites. It's also worth knowing for a different reason: in a recent extended fall season, East River was the Arrowhead campground confirmed to stay open latest — until November 8 — while Lumby and Roe closed around the Thanksgiving long weekend in mid-October. If a late-fall trip is what you're after, East River is the one to check first; our guide on which Ontario Parks stay open after Thanksgiving has the full table.

Roe

Roe is the smallest of the three at roughly 104 sites, though it's close enough to East River that "smallest" here doesn't mean dramatically fewer sites — it's a tight three-way spread compared to some parks with one campground several times the size of another.

What we can't confirm yet

Which loops have electrical hookups, which sites sit closest to the water, and whether any are designated radio-free aren't broken out on our Arrowhead page yet. Before you lock in a site number, pull up the official interactive site map on the Ontario Parks page for Arrowhead — it shows the current layout, services and site photos for each loop.

Why winter is different at Arrowhead — and it isn't camping

It's worth separating two things people ask about Arrowhead: booking a campsite, and visiting in winter. They're not really the same trip. None of Arrowhead's three campgrounds is confirmed to operate through the winter months, which puts it in a different category from a park like Algonquin, where Mew Lake stays open year-round for camping (our yurt camping guide covers that option if a heated winter stay is what you're after).

What Arrowhead is genuinely known for in winter is its day-use side. The park has a groomed skating trail that loops through the forest — a distinctive setup compared to a standard outdoor rink, and one of the reasons Arrowhead comes up in winter-activity searches well outside camping season. It also has cross-country ski and snowshoe trails for the same stretch of the calendar. None of that requires an overnight booking; it's a day trip from Huntsville or the surrounding area.

If you're planning around this, the practical move is to check the Ontario Parks page for Arrowhead directly for the current year's winter operating dates, skating trail conditions and hours — these depend on weather and grooming, and we don't have that level of detail confirmed on our own pages.

Booking Arrowhead for camping season

Ontario Parks reservations open five months ahead of your arrival date, at 7 a.m. Eastern, on reservations.ontarioparks.ca. Being close to Huntsville and the Highway 11 corridor makes Arrowhead a popular weekend target, so have your first-choice campground and a couple of backup site numbers ready before the window opens. The exact dates and a step-by-step routine are in our guide to 2027 Ontario Parks reservation dates.

Quick picks

• Best odds of getting a site: Lumby, then East River.
• Latest into fall: East River, confirmed open to November 8 in a recent season — check current dates before booking.
• Winter visit, not a winter campsite: the skating trail and ski/snowshoe trails, as a day trip.

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Questions

How many campgrounds does Arrowhead have?

Three: Lumby, East River and Roe.

Which Arrowhead campground is biggest?

Lumby, with roughly 138 sites, the most of the park's three campgrounds. East River is second at roughly 106, and Roe is close behind at roughly 104.

Can you camp at Arrowhead in winter?

Not through its three regular campgrounds in a typical year. East River, the latest-closing of the three, has been confirmed open only until November 8 in a recent extended fall season, and Lumby and Roe close around Thanksgiving in mid-October. Confirm current-year operating dates on the Ontario Parks page before you plan around any of them staying open into winter.

So why visit Arrowhead in winter at all?

Its day-use side, not camping. Arrowhead is known for a groomed skating trail that winds through the forest, plus cross-country ski and snowshoe trails — a different kind of visit from the summer campground season. Check the Ontario Parks page for current winter hours, conditions and any roofed accommodation before you go.