Canisbay - Sept '07

These first two pictures were actally taken at Mew Lake the week before we went to Canisbay. We had lots of birds to our feeders - chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, goldfinches, and jays.

Presqu'ile Provincial Park 2007

There is an earlier post from 2005 for Presqu'ile in which I go over the rating of the differenct sites. Here I have just posted some more pictures to give you an idea of what is available at this park.

Lighthouse

Just relaxing

Oops!

On the bicycle trail

Time for a breather and a group shot

Bocce was enjoyed by everyone, especially the women!
Bocce

Saturday night potluck

Caspian tern

Sunset at Presqu'ile

Inverhuron

On the weekend of June 21-24, the camping group visited Inverhuron Provincial Park on the shores of Lake Huron. Inverhuron is located about 20 minutes south of Port Elgin. We were in the Gunn Point Campground. It is a lovely park, with good sized sites, both pull-thru and back in. The privacy is quite good and the terrain is flat. Most of the sites offer a combination of both sun and shade. The ground cover on the sites is gravel.

The electrical service offers 4 - 15 amp plugs, and either 2 - 30 amp plugs or 1 - 30 amp and 1 - 50 amp plugs. We found that on many of the sites, the electrical post was quite a distance away from the actual sites. Some of us had to use 2 or more extension cords. However, the office is well aware of this problem and have both adapters and extra extension cords that campers may borrow.

Here is a summary of the best sites in the pull-through section -
30, 49, 35, 41(needs a little leveling), 43, 52 (this was our firepit for the group because it was the only only where we could sit all the way around), 53(needs leveling), 54(needs leveling), 56.
Here is a summary of the best back-in sites -
40, 42, 45(just ok), 58, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65 66, 67, 69, 70, (60-70 back on the shoreline trail so they are very private with good access to the trail and the lake beyond), 72, 75, 76.
If you want sunny sites, then try 31, 33, 39, 51, 53, 54. Avoid site 37(uneven and on the small side).

Site # 41

The variety of bird life is unbelievable! Many different song birds were both sighted and heard.

Either a female or juvenile American Redstart

We saw some beautiful wildflowers in the park. Here are some pictures that I photographed while there.

Mallow wildflower

Tiger lilies

Unidentified wildflower found on the shoreline



We had a super potluck on Saturday evening on site 39 (Curtis's), followed by a lively campfire at Rosemary and Cookie's site (52).

The great potluck

The major drawback to the park is the poison ivy which is quite prevalent along the trails and even the campsites. In fact the sign post for site 41 (ours!) had a 5 foot healthy growth of poison ivy surrounding it. And the foolish ranger wondered why we didn't have our ticket on the post! We invited him to put it on but when he noted the ivy, he declined and told us "Just stick it on the back of your camper."
Other than that, it is a very nice park with good water, nice scenery, great sunsets and excellent sites. About 2 hours or so from Guelph.

The surf along the shoreline

A fitting end to a wonderful stay

Port Burwell Provincial Park

According to the Port Burwell brochure you have to be careful with swimming because of the dangerous tides there. The beach is downhill from the campground and a little way away but if you take the trail it is about a 1/2 mile trek. About 3 km if you drive because you have to go around to get to it.

From Puslinch the park is about an hour and 40 min drive and easy to get to. They have large sites that are fairly private and it is much easier to get into the ones on the right, where the ones on the left require quite a sharp turn. We didn't mark down any particular "good" ones since most of them fell into this category. We did mark down ones we wanted to avoid as being not large enough or too difficult to get into. These were 219, 225-228. We were in a site which was treed with partial sun and shade, a great combination.

Camping at Elliot Lake

On the way to Elliot Lake from Perth, we went through North Bay where we stopped at a visitor centre. On display there is the original Dionne quintuplets home.
Dionne Quints Original Home

On all of our visits to Elliot Lake we camped at the Municipal Campground. It is convenient to town and heading out north from there, takes you to Mississagi Provincial Park, about 20 minutes away. Mississagi Park has great trout fishing but no electrical hookups, plus the road to get there is paved but not the greatest. Besides the camping fee at the Municipal Park is only $20/night and that includes electricity and water. There are never many campers there and you pretty much have the park to ourselves.

Camping Spot at Elliot Lake




These trout were caught in Helenbar Lake which is one portage away from Semiwhite Lake. These lakes are located in Mississagi P.P.

Speckled Trout

Murphy's Point

Murphy's Point is located about 20 minutes south west of Perth in eastern Ontario. It is a little bit hard to get to if you are coming to it via 401. There is no short cut to it; one has to head towards Perth on highway 15 and follow the small signs to Murphy's Point. Do not cut off on Road 14 thinking it would be shorter - the road is not suitable for vehicles hauling RVs. If you are coming to it via highway 7, then you go through Perth south on highway 15 and follow the signs.
The park reminds me of Silent Lake Provincial Park in many ways. The terrain is rolling and the water is beautiful. Some of the sites are suitable for RV. We were in site #55 and it was fine. Many of the sites though were sloped so make sure that you read the descriptions of the sites well before selecting them.

