Category: Camping

Why Ontario Parks moved to 100% reservable car campsites

In October, Ontario Parks updated our reservation system and are offering new and exciting services to our visitors. One of the biggest changes is that all our car campsites are now fully reservable — no more first-come, first-served sites.

Most of our visitors are excited by this change, and so are we. We heard overwhelmingly that our customers prefer having a reservation in advance, so they know for sure that they have a campsite before they show up.

However, there have also been some questions from our visitors who enjoyed the first-come, first-served option, and what this change means for them.

Here are the most common questions we’ve encountered so far:

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*Service outage planned* — scheduled maintenance on reservation system

Our new reservation system will roll out later this fall.

In order to transfer data from the old system to the new system, the reservation system must be taken offline for approximately one week.

There will be no reservations available online or via the call centre while the reservation service is temporarily shut down.

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True beginnings in nature: four generations of campers

Today’s post comes from Rebecca van Massenhoven, a Learn to Camp leader at Grundy Lake Provincial Park.

In 1951, at the age of forty, my great-grandmother crossed the Atlantic Ocean with her family on the ocean liner The Volendam. She wanted a better future for her family, and moved to Canada in search of this dream.

I can still recall her burning curiosity about the world around her. From spiders to birds, she loved learning about nature and often spent time sharing this passion with the family. As a child, I sat in her bay window watching the birds that came to her feeder as she told me about them as if they were her dear old friends.

My story truly began with my great-grandmother’s passion for the environment. In each of the four generations that have come to call Canada home, we continue to foster her love of the natural environment as our own.

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Seasonal campsites at Ontario Parks

It’s that time of year again!

Our Seasonal Camping Program gives you the opportunity to reserve a campsite on a monthly/seasonal basis at select provincial parks.

Some campers spend most of the summer living in the park, while others leave their trailers and come up every weekend.

Seasonal camping applications open September 1, 2019 and must be submitted by September 30, 2019.

Why not reserve your campsite for the whole summer?

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5 reasons to visit Lake Superior Provincial Park this fall

Amber reds, warm yellows, and oranges as brilliant as a nighttime campfire – there are few places with fall colours as memorable as Lake Superior Provincial Park.

Here are five other reasons why we think Lake Superior is a top northern park to visit this autumn:

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Ruffing it at Ontario Parks: a dog’s perspective on camping

This post is brought to you from our guest blogger Sitka the Border Collie, with help from her human Laura Myers, a Learning and Education Leader with Ontario Parks.

Hello! My name is Sitka and I’m a dog.

My humans love to camp! From the moment they brought me home when I was eight weeks old, they said, “I can’t wait for all the camping adventures we will go on, little one.”

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Algonquin — Peterborough Route

Planning a cross-province adventure? Check out the Ontario Parks Driving Routes.

A route to explore Canada’s cultural heritage!

Visit five Visitor Centres that tell the unique story of Ontario’s natural and cultural history through Indigenous rock carvings, the War of 1812, the famous Group of Seven artists, and Ontario’s pristine natural environment.

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