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Camping Thread

Camping, trail gear, recovery, gps, and related accessories.
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the x kid
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Camping Thread

Post by the x kid »

Hello CNTCers, I thought we needed a new thread. I know there are a lot of campers out there,so I thought we could report about our camping trips. The good,bad or ugly. Ontario Park favourites,back yard, private or crown land. I shall start. I just got back from Brent campground in Algonquin Park last Monday. Very nice and quiet.The wife and I were there for 7 days.Beautiful Cedar Lake is great for a canoe or kayak.They only allow a maximum 20hp motor for a boat. Fishing is actually good there.Some history with the place. Used to be a small town when CN was going threw there. The train tracks have been taken out now,but CN still owns the some land there and the rail line.The old rail line goes to Kiosk camp ground and beyond,where we spent a week last year. There is no showers there,but you are allowed to go to Samuel Champlain P.Park or Driftwood P.P. to shower for free. Toilets..Elevated outhouses. There is a Brent Crater from a meteorite 45 million years ago. Two lakes now and a lot of trees. Lastly is the road from highway 17 to Brent Campground. 25 kilometres of gravel and dirt road that the logging companies are still logging.The last 15ks are from the Algonquin border.Don't go too fast and cut the winding corners,because those trucks filled with logs are big and are moving. Next for us,leaving Saturday for Sleeping Giant P.P.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by Miner »

We've taken the Brent Crater hiking trail and met a few moose on the road in. Very nice area.

This weekend is the end of our one month stay as the Desert Lake Family Resort, near Verona Ontario. Clean private family park, accommodating to ATVs, anglers, and boaters. Desert Lake offers good fishing, deep waters for relatively care free boating and watersports, and a good boat launch; with relatively few cottages around the lake.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by kdj »

I used to go camping, fishing at Dessert Lake every year! The Depot Lakes, Cole, Varty, Sydnham, Loughboro etc. Do you remember Frosty Muggins in Harrowsmith?
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by Miner »

I remember Frosty's, it's an old memory though.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by Nd4SpdSe »

Man, I haven't been to Brent Station since we used to go there as a trip in High School! We used to rent canoes and go west. There was a decent portable to get to another lake, where there was an islant to camp on and waterfalls we fished at. Was a great experience and I'd love to go back. It's been over 15 years since I could probably still do it by memory...
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by CruiserRomey »

nice thread! i'll share too. just did a backcountry portage trip with my 5 year old and a friend and his kid not too long ago. it was an epic trip for the kids and I was happy to see the little trooper have fun and survive the paddle/portage/and bugs! highly recommend this trip for anyone who wants more solitude (and not hear trucks driving in the distance) and get closer to mother nature. I've planned to do this trip since the kid was born. I don't think he could tell the difference between car camping at the pinery and this! but, imho, pretty easy compared to car camping with all the extra gear that you just lug around for "comfort". We took off from George lake (booked sites online) after paying for our canoe rentals at killarney outfitters just down the street. the portages were pretty easy and we didn't have to double back.

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paddled to killarney lake and spent 2 nights there. did a day trip to OSA lake (as the sites were all booked). fished. saw some wild animals. swam. and the weather was fantastic!.

checkin our gear before launch
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this bear was rummaging around the site next door, good size I think. (we got to the park late and car camped the first night)
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our gear. overpacked just a tad (didn't need the extra rope and we had 2 saws and 2 hatchets, and a couple extra clothes we didn't end up using).
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bathroom. junior did his #2 thing like a boss despite seeing what was down the nasty hole, lol.
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food goes up there..
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night paddle after this and after junior went to bed was relaxing..
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14 year old north face 2 person tent still getting the job done
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a little bannock with p.butter and nutella.
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OSA lake (this lake has 2 or 3 island camping spots, meaning, the island is all yours and just a handful of spots around. it's the prettiest lake so book early if you want to spend the night here, or stay in killarney lake and do a day paddle less than an hour I'd say paddle)

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pics can't do this place justice. can't wait to go back again!

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about a 25 footer..

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jump!!

