Vaughan to Sauble Beach: Lake Huron's long sand and the sunset

The beach on the other side

Sauble Beach is the Bruce Peninsula's other shore: eleven kilometres of sand on Lake Huron facing west, warm shallow water, a strip of shops and stands behind the northern end, cottages along the length of it, and a sunset that the beach turns to watch every evening in July — the second-longest freshwater beach in the world, and the one that Wasaga's crowds have made the quieter choice. It is three hours from Vaughan, which is the reason families book it as a weekend rather than a day, and the reason a chauffeured vehicle earns its fare on the road as well as at the sand. The beach's site has the summer's events; this post has the trip.

The beach, and where to be on it

The beach runs north from the Sauble River's mouth to the Saugeen First Nation's boundary and beyond, with the strip — Main Street's shops, the arcade, the restaurants, the Sauble Beach sign — at its northern town end and the quieter sand south along Lakeshore Boulevard. The town's beach parking is a pass system on Lakeshore's lots and the sand-access points in summer, and by eleven on a Saturday the northern lots are full; a chauffeured family is dropped at a sand-access point south of the strip with the chairs, umbrella and cooler and the vehicle gone, and collected at the same point after the sunset. The southern stretch near the river mouth is the family end — shallow water, fewer people, the river's flat water for a paddle; the strip is the teenagers'. The Saugeen First Nation's beach north of the town boundary is a separate beach with its own day-use fee and its own quiet.

The sunset

Sauble faces due west across Lake Huron, and the sunset from the sand — the sun into the lake with nothing between — is the trip's fixed appointment: the strip empties onto the beach at nine in July, the cottages' decks fill, and a family's day ends with it. A chauffeured day is timed for it: the collection at half past nine, the drive home in the dark with the children asleep, Vaughan by half past midnight. A weekend does not need to be timed at all.

Sauble Falls

Sauble Falls Provincial Park, five minutes north of the beach on the Sauble River, has a series of low falls over limestone ledges that children wade and slide at in summer — the river warm, the ledges shallow, the pools below — with a campground, a day-use lot and a trail; it is the afternoon break from the beach's sun and the reason a Sauble weekend has two water days. Ontario Parks sells the day-use permit; the chauffeur drops at the lot and the falls are two minutes' walk.

The road, and the stops

Highway 10 from Vaughan's west side through Orangeville, Shelburne and Flesherton — the Grey County road with the bakery stops — to Owen Sound; Highway 6 north to Hepworth and Highway 21 west to Sauble. Three hours from Woodbridge or Kleinburg, which are on Highway 27 and 9 to Highway 10 already; three and a quarter from Thornhill. Owen Sound's Harrison Park, the Tom Thomson gallery and the harbour are the lunch stop for a family that wants one; the routing estimate's three hours twenty-five is about right with a stop.

The weekend, in shape

Friday: pickup at 2 p.m., the Grey County road, Owen Sound for an early dinner, the motel or rented cottage at Sauble by six thirty, the sunset from the beach. Saturday: the beach from ten with the drop at the sand; Sauble Falls at three for the ledges; the strip's dinner; the sunset. Sunday: the beach in the morning, checkout, and the road home with Flesherton's bakery; Vaughan by six. Two days of daily hire for the vehicle staying, or a return pair for a family that will stay on the sand, priced in the booking engine before Friday; the travel desk holds the cottage.

Which vehicle

A Luxury SUV for a family with boosters at $25 each and a cargo area for the beach kit; an Executive Sprinter for two families sharing a cottage and a fare; a Premium Sedan for a couple's September weekend when the water is warmest and the strip is quiet.

What the chauffeur replaces

Six hours of driving in a weekend, or six in a day; the Lakeshore lots on a Saturday; the walk from a distant lot to the sand with a toddler and a cooler; and the drive home in the dark after a sunset. For a family of four it is a comfort purchase and the site says so; for two families in a Sprinter it undercuts two cars, two passes and two tired drivers.

Seasons

July and August for the swim and the strip; September for the warm water, the empty sand and the same sunset; June for the falls at their fullest; October for the drive through Grey County's colour. The beach's Sandfest and the summer's Saturday markets are on the town's site; winter is a closed strip and a frozen lake.

