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.
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Bon Echo Civic Holiday weekend 2010
Park Rating: 9.5/10Nature 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!
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!
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!
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!
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Mikisew Provincial Park
Overall Park Rating: 8/10
Nature Aspects Park Rating: 7/10
Recreational Aspects Park Rating: 7/10
This park is another Hidden Gem. It's gorgeous, it's quite, the staff are friendly, the woods dry(mostly), and best of all, it's not over camped! It is most definitely in my top 5 parks! Mikisew is a bit of a trek off the beaten path, so there is NO highway noise and very very very little light pollution (better then algonquin). Take your time on the little country roads once you get off the highway, they are a little rough, and very windy. Not to mention you never know when a deer, moose, bear, fox, cat, or frog will jump out in front of you!
There are a couple trails that are across the road from the main park area, they are all worth hiking, there's lots of interesting trees, landscapes and rocks and such along them. We took a picnic lunch with us on one hike and ate it on top of a series of giant rocks. It was quite lovely, and because we were off the ground, the mosquitos weren't to bad either! there is also a trail that goes along the lake shore and around the campground. It's quite nice, but the ones across the road are nicer.
As far as wildlife is concerned, there are plenty of birds, dragon flies, butterflies, small rodents, and deer along the trails. I'm pretty sure there are moose in the area and bears as well, but we didn't see any of those. There are also lots of frogs, toads, and SALAMANDERS like the one in the picture above. Please be careful when hunting for salamanders they are delicate, don't touch them!! and please, put logs and rocks back where you found them, carefully!.
One thing to take into consideration when looking into a site here is that a large portion of the campground used to be a pine plantation, so there is a LOT of pine trees, and with pine trees comes limited privacy because not a lot grows underneath them. To compensate for that the sites are nicely spaced out.
There is no park store, or rentals, but the gate house sells the usual ontario parks shirts/pants/random stuff. have i mentioned the friendly staff? Both trips we took to this park the staff were amazing! the first time we got to the park at around 11pm, they were just closing up the gatehouse for the night, and weren't mad at all that we showed up that late, with no reservation, and no firewood. they put us on a random open site, told us we could set up on any site that was open and to come back in the morning to let them know where we were.
The closest civilization would be "The narrows" it's about 5 or 10 minutes from the park. Theres a general store, a giant eagle carved out of stone, a beach and that's about it. Have a look in the park news paper, there should be a coupon for buy one get one free icecream at the store! The store at the narrows has pretty much anything you'd need but forgot. a little bit of food, a little bit of toys, some general hardware and the like. the people there are also very friendly!
That's about all i've got on Mikisew for now!
Nature Aspects Park Rating: 7/10
Recreational Aspects Park Rating: 7/10
This park is another Hidden Gem. It's gorgeous, it's quite, the staff are friendly, the woods dry(mostly), and best of all, it's not over camped! It is most definitely in my top 5 parks! Mikisew is a bit of a trek off the beaten path, so there is NO highway noise and very very very little light pollution (better then algonquin). Take your time on the little country roads once you get off the highway, they are a little rough, and very windy. Not to mention you never know when a deer, moose, bear, fox, cat, or frog will jump out in front of you!
 |  |  |
As far as wildlife is concerned, there are plenty of birds, dragon flies, butterflies, small rodents, and deer along the trails. I'm pretty sure there are moose in the area and bears as well, but we didn't see any of those. There are also lots of frogs, toads, and SALAMANDERS like the one in the picture above. Please be careful when hunting for salamanders they are delicate, don't touch them!! and please, put logs and rocks back where you found them, carefully!.
There is no park store, or rentals, but the gate house sells the usual ontario parks shirts/pants/random stuff. have i mentioned the friendly staff? Both trips we took to this park the staff were amazing! the first time we got to the park at around 11pm, they were just closing up the gatehouse for the night, and weren't mad at all that we showed up that late, with no reservation, and no firewood. they put us on a random open site, told us we could set up on any site that was open and to come back in the morning to let them know where we were.
The closest civilization would be "The narrows" it's about 5 or 10 minutes from the park. Theres a general store, a giant eagle carved out of stone, a beach and that's about it. Have a look in the park news paper, there should be a coupon for buy one get one free icecream at the store! The store at the narrows has pretty much anything you'd need but forgot. a little bit of food, a little bit of toys, some general hardware and the like. the people there are also very friendly!That's about all i've got on Mikisew for now!
