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What's the best provincial park in east central Ontario


kennyman

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You guys are always a big help. I'm sure there's no one better to ask.What's the best park in central eastern/north eastern Ontatio. Say the Kawartha area, or from Kingston to Ottawa area? Would like somewhere with a good campground and GREAT fishing. What's your favourite. Which one(s) did you like or hate? Could even be a private campground. Don't let me down guys,you've been to these! :worthy:

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I'd send you to Fushimi PP...but guess a 12 hour drive might be too far?

 

Bon Echo is a nice place and there are some back lakes West of the park as well that we use to meet in our airplanes years back.

 

Birch Lake has some good pickeral fishing...North of Kaladar around Plevna/Land o Lakes area. Do a google on Birch Lake Lodge and see if they offer camping. We had a hillbilly cabin the year we went there (I've seen ice huts posted here that looked better). I wasn't impressed...let alone the wife/family. Other than that they were great hosts.

Edited by irishfield
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Guest Trophymuskie
Bon Echo Provincial Park. The most beautiful place I've ever been. Fishing was excellent also. Big Lakers and nice walleye. Over 400 feet deep on Lake Mazinaw!

 

http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/bone.html

 

Ditto on Bon Echo it's an excellent park, nice walking trails, fishing and swimming. There is lots of history there as well, I mean other then my first bought with poison ivy, yes me and a friend swam across the lake to do some cliff diving and I guess I walked all over it.

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I have not been to bon echo.But I have really enjoyed staying at Sandbanks provincial Park you can fish East lake ,West Lake and Lake Ontario.My kids love the beaches you can walk out 1/4 mile and the water is less than 3 feet deep and the bottom is full of sand.On a windy day my kids enjoy jumping in the waves.Lots to do in Sandbanks a great place for the family.

 

MTP

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Emily Provincial park is at the south end of Pigeon lake. Great camping and fishing for largemouth bass with a good chance at a small musky or maybe even a walleye. Not as much boat traffic as the farther north part of the lake. A canoe or kayak is all you need to fish this area.

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I agree with Bon Echo... except in June... just absolutely hoarded by mosquitos... like millions. Back lake under the highway with no motor boats is killer.

 

Lake St. Peter is also quite nice. Great fishing beautiful campground.

 

Murphy's Point is also great for camping and fishing.

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Bon Echo is certainly beautiful but my vote would be for Bonnechere. Round Lake has some great fishing and many of the sites are right on the water(either lake or river). Can't go wrong with either one! Bon Echo is much larger and there is wilderness sites and walk-in lakes! Lake Mazinaw does have some superb Smallmouth fishing!

Dave

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Hey guys, quick question about Bon Echo if you don't mind. With the walk-in/canoe in backcountry camps they've got do you still have to book them like the regular camp grounds (meaning book way early like most parks?) or is it more like crown land - find a spot and pitch a tent? I want to do a 3-4 day canoe/camp trip somewhere this spring/summer but don't know when and would love to be able to kinda 'last-minute' one.

Edited by TbayBoy
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Bon Echo is certainly beautiful but my vote would be for Bonnechere.

 

I agree with you on Bonnechere PP Dave, it's the only provincial park I've ever stayed in but it was excellent.

 

We were there in September a few years back and the place was nearly deserted. Fairly isolated from any large populations and we practically had the place to ourselves and the scenery is as good as you'll find anywhere.

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Thanks guys. Alot of great choices there. We've been to Murphy's Point last year. Was a real nice place. The sites themselves aren't the greatest (more like driveways), but the park itself is very nice. We'll be going back. We also went to Bon Echo last year. I have a funny story about that. We were going to spend two days at Bon Echo (all we could get on our schedule) and then continue up to Murphy's Point for the rest of the week. Well, my wife is soooo organized usually I trust her explicitly. She keeps everything and I mean everything in our lives on time. The kids school trips,homework,dance lessons and competitions,swimming lessons, she works and takes care of the housework and somehow finds time to volunteer at our local conservation area every Wednesday and at the kids school on a regular basis. She's basically Superwoman (is this normal?). Anyway,this woman who could run a small country on her own,me and my two kids get into Bon Echo a little later than we would have liked to. We were getting rained on during the drive and it was nice enough to let up for a little while so at least we weren't seting up our new trailer for the first time in the pouring rain. It was around supper when we got done, but we had a great evening on a beautiful site with a campfire,marshmallows,weiners ...... life was good. We get up in the morning and have a blueberry pancake breakfast and decide to go for a paddle in the canoe. The view is breathtaking. If anyone here has not been to this park,make a point to do so. So back to our canoe ride. We canoe across Mazinaw to the Cliff Top Trail, which is a nice little hike complete with gorgeous views and blueberry bushes along the way. This was a wonderful memorable morning. A couple or three hours later we're back at the parking area where I'm loading the canoe on the roof of my Pathfinder when a park "ranger" (who was waiting for us to return apparently)asks if we're from site so and so. We reply yes and he says you better get back to the site and pack,the people are waiting for it. Now, we tell him we're booked in for two nights and we'll show him the paperwork. He follows us back to the site and sure enough, we had the dates mixed up ( I couldn't believe it,my wife,messing up dates!!?). We had to pack up immediately!Kudos to the ranger, he was great about the whole thing and found it quite humorous I think. We did so as fast as we could and got on our way to Murphy's point where we had to set up in the dark. That is an absolute joy when your a complete novice. I was not a "happy camper" ... pun intended. This was our first venture into camping and hadn't exactly gone as planned. We laughed about this crazy morning all week and it gave me something to bug my wife about for quite a while. I'm sure everytime I arrive at a campground I'll bug her about it for years to come.Somehow,out of all that we still had a great time. Anyway,enough :blahblah1: but I thought some of you would find it funny,especially the campers here.

