Grundy Lake: Which Campground Should You Book?

If your main goal is just getting a site when the five-month reservation window opens, book White Pine or Gurd Lake — they're the two biggest campgrounds at Grundy Lake, with roughly 98 and 72 sites, so there's simply more inventory in play. If you'd rather trade some selection for a smaller, likely quieter loop, Poplar (about 53 sites) and White Spruce (about 62) are the two smallest. Beyond size, we can't yet tell you which loop has electrical hookups or sits closest to a beach — that detail isn't confirmed on our park page, so check the interactive site map on the Ontario Parks page for Grundy Lake before you commit to a site number.

Here's the fuller picture.

What Grundy Lake is

Grundy Lake Provincial Park sits off Highway 522 near Britt, Ontario, close to the Highway 400 corridor between Parry Sound and Sudbury. What makes it different from a lot of Ontario parks built around one big lake is that Grundy Lake is really a cluster of smaller, connected lakes. That tends to mean warmer, shallower swimming water and more sheltered paddling than you'd get on one large lake, which is a big part of why it's such a popular family park.

The park is also known among campers for its turtles. The shallow, weedy shoreline around its lakes is good turtle habitat, and the park has run naturalist programs and a self-guided turtle-watching route in past seasons — check the current schedule at the gate or on the Ontario Parks page if that's something you want to build a day around. There's also a Fire Tower Trail, a short, steep hike up to the site of a former fire lookout, which is one of the park's better-known day hikes.

The four 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.

White Pine

At roughly 98 sites, White Pine is the biggest of Grundy Lake's four campgrounds. More sites in a campground usually means a slightly better chance of finding an opening on short notice or in shoulder season, since there's more inventory to work with. It's a reasonable first pick if your priority is simply getting into the park on your dates.

Gurd Lake

Gurd Lake campground is named for the lake it sits on, a separate body of water within the park from Grundy Lake itself. At around 72 sites it's the second-largest campground here. If being on a specific, named lake within the park matters to you, this is the one where that's confirmed.

White Spruce

White Spruce runs a bit smaller than White Pine and Gurd Lake, with roughly 62 sites. It's a middle option: not the biggest pool of sites, not the smallest either.

Poplar

Poplar is the smallest campground at Grundy Lake, with roughly 53 sites. Fewer sites in a campground generally means fewer people around you, so if quiet matters more to you than selection, start your search here.

What we can't confirm yet

We'd rather tell you plainly what we don't know than guess. Which loops have electrical hookups, which sites are a short walk from a beach versus a longer one, and which (if any) are designated radio-free all change with park upgrades and aren't broken out on our Grundy Lake page yet. Before you lock in a site number, pull up the official interactive site map on the Ontario Parks page for Grundy Lake — it shows the current layout, services and site photos for each loop.

Booking Grundy Lake

Ontario Parks reservations open five months ahead of your arrival date, at 7 a.m. Eastern, on reservations.ontarioparks.ca. Grundy Lake is a well-known family destination along the Highway 400 corridor, so summer weekends across all four campgrounds go quickly once the window opens. Have your first-choice campground and a couple of backup site numbers ready before that morning — the exact dates and a step-by-step routine are in our guide to 2027 Ontario Parks reservation dates. If you're aiming for a site that only opens up after someone else cancels, our guide on how to get a campsite when reservations open covers that approach too.

Quick picks

• Best odds of getting a site: White Pine, then Gurd Lake.
• Smallest, likely quietest: Poplar, then White Spruce.
• On a named lake within the park: Gurd Lake.
• Need electrical or beach-adjacent specifics confirmed: check the Ontario Parks site map before booking.

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Questions

How many campgrounds does Grundy Lake have?

Four: Gurd Lake, Poplar, White Pine and White Spruce.

Which Grundy Lake campground is the biggest?

White Pine, with roughly 98 sites, the most of the park's four campgrounds. Gurd Lake is second at roughly 72.

Which Grundy Lake campground is the smallest and likely the quietest?

Poplar, with roughly 53 sites, is the smallest, followed by White Spruce at roughly 62. Fewer sites generally means fewer neighbours.

Which Grundy Lake sites have electrical hookups or are closest to a beach?

That level of detail isn't confirmed on our park page yet. Check the interactive site map on the Ontario Parks page for Grundy Lake before you pick a site number.