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Lake St Peter Provincial Park
Nature Aspects Rating: 7/10
Recreational Camping Rating: 8/10
This park has everything Algonquin has except the over camped feel! It's one of my favourite parks. The first time I camped there i was a little kid, i think 10 or so. My family was tent camping and we had one of the sites right on the water. (which is a good portion of the sites). We forgot one of the tents so me and my sister rigged up a tarp and slept on picnic tables, it was quite the adventure. I've been back twice since and it lived up to my childhood memories wonderfully!
This park has a lot of very nice, sites, in general they are quite private and large! the trail (which is across the road from the park) features some nice scenery, with trees and rocks and cliffs and the remnats of an old hunt cabin. It's all very picturesque and beautiful.
There is a park store, boat rentals, and crazy squirels that take all the needles off pine trees and nearly fall out of the trees!
when we were there last year the wood was dry to, which seems to be a bonus instead of a regularity these days.
 |  |
 |  |
Six Mile Lake Provincial Park May 24 weekend
Overall Park Rating: 5/10
Nature Aspect Rating: 5/10
Recreation Factoring Rating: 8/10
Well we went to this park with really low expectations, it's right off the highway and didn't really seem impressive by the descriptions and such. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the park! there is significant highway noise and boat noise from the jetskis on the lake, but the park itself is quite lovely!
It's got a park store, which is a bonus, and a well staffed gate house. there are boat rentals as well. there are some really crappy sites along the main road, almost as bad as the ones in McRae!! but there is also a lot of nice sites mixed in all the areas. some of the lake side ones looked quite spectacular, if that's your thing.
The trail is quite lovely, takes you along a few ponds, the lake, some nice rocks and such, and some lovely trees. All in all quite nice! It was quite buggy though. but that's to be expected!
One thing that was unfortunate was that the security staff was missing in action by about 2am. our neighbours set off fireworks in there firepit at around 3am. on the plus side, the security did eject them from the park in the morning, i guess there were a FEW reports of fireworks ;). there was also a lot of excesive noise all night, but it' was a long weekend, so it's hardly not-expected.
the park fire wood was good quality! it was dry, paint free, bug free and lovely.
so all and all, it was a good experience! we'd go back!
Nature Aspect Rating: 5/10
Recreation Factoring Rating: 8/10
Well we went to this park with really low expectations, it's right off the highway and didn't really seem impressive by the descriptions and such. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the park! there is significant highway noise and boat noise from the jetskis on the lake, but the park itself is quite lovely!
It's got a park store, which is a bonus, and a well staffed gate house. there are boat rentals as well. there are some really crappy sites along the main road, almost as bad as the ones in McRae!! but there is also a lot of nice sites mixed in all the areas. some of the lake side ones looked quite spectacular, if that's your thing.
The trail is quite lovely, takes you along a few ponds, the lake, some nice rocks and such, and some lovely trees. All in all quite nice! It was quite buggy though. but that's to be expected!
One thing that was unfortunate was that the security staff was missing in action by about 2am. our neighbours set off fireworks in there firepit at around 3am. on the plus side, the security did eject them from the park in the morning, i guess there were a FEW reports of fireworks ;). there was also a lot of excesive noise all night, but it' was a long weekend, so it's hardly not-expected.
so all and all, it was a good experience! we'd go back!
 |  |
 |  |
Friday, 23 July 2010
McRae Provincial Park July 17th & 18th 2010
Overall Park Rating: 3/10
Nature Aspects Park Rating 2/10
Recreation Aspects Park Rating 4/10
So I decided at 11:00am on Saturday that i wanted to go camping that night, of course a last minute decision like that seriously limits the options. I did a quick search on the ontario parks site and found that McRae still had about 8 sites open. It was only about 2.5 h drive according to google maps, so by 1:00PM we were on the road!
We got to the park around 4:00PM, and just FYI there is no grocery stores on the way if you follow google maps directions! there is a cool little deli/farmer's market though. There was 2 people in front of us inline and it took close to an hour to get a site! thankfully we got there when we did because by the time we got to the window there was only 2 sites left. # 55 and #96. We chose 96.
Some things we noticed at this point:
So continuing on, we got to our site, it's in the field that is the pull through trailer area. we knew it would be. it's our own fault for such a last minute trip. all these sites are terrible. they are wide open, your lucky if you get a tree or two. there is NOTHING separating one site from the next.
The non-serviced sites are a little better, there is a lot that are almost as open as the serviced sites, but there is a few gems mixed in.
