This August we made two trips to Big Salmon Lake in Frontenac Park with our 3 and 5 year old children. We decided it was a good midpoint between car camping and portaging. We just have too much gear and not the right kind of gear (ie tiny and waterproof) to manage a longer canoe trip this year. Big Salmon lake is a beautiful alternative to car camping; you can park beside the lake and then canoe about an hour and a half to the end of the lake to campsite 5A and 5B, which are our favorite sites because of the great swimming in the shallow and sandy bay. We stayed 3 nights both trips, and went for hikes and boat rides from there. Ironically, the weather reports were completely wrong for both trips . The first time it worked in our favour because we thought we were going to be waiting out a thunderstorm or two, but it was sunny and hot the whole weekend! The second time, however, was the opposite, we were expecting clear skies and got absolutely pummeled with rain. We learned a lot more about camping on that trip, I have to say. More about our tent, more about the gear and clothing we packed (I have a whole new appreciation for ‘quick dry’ clothing). My favorite most ridiculous moment involved – picture it – me, 2 am, outside my tent in the pouring rain, wearing only my raincoat, wielding an axe and a large sun umbrella, hacking away at the notch in the wood border to our tent site, in order to drain out the watery puddle that we had woken to find our tent floating in. So here is my camping tip for you all: ‘tent pads’ are worth checking out before you set up camp – is it in the shape of a bowl? if so, you might be in trouble. Next time, I’m bringing a small pointy spade to dig drainage canals if possible.
Frontenac is a great park for camping, even better for backpacking on the many wonderful trails. We’ll be back next year for sure.
