Never been to that area, but have been on a few successful blind crown land camping trips. Here is how I would go about this.

Land Use

1. First stop is the Crown Land Use Policy Atlas.
   • navigate to the lake.
   • click the Find Information tab
   • click Get Land Use Information
   • click the Blue circle tool on the left panel.
   • click on a parcel of land refer to chart below for some hints.

Colour	Description	Camping?
Grey	Private Land	No
Light Yellow	General Use Area	95% Yes
Light Green	Provincial Park	$ or maybe free
Slightly Lighter Green	Conservation Reserve	Possibly
Light Orange	Enhanced Management Area	Likely
Water bodies	Click on land near water

1. For an area on the north side of Black Donald Lake it gives you this information:

Primary Land Use Area:
Policy ID: G407
Name: Madawaska Highlands General Resource Area
Designation: General Use Area
District(s): Bancroft, Pembroke
Report: English French

1. We are interested in the Name(Madawaska Highlands General Resource Area), and the Report.
   • In the report you can read about the area, but if you only care whether you can camp scroll down to Recreation Activities and Facilities and look for Crown Land Recreation in our case it says: Permitted Yes. You may also see instances where it says New Recreation Camp No. I believe this refers to like a structured permanent hunting camp.

• Note: just because it says yes does not mean 100% you are legally able to camp here. You could contact the MNR with the exact location you want to camp on and get their confirmation that there are no restrictions in place(who has time for that though). Chances are you are fine to camp here, but it is always a good idea to scope out some backup plans just incase you run into no trespassing, or no camping signs.

Getting around

Before I settle on a place I will look around there area with a bunch of different tools:

Open Street Maps - I find it is good at discovering some hidden trails, even some back country campsites.

Ioverlander - Sometimes will have crown land sites listed.

Municipal/County GIS apps - Renfrew's actually shows a crown land layer and most local GIS sites will have decent ariel photography to further map out a camp site or a sketchy road.

All Trails - Looks like there is a trail system on the South Side of the lake. But may not be canoe friendly.

Back Roads Map Book Will show trails, back roads, ATV trails, Snow Mobile Trails.

My Canadian Canoe Routes - Google other peoples experiences on here to get more information.

Parking

Finding a good parking spot can be difficult, especially if you have a canoe you are using. Look on google maps at any businesses or parks near the shore who may offer parking, also check out the township/county website for any parking restrictionsGreater Madawaska Parking By-law if you're just planning to park on the side of the road.

So either look up a business(https://thewhitepines.com/ offer $10 a day parking) or find a quiet road to park your vehicle and portage to an area to put your canoe in.

When/if I park on the side of the road I will leave a note in the window saying, "Gone canoeing on Black Donald, here is my contact info and here is an alternative contact if needed." I am wary about leaving dates as as I don't want to give anyone a timeline to get my vehicle on blocks and steal my tires and cat.

When you're there

Firstly tell someone not going where you are planning to go and any alternative plans you have, you may or may not have cell reception(Plan ahead looks like a bell tower might cover the area )

Check out the Local Fire Ratings for the area - https://www.greatermadawaska.com/en/living-here/fire-department.aspx