Thursday, May 26, 2011

Campground Reveiw: Turkey Point

I've been camping at Turkey Point (Ontario) since I was 9 or 10 years old I think. We went every long weekend, every summer, for years. Eventually we all go older and stopped going regularly, but have recently been back a couple times. When I was a child, our family preferred site #47, which I still like, but now we tend to book sites nearer to sites with services as we camp next to my parents, and their trailer. I'll get to individual site reviews eventually, but wanted to comment on the campground as a whole ...and some of the changes over the past 20 years! A new section called 'Fin & Feather' is a nice addition and less busy feeling than the other sections are now. There is no water at this park -- not a big deal for me, but hard on my husband who likes to swim in the lake each morning while camping. The beach is a drive into town away, and not worth the effort just to go for a quick swim. This is a great park for young kids ... bikes are allowed on the trails, and the playground in Walkingstick Woods is big with lots of room to run & climb. Some of the equipment is updated, but a few oldies from my childhood are still lingering. There used to be great evening programs, and these seem to have been replaced with 'movie night'. Not my thing, when I'm camping, I don't really want to sit at a picnic table & watch Disney movies while getting eaten by mosquitos ... I miss Elaine (the park staff that led programs when I was young) and the great campfire/history/campy-filmstrip-programs that we attended in the evenings. Maybe I'm just getting old though, as the one Disney movie we attended did have quite a few families & kids there to watch! This campground does have showers, flush toilets & real sinks at the comfort stations, and also has outhouse style toilets placed around the park if you don't want to walk to the centrally located comfort stations. They've always been clean, though they look a bit tired & 'vintage'. The park staff are quick to act on noise/alcohol violations if you have problems with any of the other campers, and while I don't like to see people evicted, it's nice to know that camping doesn't have to mean putting up with noisy & rude neighbours. As a family, my husband, kids & I will probably prefer to head further away & get to lakes for both swimming & canoeing, but for beginning & end of season trips when the lakes are cold, Turkey Point is great. The park is a reasonable distance for my parents & sister as well, so it's a good place to meet for a trip with them. It's only 80 min or so from home, so the drive isn't bad -- for us, it's all back roads with no traffic.

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