Pairing it

Sauble pairs with Tobermory an hour north for a peninsula weekend that does both shores, with Bayfield and Goderich down the Huron coast for a two-town lake trip, and with the Collingwood road home along Highway 26 for a family that wants the bay's colour in October.

A weekend, in order, for two families

Two families from Woodbridge sharing a rented cottage on Lakeshore Boulevard: the Executive Sprinter at 2 p.m. on Friday with the bay full — two coolers, a beach tent, chairs, a paddleboard, the bins of towels — Highway 27 and 9 to Highway 10, Flesherton at 3:45 for the bakery, Owen Sound at 4:30 for an early dinner at the harbour, Sauble by six; the cottage's unloading; the sunset from the sand at nine. Saturday: the beach from ten with the drop at the Sixth Street access, the tent up, the toddlers in the shallows, the older children at the strip's arcade with a father and the Sprinter's shuttle; Sauble Falls at three for the ledges with the day-use permit; the strip's dinner at six; the sunset. Sunday: the beach in the morning, the cottage's loading at one, the road home with a stop at Owen Sound's Harrison Park for the children to run, Woodbridge by six. Two days of daily hire, one number in the booking engine, split two ways.

The Saugeen First Nation's beach and the north end

North of the town's boundary the beach continues on Saugeen First Nation land as a separate beach with its own gate, day-use fee and quiet — fewer people, the same sand, the same sunset — and it is the alternative for a family that wants the beach without the strip; the Saugeen's Amphitheatre and the Saugeen River's mouth are its landmarks. The Saugeen First Nation manages the beach and posts its season; the chauffeur drops at its gate.

Owen Sound, on the way

Owen Sound is the city at the bottom of the peninsula and the stop of every Sauble run: Harrison Park's river, trails and playground; the Tom Thomson Art Gallery with the painter's early work — he grew up in Leith, ten minutes east; the harbour and its grain elevators; the Saturday farmers' market; Inglis Falls on the escarpment south of the city, an eighteen-metre waterfall with a lookout, ten minutes off Highway 10. A chauffeured Sauble weekend that stops at Inglis Falls on the way up and Harrison Park on the way home has seen more of Grey County than most families who have driven through it for twenty years.

Winter, honestly

Sauble in winter is a closed strip, a frozen lake and a few cottages with smoke; there is no chauffeured winter booking to speak of and the site does not pretend there is. The season runs from the May long weekend to Thanksgiving, and the September weekend — the warmest water, the emptiest sand, the same sunset at seven — is the one Vaughan couples book in a Premium Sedan after the families have gone.

Pickup notes

Highway 27 and 9 to Highway 10 from Woodbridge and Kleinburg; Highway 400, 89 and 10 from Maple, the VMC and Thornhill. Give us the cottage or motel, the seats, the kit, the Sauble Falls permit and the sand-access point, and whether Owen Sound's stops are wanted; the chauffeur confirms the plan the evening before with the weather on it.

Packing, and the sand

Chairs, an umbrella, the beach tent for the toddlers, a cooler with the lunch and two litres of water per person because the strip's stands are a walk, towels in a bag that will come home wet, sandals for the hot sand at two, sunscreen, and the paddleboard for the river's flat water; the Luxury SUV's cargo area takes a family's and the Sprinter's bay takes two. The chauffeur carries bin bags for the wet things and a broom for the sand, and the drive home is timed for the sunset or for the children's bedtime, whichever the family names.

The Bruce Peninsula's two shores, as one weekend

Sauble is an hour from Tobermory by Highway 6, and a peninsula weekend that does the Lake Huron sand on Saturday and the Grotto's window on Sunday morning with the vehicle staying is a booking this site sells to families who want both shores without choosing; the Tobermory post covers the reservation that makes the Sunday work, and the Sprinter carries the beach kit and the boots.

Booking it

Book a daily hire from your Vaughan address for the weekend with the cottage or motel, or an hourly day timed for the sunset; tell us the seats, the kit, the Sauble Falls day and the sand-access point you want, and the chauffeur confirms the plan the evening before with the weather on it.

Book the Sauble weekend