chickaree and little st. anthony lakes camp sites have disappeared,, for some reason?

Accessible from the Rock Lake access point, Whitefish Lake has three reservable sites and three sites are marked on the official CR map. There are, however, four campsite signs on the lake (as of July 2017, at least). The "extra" site is on the island at the north end of the lake. It is just south of PCI site # 3, around a point with lovely western exposure. There is enough separation from site 3 to make it viable as an additional site, plus there are tent sites, a firepit, a nice landing and a very obvious campsite sign. I didn't check to see if there was a privy.

Long story short, I discovered this because I reserved all three sites for two nights and on arrival, found the island site occupied. In the end it didn't matter that much because my projected group shrank in size and we only needed one site, and used # 2. When I asked the Rock Lake permit office staff about this extra site on the island, they denied its existence. I wrote an email regarding the extra site and the poaching of the site I had booked to the park manager in charge of this type of thing, and never received a response, even after a reminder email sent a few weeks later. Very strange.

@Gord, does this look right?

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@UpTheCreek - Thanks, someone mentioned that one to me a little while ago and I was looking for verification that it did indeed exist, so thanks! Does this look correct?

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@Barry - That site was added between 2014 (when the last version of my map was published) and now. It appears on the MNR's map.

 

I knew I'd been to the Whitefish Lake campsite years ago, but couldn't find the related photos for days! Finally found them!

This first photo is approaching the island from the northwest. The height behind the canoe had a firepit of sorts and a 'no-camping' sign on one of the large pines.

The sand landing off to the right connects to a trail that curves back to the rocky height. The actual landing to the official campsite is located further to the south behind a treed point.



Looking back to the rocky height, you can just make out a "sign" (follow red arrow)..



The sign was actually a "no camping" sign. Back in 2010 it was heavily impacted .. looked like target practice by thrown rocks.



Following is a "blow-up" of the sign ....



Below is an off-shore look at the official campsite, located on the south end of the island, beyond the previously mentioned treed point ...



I imagine plenty of people camping at the official campsite use the rocky height as an evening sunset viewing location.

My apologies for not get ting the campsite into the PCI project way-back-when. The visit was on a daytrip- paddle from Mew Lake Campground in 2010. It's photos got misfiled and weren't entered into the PCI. Needless to say, I'll soon be making a belated entry of the campsite into the PCI project.

jeffreym wrote:

@UpTheCreek - Thanks, someone mentioned that one to me a little while ago and I was looking for verification that it did indeed exist, so thanks! Does this look correct?

They're much closer together than that.  Nearly right on top of each other.  When we were staying there a few years back I think we were sharing the thunder box with the neighbors.  I went back through my GPS data:  I have it marked as N45° 52.500' W77° 39.435' from 2014.

Whitefish Lake island campsite is now in the PCI .. http://www.algonquinadventures.com/PCI/lakes/Whitefish/WhitefishCS3/WhitefishCS3.htm

Thanks Clarkey71! That's great to know

Re: A Spare Campsite - I can guarantee you that's not why that site doesn't appear on the map. There are a ton of lakes where the park leaves 1 or more sites free for that reason, but all of the sites appear on the map. This is presumably a recent change that isn't yet reflected on the map (or there was a breakdown in communication internally - also possible).

On another note, I'll add the site on Guthrie to the misplaced site list. On both Jeff's Map and the park map it's shown on a small island, but when we went through in the spring it was actually at the site of the old ranger cabin. Although, I'll admit we didn't get over to the island to check out whether there's another site there as well, so it could be that that site is marked properly but there's a second on the lake that isn't. Either way, there's a site at the ranger cabin that isn't marked on any map. There's also a rusty bed spring bench there, if you feel like getting some tetanus while you sit beside the fire.