Parks of the St Lawrence - Long Sault Woodlands Campground - August 2015 Camping Trip

Sat morning of the Civic Long weekend we decided to pack up and head to Parks of the St Lawrence - Long Sault Woodlands Campground.  We have seen the ad in the Ontario Parks booklet for the past several years, so we decided to finally give it a try.

The website to book sites is not as user friendly as the Ontario Parks site. They do show one picture of the site you book, but they are not realistic shots.  The descriptions of the sites aren't overly realistic either. The site we booked said waterfront.  It was waterfront,however it was the public beach....so much for being able to keep our kayaks right at our "waterfront" site.  That was an extreme letdown.  One plus I suppose was the fact that the site had electricity and water. Sadly no sewer connections though.  The fire pits were odd - ppl over time had moved all over the sites, as they were just made with small rocks. Very very odd as well.  We were also very disappointed in the washroom facilites.  In our section there was one port a potty. We arrived Saturday, and by supper time on Saturday, it was locked and closed for maintenance.  It was not ready for use again until Tues mid morning.  It was quite a walk to the washroom building, for the whole campground, which only had 4 stalls for women and two for men.  Again, another negative strike for this park.  The dump station is also 1 km down the road from this campground.  I believe it is shared with a couple of the parks but I am not positive. It is located right beside a shower building.

There was two beach areas, one at our site which was on the small side and a larger one near a tent section. At the larger beach was a great, huge play structure for children. I never saw many playing on it, but I think it is because most were swimming!!!

There was no place to rent kayaks or canoes. 

It seemed to be that most of the campers were from Quebec.  Sadly we also noticed a lot of garbage left at sites after people had left. Why don't people get to leave things neat and tidy.  Check out is 11am, and check in is 2pm, however we saw people checking in at all hours.

The sites here are far from private. It is not rustic, it is basically open field camping and you can wave to your neighbours from inside each others trailers.  I suppose this is fine should you be camping with other friends or family but not the greatest when you aren't.

This park is on an island, in a string of 11 islands all connected by a causeway between Ingleside and Long Sault.  You are also very close to Morrisburg to the west, and Cornwall to the east.   When you check in you recieve 2 admissions for either Fort Henry in Kingston or Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg.  This was a nice feature as admission to Upper Canada Village was $18 per adult.

Again, Pete's mission for this trip was fishing - his goal muskie on the St Lawrence Seaway.  Much to his disapointment, we were on the opposite side of the River, in an inlet they called the Lake St Lawrence.  He could have launched at another site but choose not too....he did catch some monster bass and pike and had a great time!!! I kayaked 4 times and had a great paddle. Two days were quite windy so it made for some tough paddling!

We spent 5 nights and 6 days here, and ventured into Cornwall one wet morning and ventured to Upper Canada Village another morning.  Would we return to this park - likely not. Would we choose another Parks of the St Lawrence Park to camp at - yes....we have picked out a few spots to try for next year - provided we can book a spectacular waterfront site!!!

http://www.stlawrenceparks.com/reservations/http://www.stlawrenceparks.com/reservations/


View from leaving our campsite

St Lawrence Seaway

one of Pete's fish of the day!

a perfect paddling day!

Another catch of the day!

Night is upon us!

Rainbow :)

site 180 from the road

 view from our site

The beach by our site - they groomed the beach every few days

checking out the beach

Shadow fun!

Staff heading to work at Upper Canada Village

One of the many beautiful gardens at Upper Canada Village
http://www.uppercanadavillage.com/

 walking along the village - Upper Canada Village

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Upper Canada Village

 Upper Canada Village

one of the farms at Upper Canada Village

 picking some veggies at Upper Canada Village

Upper Canada Village

one of the many gorgeous gardens at Upper Canada Village

  one of the many gorgeous gardens at Upper Canada Village

 Double Rainbow :)

http://www.stlawrenceparks.com/camping/campgrounds/long-sault-parkway/

Driftwood Provincial Park - July 2015

After a rest up weekend in Mattawa after our 5 days at Algonquin Park - Brent Campground, we were eager to check out Driftwood Provincial Park just off of hwy 17 in Stonecliffe  (About an hour's drive east of Mattawa).

