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I'm taking my (almost) 4 year old daughter into Algonquin for the first time, ever, in less than two weeks. I've been on Booth's, I've even camped on Booth's, but I've never looked at Booth's with the mindset of taking a kid there.
My biggest concern is that I just looked at the weekend we're going, and Booth's is 100% fully booked. 0/17 available. Booth's only has 18 campsites, and so I have visions of ending up with the crappiest, most kid-unfriendly campsite as my daughter's first ever Algonquin experience, and that's making me super nervous. In a perfect world we'll score one of the beach sites on the east side of the lake, but I have to plan for the worst-case scenario. So I guess my questions are:
In general, how would you rate the quality of the Booth campsites? My recollection is that for the most part they're pretty good.
If we end up with a lousy site, is there a beach stretch we could hang out on, far enough from a campsite so that we wouldn't be intruding on someone else's space?
If you were in my shoes, knowing Booth's is fully booked, would you rebook elsewhere rather than take the chance? I'm specifically eyeing the Tim to Rosebary, or possibly Canoe Lake to Burnt Island, both of which (at least so far) are nowhere near full for that weekend, but I'm open to other suggestions.
Any and all advice is appreciated!
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Ah man - if I was a betting person you won’t get anything remotely good for your daughter - have you tried Farm or Crotch? Could always do a day trip to booth if you want her to experience a portage
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What day are you starting the trip and what are the bookings like the day prior? If most sites are reserved the day before, then most good sites will already be occupied by the time you get there... but if reservations are quiet the day prior and then fully booked the day you’re going to arrive, just get there bright and early and you should be good.
Or Pen is always a good option, plenty of nice sites and easy to get to. Can spend time at the falls etc.
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I stayed on Booth a couple of years ago and paddled just about the whole thing to look around. Most of the sites looked pretty good to me, except one - which I had stayed on before, and that was #18. It is a very covered campsite, uphill in back almost immediately, facing a shoreline that is claustrophobiacally close if that's a word, which made it feel very dark. Just about all the other campsites had something going for them it looked like to me. Years ago I spotted moose between #2 and 3 by the way. The big island site in the west is one I liked, but there are some that have access to a big rocky overlook, others have beaches. McCarthy Creek is nearby, that's a nice day paddle, a bear swam across in front of my canoe there a couple years ago. So......yeah, ok, there's reason for concern with it being so booked, but I don't think there are many lousy campsites there.
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I stayed on booth last year with my 4 year old and her sister (6) last summer (late july). we arrived pretty late- just before sunset (booth is a long-long ride from kitchener, especially with all the highway 60 roadworks last year, it was 8hrs from door to put-in). Took a while to find a campsite. Tempers were a bit frayed, no big deal really though, found a spot in the end.
We ended up in a less than ideal site on first night -was really buggy, but the beach was nice (i think it was #8) and my kids just launched themselves fully clothed into the water (lifejackets on), while we swatted bugs and set up the tents/dinner. we went past a lot of nice kid friendly sites on that eastern shore (in terms of shallow beachy), however its pretty thick bush so real buggy. Even if the lake is full I find you can always move the next day, which we did after doing a bit of scouting first. We ended up in site 14 which was real nice and kid friendly (shallow). All sites I visited were in good shape. A few of our folks stayed on #13 though and I wouldnt recommend that for wee-uns, very steep big almost cliff down to pretty deep water. But it wouldnt be the end of the world if just for 1 night. Also with just 1 kid it is pretty easy to keep an eye on where they are at. Plus they will be asleep in no-time after the journey/long day on day 1. If I am at a steep/deep site with the kids I insist they keep there lifejackets on/or stay within sight of us and sometimes make a no running rule (especially at night!).
I wouldnt bother re-booking if I were you. Most lakes in algonquin that are accesible for kids are gonna be pretty well full this time of year. I've stayed on booth, ralph bice twice with my kids and always had to do a fair bit of canoeing around to find a spot, and often moved on 2nd day. I am heading to Pen with the kids in august and i fully expect I will have to hunt around again.
-My advice: arrive super early so there is no rushing or stress, and increase chances of getting an ideal site. My kids are gonna be up at the crack of dawn with the excitement anyway so might as well hit the road. They can sleep in the car. Arrive a day early if possible.
-bring some suprises- eg a new colouring book and crayons or art set or something. Gives them something to do while setting up camp/ cooking dinner or if they have to hide in the tent because its raining or too buggy.
- candy treats as rewards for getting though the portage ect.
-lots of clothes -kids can easy soak 3 pairs of clothes in a day
-a headtorch or lamp for each kid
-plenty of kid friendly food- KD, hotdogs, pancakes plus plenty of snacks
- a paddle? this is debateable, mine insist of having a paddle, but they dont use it except for sword fighting, they wont carry it on portages, and they love to stick it in and make paddling harder.
I am sure you will have a great time. Even a "lousy" site in algonquin is still super exciting for a kid, there is always a firepit, and water to splash around in, and loons ect. It will be an adventure they/you will never forget!
Re: Rosebary. The lake has only few sites and if it's not booked yet, it probably will be later. Also, except for a beach site everything else on this lake is second or third-rate (for Algonquin). And beach site is always taken. I'd say Burnt Island will present more options, though no beaches there that I know of.
Very best luck with your first father-daughter trip.
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If you can’t find a beach site I think you’ll find there will be lots of other stimulation in the backcountry. However, the big island on Craig looks like it has lots of sand and currently zero reservations for Saturday July 20. Enter at Nahma Lake, 3 short portages, and you’ll be there in 2 hours, according to Jeff’s Map.
Last edited by solos (7/08/2019 9:22 pm)
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Big Bob too far of a one day trip in for the little one? couple portages in there, with Dad carrying everything?
beach site on Big Bob is awesome, and it is an out of the way lake so the traffic should be low. day trip down the Nip?
food for thought....
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Thanks for the advice folks. Considering I also have a canoe rented (!) in Madawaska for this trip, I think I'll just stand pat and hope for the best. We'll be heading out early Friday morning for sure, which will hopefully get us there at a good time to find a decent site.
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In case you change your mind, you could also consider Shirley. It has the one portage to it but for some reason that tends to scare people away. The site beside Ryan portage is quite open but a Sandy Beach. The two sites at the North end of the lake are my favorite as they are wide open with a red and white pine canopy, and a sand gravel shoreline. There is also a picnic table on the southern of those two sites.
The site at the point across from the island on the east side it's also nice and wide open. I can't fully recall the swimming there though.
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I've camped on Shirley before, that's not a bad idea. The ~1K portage is basically a road. Granted with the amount of stuff I'll be dragging along to keep my family happy it'll probably be a 5K portage, but even so. I see only one booking on Shirley for that weekend, at least so far.
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