Four months ago, a friend asked if I was interested in splitting a cabin at The Point resort for the long weekend. I said “yes” before I’d worked out a single detail — no plan for how I was even getting out there — because $500 for a long-weekend cabin still felt like a steal. Cabins don’t sit around waiting to be booked; The Point has been running out of the forest near Turkey Point, in Norfolk County, since at least the early 2000s, and somewhere along the way it picked up a reputation as the premiere gay resort for men in Southern Ontario. One old profile even had their general manager describing the place as “camping with a twist” — the usual tenting-and-campfires experience, plus the camaraderie of other gay men, a full social calendar, and weekly themed dances. As luck would have it, Will came with me, and it turned out to be a fantastic weekend.
However, information about the resort wasn’t exactly easy to come by. The website lists the events and describes the grounds and all that, but as a gay man, there are certain… accoutrements I want to know about before I show up somewhere. So I thought I’d write a bit and include some of the things I wish I’d known, or thought to bring, to make your visit even better than mine.
First off, the staff are top-notch. The facilities were always clean and well stocked — despite hundreds of campers on-site for the weekend, they never once ran out of things like paper towel or soap. It’s not just me, either; go looking for reviews and you’ll see the same handful of things mentioned over and over: friendly staff, well-kept grounds, and a pool that’s apparently the unofficial town square of the place. They have private showers as well as more public ones for those who like to show a little skin.
My one complaint would be the lack of douching facilities. I’ve been to bathhouses where you can buy nozzles and they supply the water source. The signage in the bathroom made it very clear that would not be tolerated, citing health regulations. Struck me as odd for a campground that caters specifically to gay men, but there you go. My advice: if you’re going, start taking your fiber.
The facilities are clothing optional, so plenty of campers let it all hang out. (And some are definitely blessed.) One older write-up on the resort also mentioned a sling tucked away in the woods for the more adventurous campers. Sex in the woods is not as glamorous or easy as it sounds. If you do decide to venture out into the woods take a towel with you. (You’ll thank me later)
Another thing — if you’ve got a cabin, bring a broom. The roads are dirt, the campsites are dirt, and it will get into your cabin no matter how careful you are. Bring folding chairs, too. There are Muskoka chairs at the cabins, but they’re heavy, and you can’t really haul them over to someone else’s site for a fire. For your fire pit, lift the wheel well up a bit so air can get underneath and help it burn. They’ve got food on-site, but only during specific hours, plus firewood and ice for sale — though you’ll often see $5 bags of firewood for sale by the roadside on your way in, which beats the on-site price. Worth knowing too: The Point runs seasonally, roughly May through October, so factor that in if you’re trying to time a visit around a specific themed weekend. Bring an electric kettle and a French press if you want real coffee in the morning, and a mini fridge if you take cream. We also brought way more food than we needed — you really don’t need to bother. There are plenty of places within a 20-minute drive to eat.
We drove out Friday and checked in shortly after 2pm, then went in search of distilleries to pick up new ingredients for cocktails, landing at Otter Creek Distillery. That’s not really a coincidence — Norfolk County bills itself as “Ontario’s Garden,” and what used to be Canada’s tobacco belt has spent the last couple of decades turning into vineyard and orchard country, with a real little wine-and-craft-spirits scene to go with it. We got a great tour from the owners, Ted Emerson and Murray Williams. They have a tasting room, but since we were driving, we kept it responsible. We still ended up buying two new gins, a bourbon called “Southern Spirits,” and an Ojibwa Rum.
The next day we skipped the pool party and went to a different distillery which also had a restaurant attached, called Willibald, and picked up two more gins. It was much more upscale, but to me it lacked a certain down-home charm. That evening we went to a blue-collar-themed dance, complete with hard hats and high-vis harnesses — turns out that’s one of the resort’s long-running signature weekends, usually mentioned in the same breath as sister events like Übear and Bearforce that anchor the summer calendar. However, I was bagged and back in bed by 11:30. I heard the party went until the wee hours the next day.
Sunday we stayed on-site and spent most of the morning by the pool — which, fair to all those reviews, really is where everyone ends up. Played some horseshoes, napped. In the evening we went to the lip sync contest, then pub and games night, both of which were delightful.
One last bit of trivia for anyone doing the mental math on that $500 cabin: back in 2009, a basic site at The Point ran about $13.75 a night and a cabin was $50. So yes, prices have moved a bit since then — but honestly, so has everything else. Worth every penny for a weekend like this one.