Cowboy Camping At The Pinery
As summer comes to a close, it feels like the sun is setting on outdoor adventures, but the silver-lining is that those cooler mornings and prematurely darkened evenings free up magical places that were previously fully booked.
Pinery Provincial Park, or "The Pinery," is one such place. With a ten-kilometer dune-backed beach and salvaged tracts of Oak Savanna, The Pinery consistently ranks as one of Ontario's most visited provincial parks.
Despite having 1,000 campsites, there is precisely zero chance of obtaining one during the summer. So as the season turns, I figured it was high time to visit The Pinery: to run its trails, paddle its Old Ausable Channel, "polar bear swim" in its slice of Lake Huron, and "cowboy camp" under its autumnal moon.
No reservation, no tent, no bugs. Just some good old-fashioned, nature-loving, bygone youthful exuberance. I may not be getting any younger, but at the Pinery, I always feel like a kid.
Hitting The Ground Running
I pulled into the Pinery at 10 a.m. Not quite as early as I had hoped, but it always takes longer to pack up for a camping trip than expected. Even one as minimal as this.
The plus side of arriving mid-morning on a late-September weekday was that I was quickly granted a campsite of my choosing — and there were a lot of spots to choose from. My site was in the aptly-named Dunes Campground, and was punctuated by a private trail leading out the back, up and over a fluffy sand dune to a driftwood-strewn beach. Naturally, I left my Jeep unpacked and headed straight for the sand, sun, and lapping waves.
Eager to time my swim for the peak-heat of the day, I held off for the time being, and instead launched into an exploratory run. A couple laps of the Cedar Trail and a bit of out-and-back on the Savanna Trail reacquainted me with this immaculate area that I had not seen since the spring of '24. Things were off to a great start.
A Peaceful Paddle
At the epicenter of the Pinery is a paddlecraft and bicycle rental shop. Able and willing to explore the park's terrestrial limits on foot, it was the central waterway that I now wished to peruse.
I laid down $33 CAD for an hour in a kayak and was reminded how affordability is not one of the Pinery's stronger suits. Nonetheless, paddling steadily east on the Old Ausable Channel, against the wind and current, and then drifting passively back was well worth the investment.
As I paddled upstream, a perched heron attracted my attention while it waited for some freshwater fish to float by. Then, on the way back, I saw a row of turtles and ducks (who apparently are friends) sunbathing on a log amongst a sea of fat lily pads.
In terms of human encounters, other than a school field trip that docked just before I pushed off, I had the river virtually to myself. So for the better part of the hour, the sounds of my dipping paddle were my only company. And that was just fine by me.
Swim, Sand, & Sun
Post-paddle, I took another short jog out to the beach, where I kicked off my shoes to feel the sand between my toes before wading into the shallow waters of Lake Huron. It was chilly, make no mistake, but beneath a mid-afternoon sun, I comfortably drip-dried.
I don't know about you, but whenever I see a good-sized sand dune, I simply have to sprint up it ... and then down, of course. Filming a time-lapse video for an Instagram reel gave me a good excuse to get a few reps in, which I suppose is the adult-equivalent of going down a slide.
Tired in that beautiful way that rids the body of anxiety, I found a particularly soft spot atop the biggest dune, sprawling out in the hot but low-UV sun. One of the best parts about fall camping is that you don't need sunscreen. Nothing to clog the pores or make the sand stick to the skin.
In Ontario, there are just a few Goldilocks weeks in the shoulder season when you can comfortably strut around shirtless without burning. As Buddhists would tell us, it is this transience that makes things special.
Cowboy Camp
The sun flirting with the horizon and the whimpering in my belly informed me that it was time to head down the back side of the dune and set up camp.
This didn't take long as I had previously decided to "cowboy camp." Though I arrived by car, rather than horseback, the rest was pretty similar to the lone riders back in the day. I laid out a couple of old rugs and a sleeping bag, and called it my home for the night. I even forgot to bring a pillow, so a beach towel wrapped in a re-usable grocery bag had to suffice.
One thing I did have was plenty of firewood to establish a solid base of embers hours before turning in. Every time I woke up in the night, which either happened because my nose got too cold or my hip went numb, I just reached for a log and chucked it haphazardly into the pit.
Before I knew it, the glow of the harvest moon overhead gave way to the first rays of morning light through the trees. It was time to pry myself out of my sleeping bag, beef up the fire, and make coffee.
For some unknown reason, my butane camping stove decided to go on the fritz. But like an authentic cowboy, I simply used the fire to boil my little pot. Rather fittingly, my grounds of choice were courtesy of Kicking Horse Coffee.
Caveats
Though thoroughly enjoyable, my fall trip to the Pinery was not without its blips. For one, the restaurant was closed for the season, and because Google led me astray, I actually didn't pack a lunch, thinking that I could just grab a burger there in between the run and paddle.
Alas, granola bars had to suffice until I slowed down enough to cook up some dinner at the campsite.
Not specific to the season but rather just a random fluke, the park's power was also out, which meant the Visitor Center was closed. I planned on doing a little POV tour for the aforementioned reel and buying a branded coffee mug, but as I've learned time and again, travel can be unpredictable.
Otherwise, everything seemed business as usual at the Pinery: kids paddled, retirees rode bikes, birds chirped, squirrels frolicked, and colorful dragonflies hovered about like Apache helicopters.
Parting Thoughts From The Pinery
An overnight camping trip isn't exactly breaking new ground, especially at the ever-popular Pinery. Yet doing so mid-week, mid-September, and in the cowboy-camp fashion felt extra adventurous.
I love pushing myself to do things that are ultimately pointless, and all the more fun for it. As my cohort drifts into middle age, I see how easy it is to become complacent — to accept mature vacation formats, and only during the prescribed times.
But most jobs have allotted days off, and they don't all have to be taken consecutively at a resort in Cabo. You can grant yourself a random Thursday, especially now that the fall has freed up a lot of places, to feel like a kid again. Or maybe even a cowboy.
