I was scoping out individual campsite bookings at other parks for August 3rd of this year. I noticed quite a few sites are already booked up and unavailable; how are people gaming the site to be able to do this? When I click on the sites it tells me they won't be available to book until March 3rd.

It's less noticeable when looking at a map of Algonquin since individual lakes don't book up as quickly as individual campsites. Still, prize solo lakes like Little Eagle are already gone for the weekend after the Labour Day long weekend. How is this possible?
 

I had a strange experience camping on Pen Lake this past Friday night I would like to relate to the community here at A&A.

Allow me to me set the scene. My extended friend group had gathered on Pen for our annual camping trip. We ended up at Site 8, about halfway down the lake. It's a beautiful site dominated by a pine-studded rise divides the main cooking/tent pad area in the interior from the massive sand beach that juts into the lake. I set up my new backpacking tent on the pad on top of the hill to take advantage of the lake view, while the rest of my friends set theirs up down in the interior near the cooking area.

We were up late around the fire. I had fallen asleep in my chair while the last couple of our friends chatted by the dying embers. Most of the others had already retired to their tents. I woke up, saw that it was 3:00, said goodnight to the last of my buddies and trudged up the hill. I was just getting about to get into my tent when I heard the distinctive sound of a canoe grinding on the sand below. 

I could see headlamps down there on the beach, through the trees. What? I was confused (a little fireside brandy didn't help) and at first I thought it might have been a couple of the guys from my group, but that obviously didn't make any sense.

"Hey," I spoke softly, but with a touch of urgency, to my friends still around the fire. "I think there are people here."

I assumed it must have been some late night travellers who had lost their way or were having trouble finding an open site, and had intended to use our beach as an emergency overnighter. Their location on the beach suggested they had arrived from the south, either from Welcome or Clydegale - maybe further, if they were out this late. The site marker was on the other side of the peninsula, so it was conceivable that they didn't even know there was a site here, or, if they did, that it was occupied. If this had been the case they would have been welcome to stay for the night and/or we woul

Hey friends, I hope this link works but there was a recent thread discussing this in detail:

https://algonquinadventures.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=3266

I'm heading up to Sunday Lake myself in the next little while. To be honest, I'm still not exactly clear whether we'll be able to park up by the portage or not. I'm going to call the park tomorrow and see what they say, I'll report back. 

Yet another reason why you should just be able to book a site like at Kawartha Highlands and other parks. How amazing would it be to head up to Algonquin on a Friday evening without being worried that you won't find a decent spot?

I sent a complaint about not being able to see the number of sites per lake to Ontario Parks. The good news is that they replied almost immediately, and indicated that they're aware of the issue, if not already addressing it.  Who knows what that means?

I had a cart issue that caused me to lose a Kawartha site a couple of weeks ago, which was a bummer.

I also hate how you HAVE to choose the access point before being able to look at the map. I liked being able to look at all of Algonquin, all of a region, or even the whole province depending on what I was looking for. 

trippythings wrote:

I don't have any helpful info for you unfortunately, but would you be able to take some pics of the campsites during your trip? I've found a few online but they weren't the most descriptive and seemed to be dated. It was a lake I was eyeing last season but never ended up visiting. I'm also curious if you would able to hear any highway traffic from the lake, or if you're far enough that wouldn't be an issue.

Absolutely, trippythings, I'll take lots of photos and submit an updated site report for the PCI Project. 

I put a floating keychain on my keys while camping, as I'm more worried about having them fall out of something and sink to the bottom of the lake more than anything else.  I then put them in a little waterproof sac and it goes to the bottom of the bag.

If my keys aren't secure in a place where I know they won't be going anywhere, I won't be fully enjoying myself in the wilderness. I think I'll follow the advice of others here and stash an extra key in my bag from now on. 

Mark's website has been a great source when trip planning.  These videos are exactly the thing to get us through this time of year when the summer backcountry season is so close, and yet so far away. Hope to see more.

ATVenture wrote:

Other than that my vote goes for extra mind alrtering substances.

ATVenture, you nailed it right there.