Camping on Crown Land...

[Gerritt]

I have always been intrigued about camping on Crown Land, on the river or Lake...

 

And am thinking about finally trying it this year! I understand that no permits are required, but do you need to let anyone know?

 

are their any suggestions as to places between North Bay and Toronto? I assume you do not drive to them... so where do you park you're vehicle? What about boat access? If I want to boat into a site... How do you know you are actually on crown land, so you do not get charged with trespassing?

 

What about bears? I will not be bringing a gun with me.

 

Can anyone suggest a place that would be relatively easy for first time crown land camper? Where if we get into trouble can can get out fairly quickly?

 

I know this is alot of questions..

 

Just want to make sure I have all my bases covered..

 

G

[Mykester]

By crown land, do you mean back country camping?

[walleyejigger]

you dont necessarily have to cross water to get to a camping spot, u CAN drive to a lot of crown land camping, around here and north of here anyways, south may be harder to find crown land

 

around here if you can drive to a waterbody you can camp anywhere on that water body unless it's private (which should be posted)but there isnt much of that around, otherwise there will be a gov't sign stating you cannot camp there, other than that,

 

this is our land, use it but dont abuse it or we'll lose it,

 

look at a map, find a dirt road going to a lake u want to fish, when you get to a lake and there's no sign saying you cannot....ur home, I/we do it all year long, from place to place all over northern ontario, but remeber, 21 days and out, or now it's 21 days and u have to change spots at least 100yds. away

[Gerritt]

So I could say drive up to lake Nipissing, Launch my boat at the government docks and pretty much just pick a decent looking site? and hope it is Crown Land and not privately owned? I plan on a 7 day trip, so I am well within the 21 day limit. perhaps I could even find a little island I could camp out on... I am liking this more and more!!!

 

Keep the info coming guys and thank you!

 

G

[Raf]

you are not going to find much crown land on nippissing. it's either private, provincial park (fees) or native land (no camping)

[Gerritt]

I do remember stopping at a spot on the west arm... between Welcome Lodge and Lakair.. it was an established, that had a fire pit etc setup.. weather or not camping was allowed I dont know... Perhaps I can look into this spot as it looked perfect for camping...

 

G.

[walleyejigger]

i dont know nipissing well, but if you plan on camping on an island and there isnt already a camp there or some sort of sign that it belongs to someone, as far as i can tell its fair game, a native reserve is different but i would still take my chances on it, just use common sense in your camping ( no garbage left behind, destroying healthy trees etc...)

 

also nipissing is a huge tourist area so more than likely said island already has sign of people camping on it, (little bit of clearing for a tent, rocks set up for a fire pit)

 

 

 

this site should also help you, i took a quick look and see some islands are part of a park, others are under "general use"

 

http://crownlanduseatlas.mnr.gov.on.ca/clupa.html

[Gerritt]

and general use means?... it is crown land I can camp on? without having to purchase a permit?

[jayess]

and general use means?... it is crown land I can camp on? without having to purchase a permit?

 

general use is crown! no permit required (unless you're not a resident? might have to check that out if it applies...).

 

what i do is find a crown camping spot and then branch out from there. you hear/read about nearby stocked lakes, say, and want to figure out if you can camp on them. old logging roads (forest access roads) are your friends for this.

 

one nice thing about the Ontario Crown Land Use Atlas is that you can search by township. this is especially good for searching stocked lakes as in my experience they list the lake townships

[walleyejigger]

yes, i assume so anyways, lol, i checked areas that i know for a fact are crown land and those are also coloured as "general use"

 

the map loads super slowly for me so it takes awhile to check around, but if you look around northern ontario (lets say between sudbury in timmins) you'll see the abundance of crown land, which is why i say it's so easy, so the more populated or southern areas would be obviously less accessible so this map would be a good way to check areas like nipissing

Edited May 8, 2010 by walleyejigger

[irishfield]

I have the perfect campsite for ya G.. and make as much noise as you can! Crown land camp site situated on the 66' shore reserve that fronts my 26 acres on Lake Temagami.

 

If that site doesn't do it for you.. there are about 500 others around the entire lake. Launch in town for FREE... park over behind the train station for FREE... camp on any site on the lake for FREE... leaves you a lot of money to drop a case of Corona off on my dock for the FREE advise! lol

 

Also note... nobody will bother you for boating back and tying up on the outside of the dock at Finlayson PPark and going in and using the showers! (FREE!! ) )

[danbouck]

Temagami has a ton of great crown land camp sites. Park in town or the access road

[johndox]

We use crown land likely 2 or 3 times a year for 4 or 5 days at a time.One of our friends introduced us to camping on these spots. The locals also use these spots and will put you onto different lakes to go to for the kind of fish that you like to catch. Some of these spots that are cleared already get very busy at certain times of the year just like camp grounds do. It is a very cheap way to go about setting up camp. We are heading to our favourite spot for the long weekend in May and we are leaving a day early to make sure we get a good spot.

[tomO]

Can only Canadian citizens use crown lands to camp?

[irishfield]

Non-citizens have to buy a permit... Canadians are free.

[kickingfrog]

Can only Canadian citizens use crown lands to camp?

 

 

Non-citizens have to buy a permit... Canadians are free.

 

... and you have to be able to recite the Leafs roster from the '67 cup wining team.

[tomO]

Can I pay a Canadian Citizen to recite the roster for me?

[Handlebarz]

When I lived in Sudbury we would head to Bisco and just find any place to camp that is one thing I liked about living up north head into the bush and look for a spot if you like it camp there if someone else is there stop in say Hi ask how the fishing is and then keep heading in to another spot. We never had a problem but then again I would always bring my junk out.

[fish_fishburn]

We camp on crown land all summer with no probs. Between Mattawa and Deep River on the Ottawa River. Beautiful sand beaches with lots of firewood available. One weekend we camp on the Ontario side the next its on the Quebec side of the river. We are so spoiled here. When friends from the city come here they cannot believe that its free. They usually ask, "when is the camp attendant come by to collect money" And the snacks of walleye every night are pretty good too. Just remember to have your tent set up before you pop a brew. That way the cops can't ticket you for drinking in a public place.

[bow slayer]

Restoule area on Stormy,Clear and restoule river have some great crown camping sites. Some are on islands,most have firepits.All are right on the waters edge.