The upcoming August long weekend is a great time to spend a weekend away while enjoying Ontario’s outdoors (both solo or with friends and family). Camping across Canada has boomed this summer amid fluctuating pandemic restrictions, and long-weekenders may be surprised to find that their favourite campsites are sold out across the board. Here’s where to find your last minute site for the weekend ahead. (These availability are based on the time of publication, and are subject to change).
On the Ontario provincial campground website you can find open availability for Ontario parks. Here is a list of the campgrounds that still have availability as of now in the ‘Northern Parks’ section:
- Aaron (near Dryden)
- Caliper Lake (around an hour from Fort Frances)
- Ivanhoe Lake (close to Timmins)
- Kakabeka Falls (about a half hour from Thunder Bay)
- Kettle Lakes (45 minute drive from Timmins)
- Nagagamisis (North of Hornepayne)
- Rainbow Falls (near Thunder Bay)
- Rene Brunelle (near Timmins)
- Rushing River (close to Kenora)
- Wakami Lake (near Timmins)
- White Lake (three hours from Thunder Bay)
- Ojibway (close to Sioux Lookout)
- Missinaibi (four hours from Timmins)
- Arrow Lake (an hour from Thunder Bay)
- MacLeod (10 minutes from Geraldton)
The list above is for a camping trip from the Friday to the Monday. The list is also filtered for four people with two tents but the same list and results came up for four people and a trailer as well as one person and one tent.
Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park (10 minutes from Mattawa) is the only one that has availability in the ‘Near Northern’ section. In the Southwest & Central Parks section, Rock Point (close to Dunnville) is the only available campground with availability.
The website shows you available or unavailable campsites based on circled coloured dots. Green circles mean available, purple circles mean partial availability, red circles with an ‘x’ mean unavailable and black circles mean the spots are not in operation.
The user-friendly website allows you to filter by the amount of guests going, where you would like to stay and if you’ll be staying in tents, trailers or RVs.. There is also a park locator on the Ontario Parks website where you can search based on activities, facilities and rentals if you would rather have specific amenities for your visit.
If you’re looking to spend the August long-weekend camping, there is still opportunity to find a last minute nature getaway. Spots are running out and by the time you check the site some of the spots listed above may have gone. Best of luck and happy camping.