First stop on our 365 days of travel is a familiar place, not too far from home. Situated on the western shoreline of my home province, Ontario. We went to The Pinery! No One: Let’s Camp in Ontario at The Beginning of April
Us:
Pinery Provincial Park is a camping spot loved by many locals. With its vast sandy beach off Lake Huron, you can often find roaring waves to jump and play in (like our humble Ontarian version of the ocean). The lakes turquoise colour can be seen until the water meets the sky. The Pinery also has many trails, an ice cream shop, large camp store for provisions, and too many camping circles for me to count.
Sounds great, right? It is, and it is hard to find an open space to pitch a tent once camping season begins. That’s why we thought we would be pioneers and see what the park is like off season. We snatched up a beautiful site (one that was not available last visit but that I noted in my phone for next time we booked at The Pinery) when we saw the riverside loop was open in April.
Site 778 – Riverside
A large sandy lot, with plenty of room for a trailer and or tenting. Most importantly, great views of the river from every spot and a fire-pit near the water so you can enjoy those views. It had a large picnic table and electric hook up.
Camping in April
We rolled into the park later in the evening. The first thing we noticed was no one was at the gate. We opened our email with all the details and followed signs through the park. We had been here before so we had some idea of where things were.
The second thing we noticed as we navigated the swirly roads that were framed with tall pines –there was no one in the park. No one else we noticed on the dark drive to our campsite. This was somewhat of an eery feeling, but we couldn’t turn back now. We unhooked our trailer with the flashlights on our cellphones and the beams of light coming from the headlights. If you have ever set up camp in the dark, you know what I’m talking ‘bout. We climbed in our beds and would wait until morning to see the landscape and set up the rest.
In the morning we noticed there were indeed a handful of people with sites, mostly heavy tents with wood stoves or larger campers.
Due to us camping during off-season, the riverside loop was the only one available for booking. The smaller washrooms (with flush toilets) closer to our site, were not open, and so we had a longer trek to the main restroom building (bout a 5 min. walk). The stations available to fetch fresh water were also not open, so we brought our own supply. The park store, ice cream, and any rentals were also all closed. We did see someone working the next morning as we checked in at the gate and had an occasional ranger truck drive by our site.
Over our 10 days stay it was cool, with temperatures ranging from 0’C overnight to 11’C midday. We mostly wore heavy coats and toques, and were so happy to have a fresh brewed cup of coffee in hand to keep our fingers warm. We had a couple lovely days where sweaters were all that was needed, and one morning that we woke up with snow and thought to ourselves, “oh no what have we done”.
Our Set Up
Out tiny trailer has a small electric heater inside, that kept us warm and toasty on the cool nights. We have a 10’x10’ pop up tent with a custom heavy canopy that is 100% waterproof, and we have sourced and added screened sides. We are travelling with chairs and minimal kitchen gear. Overall, we had everything we needed, but have since looked to pick up some solid sides to our pop up tent to keep out water on really dreary days.
To Sum Things Up
Many people have wondered why we started our big trip somewhere so close to home. With the rental of our home, our new tenants (my brother and sister-in-law) were needing access to our home on the agreed upon date of the 1st. In addition, for those who are not familiar with my story (making a note that I should post that here in my blog sometime soon) I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019. Although my year-long treatment has come to an end, I am still bound to the hospital for check-ups and ongoing minimal medications and treatment. The Pinery was a perfect place for our first experience away from home and allowed me to make my appointment at the cancer center on April 12th.
I think we will always remember our time here, as we experienced the initial excitement of it all, in a beautiful setting, with just ourselves to reply on. We brought our conceptualized small space to life with cubbies full of clothes, cupboards full of kitchenware, and most importantly –us. The Pinery was so quiet except for the noise of Aaron brewing his coffee in the am, and the birds flying by. We sat under our trailer awning one evening just listening to the rain hit the trees and watched as a mist came off the river. Despite being a bit chillier, it was so very peaceful and memorable to us as our very first stop on our big adventure.
The Pinery Provincial Park on Lake Huron {April 2022}
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