Thank you for these wonderful video's , I used to drool over the park"s own pictures & say "I want to go there" ,& then face an ordeal finding where these places were . Now no problem..
I wish there was a fine for a NO SHOW. We were at Lake of Two Rivers last September. The park was less than 30% full. The park Ranger said the park was fully booked, he said people may have been scared by the cool weather, not us. Great video, thanks for the update.
If people don't bother to cancel and just don't show up, they should be charged the full fee. There has to be some kind of deterrent to discourage people from abusing the system.
@@cmarion1544 When you book on line you are prepaying the site, so you do pay the full cost of the site if you don't cancel. I had a family emergency last year the day we were suppose to leave to go camping, we did not get any refund on the site.
Thanks so much for the tip about using CampNab - I just got a text from them and RAN to my desk to book an awesome waterfront site at Presqu’ile for 8 nights in July!! I wish we could all just book normally without the madness of having to rely on services like CampNab, but after 2 years of booking only the dregs of campsites I’m happy with the result 🇨🇦
We had a miracle this morning. After weeks of trying to book our dream site. We finally had luck. The site was down this morning March 8 before 7am. My wife tried phoning in and got through and was was able to book the site. It was a lot of luck and perseverance! Best luck to all.
I personally think booking an entire month because you don’t know your vacation schedule sounds no different than the ‘bad’ reason for hogging sites. All in all, great tips though!
I am so glad about the generator filter. We had 2 bad camping experiences with larger RVs in a non-electrical spot then turn on their generator every night after dinner. UGH!! Glad Ontario Parks made this option.
Yes, it's awful when you're trying to enjoy nature and a loud generator is running for hours. In 11 years of trailer camping we've only used a generator twice and we were so extra cautious to try not to impact anyone around us. We would wait for the middle of the day when the people around us were gone hiking or to the beach so we could run it for a short time to charge up the trailer battery. We hate using it.
I love, love these videos! So many people do not know how to navigate the site and get frustrated. It was very clear and concise explanation. (Love the new opening sequence too!)
We really enjoy your channel , you're great people. We just saw you on canoehound stream show , really enjoyed the conversations. When your daughter chimed in, we couldn't stop laughing. We're getting used to not camping with our now adult children too. Maybe someday they'll start camping with us and their young families again. Fingers crossed. Keep doing what your doing, it's great
Loved to watch this video. Great tips. Thanks. We are die hard campers like you for years and years. Another good tip is to book campsites during the week if possible . We have 1 booked for May and 2 in June bc of this . Last year we tried The Grand River Conservation Area Campgrounds and their reservation System is far superior to Ontario PParks. Everyone gets put in the Que and literally you see the countdown allowing you to visit other websites during this countdown. But Provincial Parks are so incredibly beautiful !!
Thanks for watching. National Parks do it the same way. When we booked Bruce Peninsula we were in the que at about 1,300 and our friends were in the 19,000 range. We both got sites on the dates we wanted. We want to do one GRCA park this summer but they are updating their reservation system and they don't know when it will be available to start making reservations. We'll just have to wait and see. Happy camping!
What a great video!! Thanks so much for all the great details and ideas. Personally love the no generator option people have been asking for several years. I've always camped far enough from RV sites I didn't need to worry but I've hear many people complain because they didn't know the park set up. Anywho.. Fanatic info, thanks!
Glad it was helpful! We almost always camp hooked up to electricity. Only twice were we in a park without electricity for a period of time that we had to run the generator. I hated running it and did everything in my power to dampen the noise and use it as little as possible.
Super video for understanding a somewhat complicated ssystem. Your tips are bang on and like the review of the new changes to the booking system. Well done, enjoy watching your videos.
I logged in 7:30am this morning for the bruce peninsula reservation launch. By 8am opening, there were 6000 people ahead of me. When it got to my turn 15 minutes later, there were nothing left on my ideal dates. Came back from dropping kids to school, lucky enough to get a site, although it is a bit expose, but I got in on the dates I want. It was my frist time booking on the opening day, it is a fun and intense experience. I was expecting a huge line, but not 6000..... look luck everyone.
