Algonquin Park

Overall Park Rating: 8/10
Recreational Rating: 8/10
Nature Aspects Rating: between 6 and 10 / 10

Algonquin is a lovely park.  It's got TONNES of very nice trails, and a wide variety of camp sites.   The trouble is,  the parks are almost always full, and the trails are like walking down a busy street there are so many people there.  Even when camping in the off-season (between thanksgiving and may 24)   because they close down 3/4 of the parks,  all the parks that are open are still very full.   The trails are quieter, which is nice, but when your camping in mid-april you'd expect to beable to get a decent site.


I know a lot of people think algonquin is the be all and end all of true ontario camping, but i beg to differ.  there are a LOT of parks that have way nicer sites,  aren't over camped, and have decent trails as well!

The one thing algonquin is good for is Interior camping.  no over crowded campgrounds there!!   I haven't tried it myself, but my sister went on her first interior trip a few weeks ago, and hasn't shut up about it since.

there are some good things about Algonquin i suppose, it's got a great park store, with a small cafe/ restaurant,  it's got that logging museum, the gates have lots of information about the parks, and if you go in early/mid may your pretty much guaranteed to see some moose!

I'd rather camp at Mikisew, Restoule, Lake st Peter, or Awenda before Algonquin. 

Bon Echo Civic Holiday weekend 2010

Park Rating: 9.5/10
Nature Aspects Rating 10/10
Recreation Aspects Rating 10/10

WOW.. this park lived up to every expectation that I had and more!  It is gorgeous!   The Mazinaw Rock face is breathe taking!  the staff are efficient and friendly, and we had one of the worst sites in the park and it was better then every site McRae has!




The comfort stations are brand new and   there are LOTS of out houses (flush and non-flush) through out the park.





The visitors centre has a lot of interesting things and lots of information about the park, and the staff there are friendly and knowledgeable, and very interested in what they do.   When we came in to report we saw a five line skink the  guy working was almost as excited as we were and he didn't even get to see it! 

The fire wood wasn't completely dry, but it was dryer then most we've had this summer, it was all birch so it burned anyway!

Bon Echo has a LOT of trails.   there is the 3 that are part of the Abes and Essens Lake totally 17km, the cliff top trail, high pines, the shield trail, and the bon echo creek trail.   We did the Cliff Top Trail, it's got a great view of the lake and the park, but the trail itself is nothing to write home about, it's incredibly busy as well.  But it is worth it for the view.    We did about 1.5 km of the Abes and Essens it's very nice!  quite rugged, i wouldn't recommend trying to do it in heels ;).   We plan on going back an doing the whole loop as an over night hike.  











My sister and I fished at Bon Echo for the first time in probably 10 years.  It was a lot of fun, we mostly fished off the shore of Mazinaw lake, and the first lake on the Abes and Essens lake trail.   We caught a couple bass, a pumpkinseed, and a small trout.  nothing worth taking home, but it was fun none-the-less.  I think with proper equipment and such there is fish worth catching somewhere in the park! 

There are bears, moose, deer, chipmunks, squirrel and all the other usual mamals in the park.  there's a nice variety of birds, and reptiles including the endangered 5 line skink! which is a cool looking lizard that has a bright blue tail.  we saw one on the mazinaw cliff face about 150 meters down from the dock.  

Like i said earlier we had pretty much the worst site in park (at least the parts we saw).  there was nothing between us and the neighbours behind us.  but the sites were both very large and i think there used to be a buffer but people had been over camping  the edges and killed the buffer.   pretty much all the sites in the park were very spaced out, had lots of undergrowth between them and were nicely staggered for privacy.

There is canoe and kayak rentals at the park as well, the are very reasonably priced and they have LOTS. they also had a couple of paddle boats and row boats!    

There is a gift shop run by the friends of bon echo, it's got all the usual ontario parks merchandise and a LOT of other very nice clothing for the park.  It also has a lot of toys, books, and art.  All in all a very nice gift shop.   One thing the park is missing on the store front is ice and other forgotten necessities!   this is something parks like Pinery still takes the cake for. their store is wonderful, but we're not talking about the Pinery.  


One other good thing about the park was the signs!  everywhere there was signs!  it was so easy to find everything we were looking for!