Ontario Parks Announcement

Bronte Creek Provincial Park Goes high tech with GPS

Bronte Creek Provincial Park is happy to announce the launch of a NEW program that will teach youth and general visitors about navigating with GPS technology. School groups and visitors will have the opportunity to learn about and use handheld GPS receivers to locate a series of waypoints.

"I am very excited to bring this high-tech program to the park visitors." says Park NHE Specialist Sheila Wiebe "This program will target grades 6 -10 and general family groups. It will encourage youth to learn about this new form of orienteering. I hope that through GPS technology the youth will get outdoors, explore and discover."

The GPS program has been in the planning and development stage for over a year. The major stumbling block was due to the high price tag of a classroom set of hand-held GPS receivers. Thanks to a donation from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation via the new TD Canada Trust branch in the Burloak shopping plaza and an in-store discount from Radioworld and Garmin; the hardware problem was solved.

Program Schedule August 28.

7:00 – 8:00pm

Day-use area (Burloak Drive)

For more information on park events and facilities please call 905-827-6911 or Visit http://www.brontecreek.org./

The park’s DAY-USE area accessible off Burloak Drive just north of the QEW.

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A Wet Week at Pinery Provincial Park (Part 1)

After spending Fathers Day weekend at Pinery in 2007, we decided, since we enjoyed it so much, to spend a week-plus there this year. The only thing we were worried about was the late night noise we experienced last year on the Friday night. The Park Wardens dealt with the noise the next morning, and it didn’t occur on the Saturday night. It turns out that wet weather would be our biggest issue, as it has for most of the summer in Ontario.

Last year we purchased two Coleman 5 day coolers because our ice didn’t seem to be lasting very long. On a nine-day trip such as this one, you can go through a lot of ice. The first day there, we purchased both our ice and wood within the park, paying park prices of almost $3 per bag of ice, and $7 for a bag of wood. I always like to purchase both within the park to help support the park system, but these prices over nine days would really add up. There are wood restrictions within Ontario Parks, and I am very conscious of this, as the Emerald Ash Borer has now found its way into Brampton Ontario, where I live. Outside of the park, there are many vendors selling wood, ice and anything else you might need. We ended up stopping at Shivers & Shakes (on Hwy 21), purchasing 4 bags of wood for $10, and 99-cent bags of ice. We stopped there a few times for wood and ice, and at the end of the week played mini golf (2 play free with a coupon) and had some ice cream. You will find their ad in the Pinery Information Guide.

The beach at Pinery is awesome. It is extremely long (10 km), made up of white sand, backed by high sand dunes. We spent one day at the beach, and one evening, watching the sunset. After 14 (or so) hours of heavy rain Tuesday night, extending well into Wednesday, the beach was posted due to high E.coli readings. The beach in the town of Grand Bend remained open, and we went to that beach 3 times during our vacation. Grand Bend, and its beach, remind me of a mini Ft Lauderdale when I was there in the late 80’s – lots of vendors and activity. The beach itself isn’t as nice as Pinery, it’s a little gravely, but the atmosphere is great.

On the Wednesday, during the rain, we traveled with the other family we were camping with to Goderich, about 30 minutes north of Pinery on Hwy 21. Our kids wanted to go bowling instead of hanging out in the rain for the day. Can’t blame them for that! We went to Goderich Little Bowl, luckily it was Wicked Wednesday, and we got a deal. We took a drive into the downtown, and down to the beach in Goderich. They have a very nice, well-developed waterfront. On the way back we stopped at the park in Bayfield, then took a drive down their main street (my wife and I like to visit main streets in communities – I am always impressed to see main streets that have been maintained and developed…I think it is very telling of the community). Bayfield is one of the nicest small towns I have ever visited…it is definitely worth stopping.

See Pinery Provincial Park on a Map

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Image courtesy of Ontario Parks

Part 2 coming soon…

Sandbanks for Canada Day - by Kirby the Camper

This has become an annual event for my family and many of my friends and their families. Sandbanks Provincial Park is a beautiful park situated in Prince Edward County on the north shore of Lake Ontario. “The County” is where I grew up, and camping at Sandbanks for the Canada Day Long Weekend now serves as a high school reunion. Most of my friends are renting tent trailers from Bill Camp (613-393-3011), just outside of the park. He brings the trailer into the site you have reserved, sets it up, and then he comes to pick it up at the end of your holiday.

All of us have young children that look forward to this weekend, knowing that they will be camping for a number of days with their best friends. We get together as a group and book a loop of campsites. This allows our children to ride their bikes and walk the paths within “our” loop, and not get lost or worry about thru traffic on the road.

Many of us take our children fishing on the Outlet River, which runs through the baymouth sandbars that form part of Sandbanks Provincial Park. The river connects from Lake Ontario to East Lake, and depending on the winds, which can shift the water levels, the river can flow either into or out of East Lake. In the spring, after the river has been sealed off by the accumulation of sand over the winter months, Lake Ontario breaches the new sandbar, as the Lake Ontario waters rise. We seem to catch mainly sunfish and rock bass, but there are other fish in the river such as pike, and small and largemouth bass. The shoreline nearest our campsite is perfect for kids to fish from. It is constructed by gabion baskets, about 1 ft above the water level, and about 5 ft wide. My 5 yr old son has kept a running total of fish caught over the past 2 yrs camping at Sandbanks, and is up to 15 landed, a number he is very proud of.

This year was an extremely wet few days of camping, last year we had below average temperatures. Both, I hope and believe, are oddities. Neither year was ideal for taking advantage of the parks best asset; kilometers of fine sand beach. We did walk to the beach a couple of times this year, but in a perfect vacation world, we would have been at the beach every day, spending long hours in the water, and building sand castles. Instead we watch storm clouds build, and wondered whether we had zipped up all the windows in our tents and trailers.

I’m sure we will spend Canada Day at Sandbanks again next year. I hope the weather cooperates and our biggest issues are staying hydrated and applying enough sunscreen while relaxing at the beach.

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- Kirby the Camper