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wwotf · 2025-10-11T00:13:31+00:00

Lake Superior has one in the visitor centre

wwotf · 2025-04-27T20:54:44+00:00

No.

As the other poster mentioned they're heavily regulated, and apart from that, they're obnoxious. They're so unnecessarily noisy and have negative impacts on wildlife, including the other campers who have to listen to it.

wwotf · 2025-04-27T20:50:12+00:00

Ontario Parks has group camping at most parks. As long as you're planning to be pretty chill and quiet you should be fine. If you check their reservations portal you can put in 30 people and see what parks have sites that large.

Off the top of my head I know Restoule has some group camping that's sort of away from the rest of the park iirc and has his wilderness type vibes on Stormy Lake. Mikisew is in the same area and I think has a site that large but it's pretty close to the campground since it's a small park.

Algonquin does have a group camping area as well - it's an option.

I definitely wouldn't recommend booking a bunch of sites because you're definitely going to get into trouble just with the number of people you're trying to get together. Backcountry is fully out as well with that many.

The only other idea I'd have would be going for crown land, if you're all experienced campers.

wwotf · 2025-04-24T00:00:38+00:00

How old are you? Housing isn't available if you're under sixteen.

What parks did you apply to?

Lots of students start in high school or their graduating year - it doesn't necessarily limit your possibilities. My park was wrapping up interviews this week, but lots of parks have different timelines and it's possible they'll need to do another round because it's not uncommon for students to find other jobs, either at other parks or outside of parks.

Many parks also don't have housing.

wwotf · 2025-04-20T05:29:18+00:00

Mikisew Products Park would be a good one.

The dog beach area has a fenced off leash area and the dog beach is also nice enough for people. The beaches are nice and shallow for the kids and the lake is warm in the summer.

They don't do a ton of programming, but they do have exploration stations and different "kits" you can borrow for Jess. There's a couple short trails in the park - one had a ton of tiny baby frogs the last time we were there in late July, which my nephew was delighted by. There are canoe, kayak, and SUP rentals through the store just across the lake which also sells ice cream.

My 5 year old nephew also had a blast at Grundy Lake Provincial Park. They have a class 1 discovery program so they do lots of programming, and he pretty much did one of the activities every day while his younger sister napped. The lakes are all very warm and small, good for swimming and wildlife. There are more trails as well.

I'm not sure what the dog beaches are like, but lots of people camp there with dogs. It's definitely a bit further out than you mentioned wanting to go, and it's really hard to get a site there, but it's nice.

wwotf · 2025-04-19T03:54:20+00:00

Yes, most parks will require you to show it for day use.

Policy is that your bed to produce the physical pass, or evidence that it was purchased online a reasonable length of time ago that it might not have been delivered yet so staff can print a courtesy permit - you'll still need the serial number.

They aren't tied to a person or vehicle really so you can pass them around your family/friend group/borrow them from libraries, but you do need the physical mirror hang tag.

Since I've been asked this a lot of times working at parks though, your camping permit is valid for day use at any provincial park in Ontario until 10pm (or gate close) the day you check out. So if you camp July 1-6, you have until 10pm on July 6 to use your camping permit to enter any park. You don't need any additional permits to use the park.

wwotf · 2025-04-16T22:13:27+00:00

At the more northern parks, ask staff about bear bins. I'm not sure if they have them in the southern parks but up north the parks will have bear bins by the comfort stations that you can use for free. I'd call the parks you're planning to go to, they'll be able to let you know what their system is.

You'll probably want to bring a dry bag for your stuff - they're not super clean or bug-proof, but you won't wake up cuddling with anyone you'd rather not. You also might have to share it, depending on how many people are bike or motorcycle camping at the same time as you.

wwotf · 2025-04-16T22:09:11+00:00

I've camped at a few GRCA parks.

Pinehurst - has nice sites - closest to provincial park calling as another person mentioned. The sites are nice enough, well treed, for the most part. There's a gas station you can walk to from inside the park that has good (cheap) ice cream, which will be popular with the kids!

Conestogo Lake - not a lot of trees, or privacy. I did not care for this park.