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probably one of the prettiest lakes I've ever seen. it's literally kool aid blue in colour and super clear. no wonder it's called the Ontario society of artists lake. I'm told the group of seven spent a lot of time here to paint their master pieces.

2 thumbs up for the sawyer mini water filter. (filters to .1micron absolute. better than katadyn, msr, or platypus. they're newish to Canada but have been around in the USA since the 80's. military uses them. you can ONLY find this filter at bass pro shops or soon at cabellas. just fill blue bag, attach filter, squeeze into clean container. after a few filters, it'll start to clog, so just fill syringe with clean water and back flush the other way several times and you're good to go again. we had more than enough water and back up water)

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this snapper came by a few times, probably could smell the food from washing the dishes..
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packed up for the return. made some space after we ate all the food and I was able to fit in the 2 sleeping mats inside the bag instead of bungeed outside. bag on the right had the sleeping bags and some clothes. left had gear/food/cooking stuff. with 2 jungle hammocks instead (so no tent and sleep mats), I can easily pack for me and the kid in just the bag on the left. buddy and I doubled up on some things and easily could have left a couple more things behind. but it was A-Okay in the end.

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all in all. I'd go here twice a year if I could! great for winter camping too. straight paddle to osa lake is about 5 hours including portages. but you can easily spend more than a week going deeper into the park. took us about 2.5 hours to get to our site on kilarney lake (spot #24). you have to call to prebook backcountry sites (can't do it online).
next step, same trip but with a paddle board and even less gear.

forgot the good, the bad, and the ugly. . . well, it was ALL good, the bad was the bugs I'd say but the kids had bug jackets and it was the grown ups that were bothered more. the ugly? hmm, what's in that sh***er hole! lol.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by Miner »

I've hiked in Killarny a bit in the past, it's a beautiful spot.

Next week we start a 10 day tour of Emily (park), Killbear (park), Sudbury (city), Warren (town), and Mara (park). I'll try to post as we go.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by CruiserRomey »

cool. Killbear is another awesome place. colder water though, but good wind for the windsurfers.
Would enjoy seeing the travel pics. Safe journey.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by minidisco »

For over two decades, we've been going to Restoule Park (about 90min north of Algonquin on the west side). The entire lake is sandy-bottom so there's excellent swimming and really nice clear warm water for most of the summer and well into the fall. There are a few hiking trails, one of which goes to the top of a gorgeous cliff that overlooks 3 lakes, and has the most incredible sunset colours!

Just one word of caution: avoid it on long weekends, it gets swarmed by Americans and by rednecks with loud portable TVs and loads of lights on transformers, which kills any change of star-gazing.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by the x kid »

Pictures of Sleeping Giant first. ImageImageImageImageImageImage
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by the x kid »

ImageImageImage
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by the x kid »

To start with,what a drive. We decided to take the Canadian way to get to Sleeping Giant P.P. because I have never been past Parry Sound. It was cool. Sudbury was even kinda interesting. We just passed through but they are upgrading the highways up north and there was lots of room that way. We ended up staying the night in Blind River. 25 bucks at a private trailer park. Left early the next morning because that was going to be a long drive day. Got to Sault Saint Marie and gassed up some more. Back onto highway 17 and start going north and "WOW". What scenery. It was like the Rockies. Great views and tons of places to stop and check out. Sadly we couldn't. So we drove and enjoyed it. There were some big climbs and big descents.Gas hit $1.50 at the top of lake Superior in the small towns and highways. We got to the park about 8pm and set up camp and that was it for the night. Nice park,a lot of hiking and biking. There is a inland lake the park is on mostly. Lake Marie Louise. Silver Islet is at the tip,and used to be a silver mine. The richest silver mine until it ceased in 1870. Had to go and check out Thunder Bay of coarse. Did you know it was actually 2 cities until 1970 when they became one.Thunder Bay. It also has the biggest "Finnish" population outside of Finland. Sorry my pictures are out of order,but if you look at the first one you will see a statue of Terry Fox. This guy is a real hero.Remember the hills I was talking about,Terry ran those. He had one leg,I'm not sure I could do it on two. What a guy. Great monument to him. Lots of wildlife in the park. Deer,fox and even saw a couple of young bears besides the usual chipmunk. As I was saying there was a lot of hiking there and we did some. All the pictures you might see on the net,like picture 2,is the top of the Giant. 22 plus kilometres from the parking lot to the top and back. I won't be doing that ever again. I am glad I did it,but it was pretty hard.Toke us 7 hours. It is quite the spot once you get there. It was nice to see that area of the province.There are a number of parks along the way also. So much water and land and trees. I will post a couple more pictures. Of course you need to see the Sleeping Giant.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by the x kid »

