Bass Lake Provincial

Have you ever thought to yourself..."Man I'm tired of planning all the little details. Let's just wing it and go with the flow..it'll all work out"?

We had one weekend left of camping before arriving at our final destination, Charleston Lake Provincial Park for 12 days of camping with family. During our planning phase we had decided that for this weekend we would just drive along our route and find some fun or cute places to camp along the way. We could watch for signs or talk to the locals...there'd be so many options! Turns out...we never realized it was the long weekend. #fail

After realizing it was the long weekend, we knew we had to try to actually book something to make sure we had a home for the weekend. We had an Adventure Eco Tour planned for the Saturday in a town a few hours from our destination so we wanted to book something near that location. There were about six or so provincial parks in the area that could have worked and a handful of private campgrounds as a back up option.

We phoned the first campground, asking for availability for the entire weekend and with a bit of giggle/sound of amusement, they professionally responded with "Um, no sorry. We are booked solid." It was then I realized how silly we sounded trying to book a campsite for a long weekend the day of. I called the second park and received the exact same response. We called all the other provincial parks and most of the private campgrounds and EVERY single park was booked solid for the entire weekend EXCEPT for Bass Lake Provincial Park which had availability for Thursday and Friday night only. We had no idea where this park was, but we knew it was a home for two nights..we could stay there and figure something else out for the next two.

We arrived at the park late...around 9 PM when the sun had already set. We checked in at the office and trying not to sound too desperate, we politely asked the parks employee if there was anything available for the rest of the weekend. In a quiet/almost hushed tone she told us that tomorrow morning there would be two sites opening up that would be available for the entire weekend. She also informed us that we needed to be there early as there were only two and she already knew of a handful of people coming in to try to reserve them. As soon as she told us this, we immediately made the game plan to be up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning and at the park office, lined up, for 5:30.

After this we found our campsite. Since it was so late, we were stuck using our headlamps and the truck lights which ended up working great. Trying to not wake up the neighbors and not hurt ourselves in the process, we eventually had the tent set up. We had a nice little fire and a place to call home...at least for a bit.

5:00 a.m. and the alarm is ringing. We jump out of bed. Mom grabs her book, headlamp, chair and off she goes to the office to line up. I roll over and sleep in until 12...just kidding. I put on the coffee and tea and filled up our thermoses and Charlie and I went to meet grandma at the office. It's 5:30 a.m. and there is absolutely no one lined up except for us..and we're sitting in the dark. Eventually six thirty rolls around and another car pulls up. I quickly scramble out of the truck, and go sit in my lawn chair right in front of the office. The man in the car gives a little chuckle and politely laughs saying he figured he would have been first but oh well. We make awkward small talk until the third person arrives. This guy is a little surprised (and clearly bothered) to already see 3 others waiting in line. We all sit down and make polite small talk. Over the next half hour two other groups arrive and we are all waiting for the 2 available sites left. The office eventually opens and in we all go. Mom and I ended up getting the site we wanted out of the 2 choices (woo!!), the second guy ended up getting the second available site and somehow the third guy lucked out and got his too! Unfortunately the two groups behind us were given a list of private campgrounds in the area that they could try for. We realized how lucky we were and made a mental note to never again wing it when camping on a long weekend.

We found our new site, set up camp and were thankful to have a home for the entire weekend. The next day we were off to our Adventure Eco Tour in the town of Blue Mountains.Read more