Wild Columbine


Paul shining his wheels

Unidentified Centipede

Grundy Provincial Park

Grundy Lake Park is located south of Sudbury on highway 69. It is a huge park with several separate camping areas. There are two areas for electric hookups - trailer and poplar. We much prefer the poplar camping area. The sites are very spacious and private. It is close to the beach on Gurd Lake. All even numbered sites between 348 and 368 are huge, electrical pull-thru sites. Most have sun/part sun settings. The odd-numbered sites between 337 and 369 are electrical, back-in sites with good privacy. Those that I would not select for various reasons are 363 (obstructions), 339 (on the small side), 337 (small with low spots), 349 (low), 351 (low), 340 (unlevel), 370 (wrong side for trailer). Reject if possible 346, 300, and 345.

This is site #358. Very huge!

This is a view of Gurd Lake. Every year a pair of swans nest on this island.

Every spring the park is filled with beautiful white and red trilliums.


View of Grundy Lake

Algonquin Provincial Park - Lake of Two Rivers

In recent years, Bob and I have started to volunteer as hosts at Lake of Two Rivers. It is a fairly large park with 241 sites, both electrical and non-electrical. There is little privacy but I have found some decent sites. The following sites I have classifed as very nice sites - 44 (trees), 41, 38, 132, 130, 125.
Good sites are 53, 48, 47, 129, 127, 131,(last three by the river),113,108,93,89,87,84,83,241,234,232,229.
54 is the host site where we are required to camp while hosting.

Sandbanks Provincial Park July 2006

Sandbanks is an absolutely huge park with one electrical loop (Woodlands campground). This loop has three sub-loops, each having sunny camping in an open field and shaded camping in a lovely hardwood forest. There is plenty of opportunity to bike, canoe and fish, not to mention swim. The beach is gorgeous and huge, with fine sand and gentle incline.
Here are some of my favorite campsite numbers for future visits - 613, 614,615, 616, 617(very nice- Burrs were here), 618 (very shady), 620, 621,623,628,630(Hamilton's site - nice but no room for awning), 631, 632, 642, 644,647,649,658,660,661,664 (awning problem),679,683,684 ( ok, very close to comfort station), 685 (some sun), 687 (very nice! - my favorite!).
Sites in open field are as follows - 600-612, 635-641,665-678, 688-739.
Campers at Sandbanks were the Burrs, the Hamiltons, the Hohenadels, The Curtises and Don and Doreen McRitchie who came with Bob and Pauline.
Good Time!

The Potluck Dinner

Algonquin Provincial Park - Mew Lake

For those of you who have huge 5th wheels and other large RVs, you should consider Mew Lake. The sites are HUGE and extremely easy to get into. For the most part, no obstructions on the front of the site. So although they are not drive-through, they are the next best thing to it.
If you are interested, here is a list of the best sites -
51,53,55,57,59,61,(these first six listed are all lake front), 64(best for Hohenadels for satellite reception),23,19,14,15,3. 24 is nice (satellite reception).
1,2,3,4 is a good grouping for 4 campers - huge with good privacy.
If you want open and huge sites, then I recommend 27,28,29,30,31,32,33,6,7,8,9. Large and open sites include 48,50,52,56
Of the first come, first serve sites, 5 and 17 are very nice (especially 5)
10 and 12 are ok - good privacy.

Algonquin Provincial Park - Canisbay Sept 2005

Hi All,

Well the last campout of the season is over and it was great! Canisbay continues to be one of our favorite parks in Algonquin. The sites are very private and large. We try to get sites around 210-204 plus 212-219. Remember that 204 and 217 back onto each other even though the site maps do not show that they do. Site 203 is big enough for Paul's bus. Weather was suberb, company was great and the potluck was delicious. Thanks to everyone. I have posted some pictures on the site for you to enjoy. The moose pictures were taken by Sean McVeigh.
Memorable quotes from the weekend....
"The bastard forgot to wear his watch tonight" ....Wayne in response to Karen's comment that "It was exactly this time last night that we saw the moose".
And "Oh, she's ok....she is doing the dishes" .... Don in response to the question "How is Diane now?" You had to be there!
Everyone have a great winter and be thinking about where we can camp next year!

Arrowhead Provincial Park Aug 2005, July 2010

Just a note to say that Arrowhead was great! Sites were big for the most part and very private. It was very quiet as well so sleep came easy. In addition to being here in 2005, we camped there in 2010 with Pauline and Bob. They were in site 238 and we were in site 232.  The following 5 pictures were taken on our most recent trip in 2010.

Here is a list of good sites for next time you visit -
207, 208, 209, 210, 216, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230 (huge), 231, 232, 234, 236, 244, 246 (huge), 251, 257.
Best sites - 226,227,209,230
Note also the 238 is nice but very hard to get into for a 5th wheel.
260 is nice but very very long way to hydro.
Note that 208 has open path and view of 210.
Note that for the most part, Arrowhead has very private sites but several are a long way to hydro. Go prepared!
Here are some pictures of the camp out Aug 2005. Click on each picture for a bigger view.
Enjoy!