Gregoire Lake Provincial Park | Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo

Gregoire Lake Provincial Park is the largest front country provincial protected area in the region, located just 35 kilometres south of Fort McMurray. Open from May through October, the fully-serviced park offers camping, day-use facilities, flush toilets, showers, playground, hiking, and a camp store. The day-use areas in Anzac and on the southern shore of the lake are open year-round to allow access to the lake in winter.

The park features 140 campsites suitable for tents or RVs (some with power hookups), three group camping areas, and a day-use area with a popular beach, playground, and boat launch. Hiking trails wind throughout the park and an extended loop takes hikers through a recovering patch of forest from the 2016 Horse River Wildfire which overlooks the lake.

The lake can also be accessed via a boat launch further along Highway 881 on the lake’s south shore. The nearby hamlet of Anzac also offers a day-use area with a boat launch, playground, and firepits.

As Gregoire Lake Provincial Park is one of the favourite spots for locals to get out on the water or relax on the beach, campsites book up early and the day-use areas can get quite busy on sunny summer weekends. If you are planning to stop by, remember to bring bug repellent, bear deterrent, and fishing gear. Depending on the season, you should bring your boat, jet ski, ice fishing gear, or snowmobile.

Willow Lake or Gregoire Lake?

The lake was originally known as Willow Lake until the name was changed to Gregoire Lake in the 1940s after the lake's only outflow, the Gregoire River near Anzac. In 1992, the lake's name was officially changed back to Willow Lake at the request of local residents, including the Willow Lake Métis Nation.