We pulled in and saw the trailer fill/dump station before the Registration Building so we filled up our water, and dumped out what we had accumulated while at Brent (as there is dump/fill station there, a negative strike in our eyes for that park).

Check in was quick and easy - the building offers lots of pamplets for other Provincial Parks, as well as some clothing and Park gifts, wood, ice and some small snacks.  About 7 or 8 km heading east on hwy 17 was a general store should you need to head out for beer, liquour, gas, groceries (it was advertised in the park newspaper also).

Once again we had managed to secure a waterfront site  - our summer goal to make things easier for the kayaks, and so Pete didn't have to load and unload his Hobie and all his fishing equipment every time he wanted to head out fishing.

We pulled into site 32 which had spectacular view of the Ottawa River.  We both almost said we wished we had booked more than two nights at this park before we had even set up!!!

Site 32 is a non - electric site (all along the water are) but the views made up for not having hydro and for us using the generator when we needed it.  The comfort station was almost across the road from our site, raised up on a hill.  This caused some car traffic - it seemed people here prefered to drive vs walk or bike to the washroom or shower.

Again, Pete's mission for this 2 night camping trip was based on fishing - the goal - a monster muskie or trout.  Thankfully his back was feeling a bit better (after a 4 hr visit to the Mattawa hospital and some prescription muscle relaxants later...) and he spent a lot of our time at the park out on the water.

The water was accessible to swim right from our site, although was rocky underfoot. Water shoes are a must for here.  Lots of other campers brough bigger boats or jetskis with them,and moored them out from their sites. The park has a boat launch and a small day use area

http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/driftwood
http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/driftwood

One downfall I found with the park is lack of garbage bins. You had to drive back out past the registration building to dump trash or recycling. It would have been handy to have something closer.

We only wished we had more time at this park to explore the land and water more...another year....definitely on our return to park list.  Most sites along the water were booked while we were there, several off the water as well, and we did not venture to the electrical section but we saw lots of big rigs pulling in and out when we were checking in or out, so it is well visited but everyone from a single tent to a 32ft plus rig!


Right after we unhitched  we were greeted with a thunder and rain storm.  So we waited it out under the awning!

Site 32 view from the water.

Site 32 from the Ottawa River

Couldn't get enough of the gorgeous sunsets!!

 Couldn't get enough of the gorgeous sunsets!!

 Couldn't get enough of the gorgeous sunsets!!

 Couldn't get enough of the gorgeous sunsets!!

 Couldn't get enough of the gorgeous sunsets!!

 View of our site from the road

 the shore at our site

 the shoreline at our site

Three loons frolicking in the water in the sunshine in front of our site!

Early morning fish!

http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/driftwood

Algonquin Park - Brent Campground July 2015

Up bright and early, we started on our long trek north to the Brent Campground of Algonquin Park.
Traveling along hwy 41 and 17 towing a trailer can get interesting....with lack of gas stations and lack of large, easy to navigate into gas stations, we stopped when we could to fuel up.

We were excited to visit our first Algonquin Park park and planned this one around visiting family in Mattawa after our 5 days of camping.  We then decided to book at Driftwood for a couple nights after we left Mattawa since we pass that provincial park on the way home.

We pulled off of hwy 17 on the Brent Rd at 1230, and checked in at the Park office.  The office is stocked with some Park clothing and merchandise, wood and has a indoor washroom for visitors.  We then grabbed the camera and started to make the 42km drive down the gravel road to the campground.

At times the road is very washboardy and rutted, and we met some cars going much faster than they should have been. That being said, we were fortunate not to run into any of the logging trucks that also use that road.  Sadly, we did not see any moose on our drive - that was our hope!