Yeah, the National Park reservation system is very different than the provincial park system. I think I prefer it. You log on and then wait your turn. You're turn will eventually come then you can take a few minutes to decide what you want to do. It's better than hitting the button at 7:00 a.m. for a site and not getting it, then seeing that all the sites are gone.
You guys rock. I have already seen most of your RUclips vids. My wife loves them too. This one is timely and very informative. Thanks and keep up rocking 😍
Hey Coles, great videos! So informative, thanks so much for making them! Just throwing out a few video ideas/requests for ya.... I love the outdoors but get attacked by mosquitoes (over 70 bites, yes I counted them, in one night at a campfire using DEET!) So, maybe a bug survival video, and maybe a Q and A for us fans?? Pick your favourite top ten fan questions? Thanks so much Ben and Cheryl we appreciate you! 😁
I take Reactine most days of the year bc of allergies to all sorts of stuff. I rarely get a bit and I live in the country. Either they don't like me or it's the allergy medicine. If I do get one, it's minor as the antihistamine reduces the reaction. Just a thought...
I'm with the fan option. A box fan set far enough away to push air over most of you. I'm type O neg and they love me. The air flow seems to not only confuse them but they also are very weak fliers and have troubles making it to you. Deet helps but it's not perfect. We tend to camp in August specifically because of the bugs. This year I spent $50 on some light fishing pants because of the biting flies while fishing. Boat fishing seems to attract these little biting SOB's that love to take a large chunk of your ankle when you least expect it. However for what little gratification it's worth, they couldn't care what blood type you are. Those bastages can't seem to zero in well when you are on shore too. FWIW
This is so helpful! Thank you so much! Those new updates look fantastic as well. I have been on the Ontario Parks website a couple of times over the past two weeks but never noticed the updates. Thanks for pointing those out!
Hello Germany! Amazing that you found our little channel. We have a dutch oven that we use. Most often we bake black forest cake or apple crumble in it for our friends. Sometimes we use it for cooking a roast.
I really appreciate all your videos! This one is great too! I'm curious why you size up your trailer size when looking for a site? This might be obvious (larger sites?) but I don't want to guess.
That's a good question. I'm not sure why I did that in the video because usually we put "up to 25 feet" to have more options of sites. Our trailer model is a 254DSX which means the livable space is 25.4 feet but the trailer is actually just over 30 feet from hitch to rear bumper. When we get all the hits back for sites filtered for up to 25 feet we'll often pick one for up to 32 feet to make sure we actually do fit. We haven't really had any issues in a site for up to 25 feet though.
Great information and loved your presentation - easy to follow and understand! Also campnab sounds amazing. We are heading to the Yukon this summer and this will be helpful.
I like how the National Parks do reservations. Be ready on February 5th for 8am. Try to make a reservation at about 7:50 and they may give you a numbered spot in line for making reservations. When your number comes up you can book for whenever you want in the season. There is a good chance you can get in for that weekend. Good luck!
BTW, Im a new subscriber and I love your contents, a lot of useful information. I dont know why it took so long for the algorithm to reconmand the channel.
When are you going to release your Camping 2022 destinations? I am excited and curious to discover. Hoping some of the northern parks are on the list this year. We got engaged at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park in 1997, and spent lots of time at Sleeping Giant PP. I really want to try the Lake Superior provincial park also.
Very soon! We hope to share it with everyone sometime in the middle of April. You'll be pleased with our northern parks list. It's going to be an exciting year!
Thanks for the great tips! I just booked another trip this morning to Murphy's Point in June using Cheryl's tips with the time on the web page. We noticed you used Killbear as an example. Do you guys have a video for that park? My daughter was hoping to see a preview before we go on May 2-4. She is my co-planner and organizer. She's 11 ;) Thanks again for helping us get excited about the season.