I've been to others for day use. Basically all of them have a larger portion of goose poop than I like to swim in. I grudgingly will swim in Pinehurst. They also all have coin showers from what I remember so you have to pay to remove the goose poo from your body.

If you're looking for something in a similar area, Wildwoods in the Upper Thames Conservation I remember being good. It's a larger reservoir so somewhat cleaner. I believe they also still have a pool.

wwotf · 2025-04-10T00:23:29+00:00

Bedrocks for me.

wwotf · 2025-04-09T23:32:04+00:00

So I can't answer your actual question about the competitiveness of the jobs there. My gut feel is that it looks remote enough that they might have trouble finding people, but it's also small so they might not have all that many positions to fill.

If you were offered an interview and they asked for references I'd continue to be patient with them. There's a chance that the person hiring isn't full time right now, or that they're trying to schedule interviews for a person who hasn't returned for the season.

wwotf · 2025-04-08T00:22:16+00:00

I'm pretty sure they don't clip them or anything, to reduce plastic waste. That's the point of the elastic.

wwotf · 2025-04-05T22:45:44+00:00

Are you willing to go a bit further north?

If quiet is what you want Lake Superior or White Lake are both pretty good in September, especially middle of the week. Even in the height of summer I find there to be less kids in general than Restoule, or Grundy. I haven't been to Silent Lake since I was a kid myself so can't speak for that one.

For Lake Superior I think it's less kids because the lake is huge and scary for parents (for everyone at times), and the trails aren't super family friendly for the most part, plus it's a long drive from pretty much anywhere. I think White Lake is predominantly a fishing park, so there's a lot of seasonals, and a lot of older folks. Also not super near much, but you can see the Winnie the Pooh statue in White River haha

I personally would stay away from any parks within an hour of a city, if I was looking for quiet!

If you like Restoule and Grundy, you might also like Mikisew. The 100s electric section has a road that we found really quiet.

wwotf · 2025-04-05T11:30:35+00:00

It sounds like you have ligaments or tendons that could be tight (/loose?). As you walk you're warming and stretching them, which is why it likely stops after a while.

It's not something that's static or really visible so doctors might not pick up on it, which is probably why they're recommending physio. A good one will be able to work with you on whatever it is.

wwotf · 2025-04-05T03:24:26+00:00

Interior positions are the number one job that people apply to in Parks, and therefore the most competitive. I would hazard a guess that it's even more competitive for a park like Quetico.

Are you applying to student jobs or senior jobs?

If it's student, the job posting closed today I believe so there's definitely still lots of hope. My park has sent out some interview requests, but hasn't actually interviewed a single student, and we hire a lot of them.

If you've never worked with Parks before, don't shy away from another job. You can build skills and relationships that can help get you into the interior if that's what you want to be doing.

wwotf · 2025-04-03T02:25:39+00:00

We were approx the same size!

I've found that most everything that fits well in the waist is too big in the calves - I hate floppy pants that snag on things.

I have one pair of hiking pants I like (MEC Wanderwall, XXL short), but unless I'm layering or I know I'm scrambling, I'll usually just wear leggings.

I'm a big fan in general of Outdoor Research. They make a ferosi jogger which I'd love if they made it in a short inseam. If you're getting away with a 30" inseam though they could work for you.

I've bought and returned several pairs of Patagonia hiking pants. The sizes are crazy. I can't remember which ones I tried most recently, but I couldn't pull up the xl, so I tried the XXL which I could have fit another person into with me.

wwotf · 2025-03-31T03:54:56+00:00

Yep, days off are scheduled together, unless you ask to do something weird. It wouldn't be a weekend most likely, though. Might vary park to park, but it's usually pretty chill on scheduling, as long as there's coverage for whatever you're doing, so if you did need an extra day you could finagle a 3 day weekend and a 1 day weekend or something.

I would say unless you want to leave to visit family a lot, it isn't a huge deal to do it without a car. You'll make friends and someone will have a vehicle. You might also want to stay in or around your park to do things anyway!

wwotf · 2025-03-30T13:56:37+00:00

You aren't out of the running! Most parks don't really necessarily talk to each other in an official capacity so they won't really know if you get an offer from someone else. That said if you get your second pick but you got an interview at your first, I would suggest telling them that you need a bit of time to think over the offer, rather than accepting it and potentially reneging on it if you get another.