The park was quite quite at night, which was nice, i think everyone was in their trailors watching tv. the comfort station in our area was clean, but one thing i noticed in the girls side was that if the middle stalls door was closed, the far right one wouldn't close! I thought that was pretty funny, but rather inconvenient.
The trail... well, the most interesting park of it was closed. We went on it anyway, the board walk was broken in one section. It wasn't un walkable though, so we carried on. There is some nice swamps, and trees and lots of cool ferns. Some more rare ones apparently. There is some nice views of the cottages across the lake along the trail as well. To be fair, there is also some nice views with out cottages. there is only 1 trail. 1/2 is quite lovely, the other half is pretty lame, it's grass, and was recently mowed.
There isn't much as far as interesting animals and plants are concerned inside the park, BUT there is an osprey nest on the hydro pole at the last turn before you get to the park!! It's currently inhabited by 3 osprey and we saw them flying around and hanging out every time we drove by. So there's at least that for the bird watching enthusiasts.
So that's about it. I personally wouldn't recommend this park, unless you did trailer camping and didn't like the shade. It's OK in a pinch, but I'd much rather be almost anywhere else.
EDIT!
I almost forgot! The state of the park fire wood was dreadful. our kindling had paint on it... PAINT! i cook on that fire, i don't want paint fumes in my food!! seriously if they are going to require us to to buy park wood, then it better be safe for cooking. also it was soaking wet, not just a little damp, it practically dripped. it was molding. and awful. on the plus side, the actual wood was quite dry, and nice.
Nature Aspects Park Rating 2/10
Recreation Aspects Park Rating 4/10
So I decided at 11:00am on Saturday that i wanted to go camping that night, of course a last minute decision like that seriously limits the options. I did a quick search on the ontario parks site and found that McRae still had about 8 sites open. It was only about 2.5 h drive according to google maps, so by 1:00PM we were on the road!
We got to the park around 4:00PM, and just FYI there is no grocery stores on the way if you follow google maps directions! there is a cool little deli/farmer's market though. There was 2 people in front of us inline and it took close to an hour to get a site! thankfully we got there when we did because by the time we got to the window there was only 2 sites left. # 55 and #96. We chose 96.
Some things we noticed at this point:
- There is no rentals
- There is no real park store (ice/wood/ice cream/park paraphernalia are sold out of the gate house)
- The staff is friendly but not to speedy (might have been the computer problems or the fact that apparently phone call inquiries are more important that in-person customers).
So continuing on, we got to our site, it's in the field that is the pull through trailer area. we knew it would be. it's our own fault for such a last minute trip. all these sites are terrible. they are wide open, your lucky if you get a tree or two. there is NOTHING separating one site from the next.
The non-serviced sites are a little better, there is a lot that are almost as open as the serviced sites, but there is a few gems mixed in.
The park was quite quite at night, which was nice, i think everyone was in their trailors watching tv. the comfort station in our area was clean, but one thing i noticed in the girls side was that if the middle stalls door was closed, the far right one wouldn't close! I thought that was pretty funny, but rather inconvenient.
 | |
| Closed Trail |
The trail... well, the most interesting park of it was closed. We went on it anyway, the board walk was broken in one section. It wasn't un walkable though, so we carried on. There is some nice swamps, and trees and lots of cool ferns. Some more rare ones apparently. There is some nice views of the cottages across the lake along the trail as well. To be fair, there is also some nice views with out cottages. there is only 1 trail. 1/2 is quite lovely, the other half is pretty lame, it's grass, and was recently mowed.
|
|
There isn't much as far as interesting animals and plants are concerned inside the park, BUT there is an osprey nest on the hydro pole at the last turn before you get to the park!! It's currently inhabited by 3 osprey and we saw them flying around and hanging out every time we drove by. So there's at least that for the bird watching enthusiasts.
 | |
| view! with no cottages |
So that's about it. I personally wouldn't recommend this park, unless you did trailer camping and didn't like the shade. It's OK in a pinch, but I'd much rather be almost anywhere else.
EDIT!
I almost forgot! The state of the park fire wood was dreadful. our kindling had paint on it... PAINT! i cook on that fire, i don't want paint fumes in my food!! seriously if they are going to require us to to buy park wood, then it better be safe for cooking. also it was soaking wet, not just a little damp, it practically dripped. it was molding. and awful. on the plus side, the actual wood was quite dry, and nice.
 | |
| one of our neighbours |
 |
| another view with no cottages |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)