We love Killbear but haven't done a video on it yet. We hope to be going there in July. Make sure you go to the jumping rocks. The kids love it. However, if your daughter wants a sneak peak at Killbear, I did a short video in 2017. It isn't posted on our channel due to some obvious copywrite issues with the music and some questionable drone footage ;) ruclips.net/video/pxR0MYMfZ0g/видео.html
We camped when our kids were young, now, we're planning a week with our grandchildren/July 2023. Is there anything we should know about the "RV owner who will be delivering the RV to our site? Thank You
The Notification system is quite the challenge. I've received a ton of emails saying that there was a site that matched my criteria and launched the reservation site within 2 mins and have yet to actually see a site available. Very frustrating.
Thanks for the update on the notification system. We were concerned about how it would actually work. Your experience is pretty much how we thought it would work. Everyone gets the email at the same time and it's a race to get on the website and grab it first. It gives a lot of people some false hope. I hope you get some good luck and manage to grab some sites. Happy camping!
I’am planning a camping trip in Ontario Provincial Parks this summer, do I need a Provincial camping pass, like the Discovery Pass for National Parks. Thanks for the video, very helpfull.
There is no Ontario Provincial Parks camping pass. When you camp at any Ontario Provincial Park you pay a nightly rate and that includes up to 6 people.
I wish the provincial sites operated like the parks out east. Certain day, you can book for everything at the park so not everyone is looking at the same day at the same time.
Yes, we like how the National Parks do it. They announce a day that each park is open for reservations then everyone calls in and gets put in a que. When it's your time, you pick all the dates you want for that park. That way no one is overbooking and cancelling. It's a lot less stressful.
Hey Coles family! I love your videos, I really found a passion for camping this passed summer and watching your video for Cyprus lake really helped me in knowing what to expect going there for my first time camping and i even booked at pog lake in september based off of your video on it. (loved both) Are you two planning on going to killarney this summer? im planning to go sometime between july and august and would really love a Camping with the Coles review on the park. Thanks !
We're so glad you found your passion for camping and that our videos helped you. We haven't finalized our plans for this summer so Killarney may still fit in somewhere. Killarney has no electrical hook-ups so it's similar to Cyprus Lake that way. Have a great time there, we've only heard good things. Happy camping!
Thanks for the tips! I am really hoping to get into Bon Echo this year, my stay last year was cancelled because of the lock down. And fingers crossed that my trailer arrives! I really do not want to tent camp anymore LOL! Can't wait to see where you end up this year!
When selecting your trailer size- Do you use your trailers floor size? Or your trailers hitch to bumper size? For example we have a Outback 244UBH (so this falls under 25ft) but it’s over if we use our hitch to bumper size. Thanks! Love your videos
Our trailer is a 254DSX so the floor size is 25ft 4inches, but the total length is about 30ft from hitch to bumper. We usually look for a site rated up to 25ft and we don't have a problem. Preferably we would like a site up to 32ft but we haven't had an issue with using up to 25ft.
Thank you so much! Many years ago, we went backcountry camping in Nova Scotia regularly. Since we retired to Ontario over ten years ago, we have parted with our ultralight gear, and haven't been in any of the provincial parks. This year want to at least get back to car camping, but with a canvas tent, not a trailer. We can go non-electric. We have a solar power pack but not a noisy generator. Is the competition still high for non-electric tent sites?
Those are all great tips folks, thanks. My problem when booking online is never being able to be quick enough with the Reserve button! I have the system timer on right in front of me and I'm ready to click Reserve on the proper day 5 months in advance and right at the stroke of 7am but I always get a message saying the date is no longer available. Someone obviously has a quicker clicker than me or perhaps I should be clicking half way between 6:59.59seconds and 7:00.00. I'm a widower and only have one account so I guess that doesn't help either Lol. Any thoughts? :)
Sounds like you're doing everything right but so are a lot of other people. If a bunch of people click at exactly 7 am the reservation system has to randomly pick one. We miss a lot of campsites at 7 am. Now it's time to wait for cancellations and hopefully get your site. Good luck!
You have to be fairly flexible with your dates. Most of the group we hang with are retired so we can get weekday bookings where-as many people can only do weekend.