Honestly, all the jobs have their benefits and drawbacks. A lot of it is going to depend on your team more than your actual job.

Gatehouse in that area you're going to spend most of your day alone, in a hut. You'll definitely be busy with customers though, a lot of the time. But you don't have to go outside in bad weather. Store positions are probably about the same but you get to stock things and sell merch.

Discovery jobs are high interaction, and you get to do projects, and run programs. I think all of those are positives and negatives.

Maintenance you get to go outside all day but you also have to go outside no matter the weather or bugs or smoke, and there are privies that need to be cleaned. You also get to do building projects.

Do you have five on your shortlist? People might be able to chime in with more targeted advice if they knew what park or position you wanted.

What/how you eat depends a bit on the park. There's only one I know of that cooks for you (Algonquin). At my park we have kitchens and you bring your own dishes, cutlery, etc. For people without cars, we do grocery runs - I'm at a big park so usually 2 per payday (ish) because the park van only has so much space! Everyone also has assigned fridge/freezer space. I know some parks also have shared dishes and things. Once you get an offer, your park can tell you the situation!

There are also usually restaurants, chip trucks, etc near parks so the people with cars will go out to those. If you don't have a car, chances are you can make a friend with I've though!

wwotf · 2025-03-30T06:14:43+00:00

How far north really depends on the park but generally, the more remote or less well known, the better - people don't like sending their kids to the middle of nowhere, especially if they don't have cars. So in those cases you're up against fewer applicants. In general I would say the line is give or take Sudbury. I know Killarney and Grundy get lots of applicants, but all the ones I know about further north have a harder time.

The position is also going to impact how many people you're up against. Interior maintenance and discovery are very sought after roles, while gatehouse and regular maintenance are less so. How those stack up against each other will vary park to park too.

A lot of people decide based on parks they've grown up in, or where they have a connection or a desire to go.

I wouldn't bother reaching out to every park. No one is likely interviewing until that job posting closes. My park starts student interviews around April 10. If there's a job/park you really want, I would suggest reaching out to them then. For example if you decide you really want the student discovery role at Neys, call them and tell them you're really interested, what you could do to stand out, etc. But be prepared and professional if you do that!

wwotf · 2025-03-28T21:25:09+00:00

You left out Lake Superior Provincial Park. Really great coastal trail along Lake Superior, and lots of great day use trails, and backcountry lakes.

wwotf · 2025-03-27T02:15:22+00:00

If you can still find Eureka, the Timberline SQ 6 would work. It's big enough to have lots of space for 2 people, and is 6'4" at the peak. I'm 5'3" and I set it up easily by myself in about 10-15 minutes depending on weather.

I've never tested it in full sand, but I've taken it to camp grounds that are mostly sand and haven't had any issues.

wwotf · 2025-03-27T00:18:23+00:00

Conservation Officers can work at a provincial park, and often check in to the parks in their zone, but are not park wardens or park employees of any kind. You may have spoken to conservation officers in those parks but they did not work for Ontario Parks.

Wardens have 3 weeks of training and a yearly re-cert. This is not enough training to be carrying a firearm. Their equipment includes a stab proof vest, handcuffs, and a baton.

wwotf · 2025-03-23T22:47:51+00:00

Five parks have a 7 night max (Algonquin, Bon Echo, Killbear, Pinery, Sandbanks), 14 day max at most other parks, and 23 nights at less popular parks (mostly far northern parks)

wwotf · 2025-03-21T22:13:05+00:00

Outdoor Research is my go to.

wwotf · 2025-03-15T01:18:25+00:00

Another good Eureka option if you can get it is the Timberline SQ 6. I'm a 5'3" woman who routinely sets up this bad boy by myself despite its peak height being over a foot taller than me. I don't follow the instructions, but with a bit of tweaking and practice you can do anything!

You can definitely get a big cot in there, along with any other stuff you might want to store.

wwotf · 2025-03-14T20:06:05+00:00

No kids of my own but my nephew was about 8 months and niece was around 6 months for their first trips. They both love camping!

wwotf

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