Time Flies!

WOW!!! I find it hard to believe that it has been over 2 years since my last post!  We have done plenty of camping in those two years, but unfortunately we only made it to 1 new park last year.  In 2013 we spent a week in Killbear P.P. and had agreat time.  We have also adventured outside of the Ontario Provincial Park system and tried camping in Quebec at Mount Tremblant National Park and Letchworth State Park in New York State.  I will try and post a write up on these two parks as well.  Both parks are lovely.  To date we have reached 46 provincial parks!  By the end of August we hope to be around 56 parks in total!  Yes, we have a big camping trip planned.  I should clarify that we have not camped at all of these provincial parks.  Some of the parks we have visited are day use parks only, and some have camping facilities, but we just spend a little time there (enjoy a picnic, trail or swimming).  We are running out of parks to visit within a 4 hour driving distance.  If you take a look at the new 2014 Ontario Parks guide, in the map section we have visited all, but one in the Southeastren Region!  We plan on visiting that one in October.  Hopefully by the end of October we will also have the Central Region completed!  Please check back again and see what other parks we have explored! 

Earl Rowe Provincial Park

Address:                7th Concession North, Adjala/Tosorontio
                               Box 872
                               Alliston, Ontario
                               L9R 1W1
Telephone:            705-435-2498
Park Class:           Recreation
# of Campsites:    400

Beaches:  During our weekend stay at this provincial park, it was very hot.  The beach at Earl Rowe is closed a lot because it is a river that has been damed to create a reservoir.  When we were there, the beach was open.  However, the water did not look inviting by any means.  The kids didn't want to go in it.  There were inflatable swimming devices, picnic tables etc in the water, and close to the shoreline.

Campsites: The sites were a decent size and well maintained.   The are two campgrounds here.  We stayed in the Westside Campground.  Riverside is the other campground.  Earl Rowe boasts 400 sites, and 183 of these are electrical.  The park also offers 3 group campsites.

Wildlife:  We saw no wildlife.  We did however see evidence of a beaver.  The kids were a bit impressed with the beaver's ambition!

During the night we heard the yipping of some cyotes in the distance.  In the morning during one of our walks, we found the evidence of their prey.  Other than that, no wildlife.

Other:  This park is home to a pool that can accommdate 1,500 people.  However, it was still closed and not yet opened when we were there.  The park does charge an additional fee for the use of this pool, even when you are a registared camper.  The comfort stations had no soap or method for drying your hands.  They were a bit messy and not kept to the standards of other provincial parks that I have stayed at.  The one trail we walked was well maintained and easily marked.  The park has a store and a resource centre.  Unfortunately, the resource centre was closed at the time.  The staff in the store were friendly and helpful.  During our three day, two night stay, we saw the park staff patrolling twice.  The guy at the next site over, had run over his fire pit with his car and damaged the metal rim around it.  He removed the metal rim and discarded it off to the side.  The staff drove by his site, slowed down and then drove off.  No action was taken.  At night the other camper had large flames coming from his fire, that were in my opinion risky.  I will admit that I like a nice fire at night, but his went too far.

Overall, I probably will not return to this park.  What did make the expereince wonderful was the people who joined us for their children's first camping experience.  But, based soley on the park I would only give this park 2 stars out of five.

Murphy's Point Provincial Park

Our first trip to this park was back in 2008, and it is one of our favourites.  

Beaches: There are two beaches at this park.  We prefer the day use beach, it is smaller and not used as much.  Both are always clean and nice for families.  There is a approx. 3-5 min walk from the parking lot to the day use beach - but well worth it.

View from the day use beach.

View of the day use beach.

Campsites: There are two campsites at this park, with a total of 198 sites.  Some are a lot nicer than others.  We have camped on sites 163, 166 and 168.  These are close to a comfort station, but not too close.  I would not recommend site 163 for a family or a camping group of more than 2.  This site has a fairly steep slope from the parking space to the camping space. This can prove difficult to navigate in the dark.  Sites 166 and 168 are nice and spacious and fairly flat, with only a few obstructions (roots, trees etc).

Wildlife:  There is plenty of wildlife and fishing here.  Our children love the abundance of reptiles and amphibians.  We have spent many hours looking for these wonderful creatures (because I am a fun Mom!).  Murphy's Point is home to the Black Rat Snake.  This snake is very rare, so please break for the snakes!  We have also seen, porcupines and raccoons.  During our visit last year, we found the raccoons to be very bold.  We hadn't even set up our tent, and we had "visitors" trying to get into our things.  The fishing was great too!  Off of the docks, the children had fun catching a variety of pan fish.

View from the boat launch.

Park staff hold a Black Rat Snake!

