Agreed with DanPM - I'm always amused at how freaked out people get about bug concerns in May.  All of my experience has been that they don't get bad until the last week of May in almost every year and even then can be manageable. 

Sure, as you get later in May your risk goes up but I have rarely seen the bugs as "horrible" any time in May.  Worst I've seen are short blasts of annoying bugs that a smokey fire or good breeze or DEET can keep at bay with ease.

I’ve been watching Simcoe. Have heard it’s usually out about two weeks before Opeongo. Still looks pretty white on the satellite images.

Nother Question. If backcounty reservations, canoe trips permits are cancelled can you still do day trips if the lake is open?

that is what i did last year on opener, april 28th,, i stayed outside the park and bought a day pass at the gate for each day.
  i then portaged in off the highway, 
 i hope this helps

Kevin wrote:

I’ve been watching Simcoe. Have heard it’s usually out about two weeks before Opeongo. Still looks pretty white on the satellite images.

 
It is yes but it wont be long now until Simcoe is wide open.  There are big areas of the southern and south/eastern part of the lake that are fully open in marinas and bays.

There is a pretty amazing temperature differential between Windsor and the park east gate right now.   The east gate is a zero degrees while Windsor is at 22 degrees -- the hottest spot in Canada right now and 9 degrees warmer than normal.
 

DanPM wrote:

trippythings wrote:

I'm considering a trip around May 16-20 but not sure if that's too late if I'm trying to avoid the bugs

I often go on trip in the park Victoria Day weekend and usually don't get hit too hard by the blackflies. Sometimes they're starting to come out but not yet at peak. It's not bug-free but it's as good a time to go as any summer weekend.

PaPaddler wrote:

Agreed with DanPM - I'm always amused at how freaked out people get about bug concerns in May.  All of my experience has been that they don't get bad until the last week of May in almost every year and even then can be manageable. 

Sure, as you get later in May your risk goes up but I have rarely seen the bugs as "horrible" any time in May.  Worst I've seen are short blasts of annoying bugs that a smokey fire or good breeze or DEET can keep at bay with ease.

Thanks for the info. I see such conflicting things about when the bugs come out and when the bugs start getting intolerable. I've never done a spring trip but like I said I'll probably just plan tentatively and play it by ear based on weather and bug reports. I've got plans that I can't change for every weekend in May, so I'd have to do a mid-week trip and take extra vacation days from work... so I really need the stars to align. Otherwise I'll just save the vacation days for more August/September tripping

Ice conditions 30 minutes North of the park yesterday.
Nothing in the North Bay area is even starting to break up on shore. All the locals are saying Nipissing is going to be later this year than the previous record of May 18th.

Last edited by ATVenture (4/13/2018 7:34 am)