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Re: Camping Thread

Post by the x kid »

minidisco wrote:For over two decades, we've been going to Restoule Park (about 90min north of Algonquin on the west side). The entire lake is sandy-bottom so there's excellent swimming and really nice clear warm water for most of the summer and well into the fall. There are a few hiking trails, one of which goes to the top of a gorgeous cliff that overlooks 3 lakes, and has the most incredible sunset colours!

Just one word of caution: avoid it on long weekends, it gets swarmed by Americans and by rednecks with loud portable TVs and loads of lights on transformers, which kills any change of star-gazing.
Been there. Did the firetower hike. That was good. Great view. It is also good for group camping,as we did last year at the fall colours run.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by the x kid »

Hey Kids, Doing a update on another park. Even though it was last year,ya I know,my bad. Anywho, Stayed at Ostler Lake Provincial Park. The weather was not great,but we made the best of it. They had some cool camping spots, but some that were right beside each other. The lake was pretty cool,with that great northern look. Good and bad. It's only a few minutes to Parry Sound and there is are Train tracks that goes past the campground. Neither bothered me. The train was kind of cool to hear,even if it was in the middle of the night. Not sure I would want to stay there too long though. It just seemed a little cramped.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by the x kid »

The only park we camped at this year was Voyageur P.P. We were on our way out east and just stopped there for the night. All we saw was a lot of tall pine trees. Gone 14 hours later. Camped a quite a bit in New Brunswick,P.E.I. and Nova Scotia. They were all pretty good,mostly because it was half price compared to Ontario. Couldn't believe it. That's the way it should be.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by rcafcoburn »

Wish I saw this thread sooner.
Killarney is my favourite spot in Ontario. I hiked the La Cloche trail in 5 days with a buddy of mine last September (2014).

It's an AMAZING park. The views are spectacular. The trail has so many beautiful spots.
Thunder boxes all through the trail, some where inhabited by some fuzzy spiders though.

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Killbear was another nice park, it's got cold water, but a nice lazy campground for families.

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Arrowhead was nice, but I didn't experience much of it. Spent most of it on the campsite eating haha.

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Restoule, I've only spent 1 night at and it was pretty nice. It was late in the season (Fall Colours Run '15) and mostly brown everywhere.

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Awenda Prov. Park was nice. It was REALLY busy and we didn't get to visit the water. Bathrooms were outhouses and smelled... strong.

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Bass Lake was another good camping spot if you're a fan of car camping. I had a great time there.

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Emily Prov Park in Peterborough was good. Big site with power. Lots of vehicle traffic. But we had hot showers and actual bathrooms.



That's all the input I have for now. I don't take much pictures when I'm camping so I can't really show off where I've been besides Killarney.
Ontario has some amazing parks that I'm very thankful for. Moving out to Alberta will be a treat with the Rocky Mountains only 6 hours away, as well as Montana to the south.
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by Snafu »

If you are into sledding then running up to Killarney is great! Miles and miles of nothing but trails...no houses, roads or gas stations (fill up wisely). The inn there was great with good food included in the room rental (at least for sledders).
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Re: Camping Thread

Post by rcafcoburn »

Snafu wrote:If you are into sledding then running up to Killarney is great! Miles and miles of nothing but trails...no houses, roads or gas stations (fill up wisely). The inn there was great with good food included in the room rental (at least for sledders).
Killarney is just an amazing place in general. Even the little town on the other side of the park. I'd love to retire somewhere like that.
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