Other: There is a park store, and visitor centre.  Both are staffed with helpful individuals.  The park is also home to a mica mine, and the park offers guided tours.  I recommend this, our kids were only 6,5,4,3 and they had lots of fun. This tour was very informative.  There is a little bit of walking, but nothing that is difficult.  There is plenty of Park Warden presence - one of the better parks for this.  Whenever we have been here the Park Warden was seen walking around the beach and talking with the visitors.  We have never found other campers a disturbance here - knock on wood.

Enterance into the mine.

Leaving the mine!

Murphy's Point P.P. is classified as a natural environment and is 1,239 ha.  The address for the park is

RR #5

Perth, Ontario

K7H 3C7

613-267-5060

We rate this park 4 out of 5 stars!

Grundy Lake Provincial Park

Address:           R.R.#1

                        Britt, Ontario
                        P0G 1A0           

Telephone:        705-383-2286

Park class:         Natural Environment

Size:                 2,554 ha

# of campsites:  485

We camped here last year, and we loved, loved it!  A real gem of a park!  We plan on going back.  This park offers something for everyone. 

The park has 9 campsites: White Spruce, Hemlock, Trailer, Poplar, Red Maple, White Pine, White Birch, Jack Pine, Balsam.  We camped in the White Spruce Campground at site #15.  The site was clean and a perfect size for us.  However, next time we camp there we will try for campsite #22.  This site is open with a lovely view - right on the lake with your own water access; perfect if you bring your own canoe.

The park has four lakes: Clear Lake, Grundy Lake, Gurd Lake and Gut Lake.  All of these lakes are beautiful, and offer wonderful canoeing opportunities.  You could spend hours canoeing and exploring the park by canoe.  The trail off of the White Sprue campsite (begins around campsite #22) leads to the "jumping cliffs".  There are no signs promoting the use of these cliffs.  There are about four different heights one can jump from.  The cliffs start at 10 feet, then about 15 feet, 20 feet and then a wopping 30 feet!  There are ropes there to assist with the climb back up.  Not only is it fun jumping, but the scenery is lovely as well.  Here are some photos from our "jumping clif" experience.

 

We saw a variety of wildlife, including a couple of foxes, a family of otters, beavers, turtles, frogs, and snakes.  The kids were really hoping to hear or see an owl, because they found many owl pellets!  I guess we will have to wait until our next visit to see the owls.


The trails were well kept and enjoyable.  We enjoyed the Swan Lake Trail.  Below are some photos of that trail.

    

There is no park store inside the park.  There is however, a store and canoe rental service not far from the enterance to the park.  This is where you can buy ice, wood, food, and camping supplies.


The beach on Grudy Lake is the beach we used the most.  It is nice and sandy. It is roped off and past that rope, the lake drops off quickly.  The park has a floating dock tied off just past the rope, and is excellent for the kids to jump off of.

The evening programs were informative and entertaining. When we were there a soap stone show was present.  For a small fee (or more), you could purchase some soap stone and recieve direction on creating a carving.  The kids loved that part too! 


The only issue I had was with the lack of visibility of park staff.  We saw a patrol truck go by in the afternoon everyday we were there, but never saw them at night.  We had some disruptive teenagers during our stay. It would have been nice to have someone there to enforce the rules.


Great park and would reccomend it to anyone.  The comfort stations, park were kept clean.  The staff we did see were helpful and friendly.  You can't go wrong camping at this beautiful park.

Presqu'le Provincial Park

Address:  328 Presqu'ile Parkway
                     Brighton, Ontario
                     K0K 1H0

Telephone: (613)475-4324


Park Class: Natural Environment


                                           Size: 937 ha

I am not a huge fan of this park.  I prefer to use this park in the early spring, fall and winter.  I stay clear in the summer.  I was a little surprised to learn that the park class is natural environment.  I had always believed this park was classified as a recreation park.  I thought it would be easier this time to list the pros and cons of this park.

PROS
1. The Boardwalk Trail - Some beautiful views, lots of birds, and marine life to observe.  This trail is easy to walk and is just over 1km in length.  The park has over 16km of trails.

2. Is a major flyway to migrating birds, and is a staging point for monarch butterfies heading south to Mexico.

3.  Is home to Ontario's second-oldest operating lighthouse and has the original lighthouse-keeper's cottage.

CONS
1. Busy with lots of users during the summer months.

2. I personally find the park dirty.  We used the group camping one year, and in along the tree line was garbage.

3. Lots of bold raccoons.

4. It is on Lake Ontario, and the beaches are closed a fair bit during the summer.

Below are some photos from Presqu'ile:

Well folks, please bare with me.  I have just started working on the blog.  Hopefully over the next couple of months I will be fully up-to-date.  I am going to review all the parks we have been to over the past 5 years.  My plan is to include some photos along with the positive and negative aspects of each provincial park we have been to.  Camping this season, as it does most years, begins the May long weeknd!  The countdown begins!