camping etiquette Archives

Considerate Camper: keep our trees healthy

Welcome to our “Considerate Camper” series. These are posts with tips and reminders on how to keep our provincial parks clean and healthy. Already know how it’s done? Please share these posts along for less-experienced campers 🙂

We’re taking a leaf out of the Lorax’s book and speaking for the trees today!

When maintaining our campgrounds, we often notice marks in our trees. Many are from axes and nails, and plenty of trees have names, shapes and initials carved across their bark.

Did you know these holes and gouges risk the tree’s health and may result in its destruction?

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Can we bring painted rocks to the park?

Art and nature go together like columbine flowers and hummingbird tongues.

Indigenous artists express their relationship to land through art; Canada’s Group of Seven found inspiration in several Ontario Parks; parks offer residency programs, and our park visitors find many artistic ways to capture their memories. We love it when visitors share their artistic creations with us.

However, a new trend is starting to cause problems province-wide: the painted rock.

Continue reading Can we bring painted rocks to the park?

Considerate camper: washing dishes

When it comes to keeping your campsite neat and tidy, doing your dishes properly is key.

However, many campers struggle with how to effectively wash their dishes.

We get a lot of questions about this topic, so we’ve compiled all the tips and tricks on the best way to clean your dishes while camping.

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Keep it down: a quiet camper is a respectful one

You’re at the park. You’ve set up your site, and now you can spend the evening relaxing.

You had a long drive, and you are unwinding by talking to your friends and playing music. There’s no harm in that right?

In steps the park warden.

You may be surprised when a park warden stops by your site to ask you to quiet down a little, but their job is to make sure everyone is having a peaceful stay. Loud campers can irritate your neighbours and the wildlife in the park.

Here are five noisy habits to avoid on your next visit to the park.

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Turn down the noise, turn up the fun: your guide to generators

Generators.

These compact power packs have become a more common sight at campsites, providing RVs their electricity during summer months and keeping campers warm during winter stays.

While using a generator can help you enjoy your stay, it’s important that your power source doesn’t become a drain on the campers around you.

Considering bringing your generator to parks? Review these tips to ensure everyone has a pleasant camping experience:

Continue reading Turn down the noise, turn up the fun: your guide to generators

#ForTheLoveOfParks: 5 ways to help keep parks clean and safe this year

Last year, Ontario’s protected areas experienced record-breaking demand.

Ontario Parks received 11 million visits, and Parks Canada reported over 2 million visits.

That’s 13 million visits to Ontario’s provincial and national parks in one year. That’s roughly equivalent to the population of Ontario!

Continue reading #ForTheLoveOfParks: 5 ways to help keep parks clean and safe this year

Low-impact backcountry camping

Today’s post was written by Brooke Michell, a Park Biologist at Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park.

“The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need.” – Edward Abbey

Some of our most treasured moments occur off the beaten path. In the backcountry of Ontario Parks, the avid hiker, canoe tripper, angler, and outdoors person seeks solitude. Although anyone who has backcountry camped knows it’s not always a walk in the park.

Physical limits are often pushed while portaging through rugged terrain, and paddling across windswept water bodies. At this expense, why is backcountry camping one of our most beloved past times?

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