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So I've been looking up alot of the suggested places.Bonnechere seems to be the first choice here and really looks like a great park. I'll keep that one high on the list.Bon Echo is beautiful and the fact that we have less than 24 hours in that park leaves it in the "must return column". I never did get a chance to fish there.Actually I should mention that when we were there (however short it was) there was a warning about some parasite in the water and it was suggested that you wash thoroughly with soap after getting out of the water. Didn't like the sound of that,but it didn't keep me out of the canoe LOL. Irishfield, I checked out Fushimi PP and it looks like it's great, isolated with incredible fishing. Sounds perfect,but you're right,a little far to drag the wife and kids. You know,twelve hours turns into sixteen,which turns into ........ MISERY LOL. I do have a nine and a twelve year old,not to mention the fact that I wouldn't trust my truck towing for that long (it's only a Pathfinder). Maybe when I get my Suburban or a float plane (LOL, I think I'll work on getting a "Burban" first). Mike The Pike, I would love to check out Sandbanks and that very well maybe on our list of parks this year as well. I'm not quite as enthused about the fishing (was it good?) but the swimming looks great and I'm sure the kids will love it. The Pinery was great for that as well. We went there last year as well,and although chilly, I had the most fun I've had playing in the waves in a long time. The waves were bashing the crap out of us and it was awesome. Of everything we did last year,that's the one things the kids will remember. Okay,that and catching a pile of fish each (close to fourty each) at Murphy's Point. Jediangler Thanks, Emily looks perfect. Were you successful fishing here?Whad'ya catch? Has anyone else fished here? Please let me know. Dartee. Charleston Lake would be a perfect candidate as well. It's close to my dads (Smiths Falls) and would give another place to visit in his area. Has anyone been here? What did you think? How's the fishing?Bullybass, Lake St. Peter looks good too. It's pretty close to Silent Lake, where we went a couple years ago (on the spur of the moment believe it or not)canoeing. I wish I was into fishing then,because I bet it would've been great. What did you catch at Lake St. Peter Bullybass? Was the swimming good? The sites private? Clean? Any additional information anyone can provide would be great in helping me make some decisions. Anything at all about any of these places would be greatly appreciated. If you want you don't have to post them here,you can PM me as well. This is an important year (aren't they all) for me as my daughter is twelve and I figure (this is going to sound really sappy,so you tough guys better stop reading here) I only have a short period of time left before she hates me LOL ....... well at least before she becomes a teenager. We're actually quite close but I want to get her to appreciate how special spending time with her family is and how great it is to get outdoors and camp,fish :Gonefishing: , hike, etc. Like every other person here I guess I want this year to be better than ever. Thanks and keep the responses coming guys.

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Kennyman, the Bonnechere River comes out of Algonquin Park and travels all the way to the Ottawa River, after it passes thru a couple lakes. The Bonnechere Provincial Park is about 12 miles from where it leaves Algonquin, right at Round Lake.

 

You can take your canoe and travel that whole beautiful stretch of river back toward Algonquin......... No homes, no traffic and just the odd deer camp along the route.

 

My family had a deer camp on that river for decades.....you won't be disappointed.

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Here you go Mike. http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/bone.html . Go to the bottom left corner and click on maps and it'll give you a normal map. Click on satellite and you get actual satellite photos. Click on + or - to zoom in. There is also a hybrid map with a map laid out overtop the satellite pics. It's very cool. If you want to check out another park use the "Park Locater " tab. Hope this helped bud.

Edited by kennyman
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