We arrive to the campground area and made our way to our site.  Sadly we were very disappointed to see that site 4, which we reserved was basically "open field camping" and there was ppl set up within 30 feet of where our trailer was to go.  So much for serene, private, Algonquin Park beauty.
We made the most of our disappointment and got set up and introduced ourselves to our neighbours - who, the husband has been coming to camp at Brent for the past 42 yrs!! So we were happy with his wealth of knowledge over the week!

The Brent park does not have a dump station nor a trailer fill station.  We had a water tap right near our site that we stopped and filled at before we backed the trailer into.  Brent also does not have shower facilities or flush toilets.  The washrooms they do have were very clean and well taken care of and more like a real toilet vs an outhouse, which was wonderful!! The one basically across from our site was made out of a plastic type shell on the inside and was super!  If only all Provincial Parks had those for their outhouses!!

Brent also does not have electrical sites, but we brought the generator to keep the batter charged and for making the coffee in the am!!! And in case of a rainy day here and there to use the TV and DVD.  The park is small - only 30 sites - some large enough for a 30 plus foot trailer, some one tent only.
 http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/visit/camping/brent-campground.php

 http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/algonquin-brent


As with the theme for the rest of our camping trips this summer, Pete picked this park to fish!!! We were lucky in booking a water site, which made it super handy to keep our kayaks right on the beach at our site.  Even though there were other sites by ours, and they had small motor boats parked at the small beach that bordered our sites, we felt secure to leave our things right in our kayaks as we had made friends with our neighbours and there wasn't any pedestrian traffic through our sites to access the water.

Cedar Lake is a large lake and also an access point for Algonquin Park to venture out to other rivers and lakes and with that, there was a lot of canoe traffic and people coming and going from the Algonquin Outfitters store that Jake runs by the campground. It is a must see little store when you go to camp - you must pop in and say hi to Jake, who has been there for years   ((http://algonquinoutfitters.com/maps/algonquin-park/access-points/)

Park staff were around at least once a day, trimming grass, cleaning the washrooms, and asking if any one needed wood - to save on the 42km trek out the road to buy it from the office.  They also kept campers up to date on bear spottings in the campgrounds and reminded people not to venture out on their own as the berries were ripe all around the sites, which the bears were after!!   We did not spot a bear in our 5 days there sadly either!!!

Kayaking on Cedar Lake was beautiful and one could venture in many different directions.  There were also paddle in campsites to stop at should you want a rest around the lake.  Across the lake from the campgrounds was a short Portage were you could hike to waterfalls.  We didn't make it to the waterfalls as Pete hurt his back and was in massive pain but prior to that, he hiked a bit of the trail one his own while out fishing.  I was disappointed we didn't get to make it to the falls.

Pete's fishing goal for the week was speckled trout.  Sadly he didn't catch any however was sidelined his last day and a half with back pain.  He did get a few lake trout, pike and walleye and lots of bass.  One early morning he venture 20 odd km up the road to Windago Lake, however he didn't catch anything there - super windy morning so he only stayed out a couple of hours in his kayak.

The small beach area at our site was super for swimming.  Hard packed sand and shallow water with no weeds was super for cooling off or bathing.  The water was cool but refreshing!

The bugs were horrendous the whole week we were there, and we did not do any major hiking.  We did take in the view of the Brent Crater on our way out of the park. Had the bugs not been as bad, we may have hiked in.

All in all, a good camping week.  Would we return to this park - likely not.  The 42km drive in off of hwy 17 was a bit far - especially for the "open field" camping we experienced.  Would we try a different Algonquin Park - for sure!!!!     And camper be wary of your gas levels - as it is about 60km to the nearest gas station from your campsite (Stonecliffe is the closest store to access gas, beer, liquor, and groceries, ice etc...right on hwy 17)!!!


 View from the trailer to Cedar Lake

 The beach area at site 3 and 4

Small island just out from sites 3 and 4

View of the trailer from the beach were we swam and kep the kayaks

For more info - search out the Ontario Parks site - http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/algonquin-brent