For May, June and July we try to stay as south as possible to avoid the bugs as much as possible. August, Sept, Oct is when we normally do the more northern parks like Algonquin, Killbear, Arrowhead etc. We went to Arrowhead on the 3rd week of July and were eaten alive by deer flies and horseflies. We didn't even worry about the plentiful mosquitoes because they were the least of the bug problem. The Weather Network has a bug report as part of it's forecast. This is a link to the current forecast to Canisbay Lake in Algonqin Park. If you scroll to the bottom you'll see the bug report. www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/forecasts/camping/ontario/canisbay-lake-algonquin-provincial-park
Thank you for your video, and related reviews, all awesome! BTW, I recently tried to book an Ontario provincial camp site. I got up “early” to be prepared for the 7am opening. Logged in, picked a few camp sites just in case, had all the relevant info ready started clicking the reserve button a minute before the start… only to be told 7:02 that “those dates are unavailable” Interestingly, all the others I had chosen were also “booked” for the exact dates (I had picked a mid week departure. Strange) When I called the operator, I was told that there were numerous people just like me trying to do the same thing. Seems like I need a faster internet connection, or better mouse…Something seems fishy here, seems that some folks are possibly jobbing” the system? Anyway on a happy note I was able to find another site, but found the process suspiciously frustrating.
I know that the system messes up sometimes. We tried reserving at 7:00 am and received the message that it is not available until (that exact date) at 7:00 am. We kept trying and it continued with the same message even though we were after 7am on that date. Finally around 7:20 am it worked. So the computer system on the park end messes up. If in your case you just got the message that the site is unavailable, that means that someone else got it. It could be 20 people doing exactly what you're doing at exactly 7:00:00 am and the computer has to pick just one. The others all lose out even though they did everything right. That happens more often than not for us. It can be frustrating but the campsites are in high demand and this is the only system they have so we have to live with it. Happy camping!
@@CampingwiththeColes Thank you for your timely reply. Agreed, its at times a competitive process. My love for camping will always exceed the challenges! Just frustrating at times...
Great videos. Thank you. We had been very successful with the previous booking system. This new one is confusing us and we are having a hard time get any campsite at 7:00, 5 months in advance. For campsites that are available, you can select the dates and have it in the cart and ready to reserve but for campsites that are not yet available, we cannot do add them to the cart. What is your trick?
Thanks for watching. I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly. You can't have any campsite in your cart until it is available. If it's available starting today at 7 am it will show green before 7 am. Prior to 7 am you click on that site so that the reserve button is showing. If you click on it before 7 am it will say that the site is not able to be reserved until todays date at 7 am. So, at 7 am you click the reserve button. If you are successful it will put it in your cart so that you can complete the process and checkout. If you're not successful it will tell you that the site is not available for the date you picked. We are very often not successful getting a site at 7am. Lots of people are trying for the same site at the exact same time and only one person can get it. That's when we move on and try something else like looking for another site or another park or we wait until cancellations start appearing a month later. It's a tough process because so many people are tying to reserve so few spots. Good luck!
Whenever I have tried just prior to 7am to have my login done, site and dates all ready, and I’m set to simply click on Reserve at the stroke of 7:00, what seems to happen is the Ont Parks System does a Refresh at 7:00 sharp, and my selections are gone. I then have to take a couple of minutes to again select park, site, dates, etc. all over again, and of course I’m then far too late to reserve a site for that morning. Does the Res system prevent us being all ready with selections prior to 7:00 so we can all just hit Reserve, or do you think I’m doing something wrong?
I'm thinking you must be doing something wrong. Sign in, choose your park, dates, equipment size, filters such as electric/non-electric and hit the search button. It then takes you to a map of the park. Click on a green (available site), then click the reserve button. If you click reserve before 7am it will say something like this "Reserving these dates is not yet allowed. These dates cannot be reserved until February 18, 2022, 07:00 a.m. EST." If you click reserve at or after 7 am it will either tell you the site is not available, because someone else got it first or it will take you into the reservation details pages. You can keep clicking reserve before or after 7 and the page won't refresh or clear your info. Good luck!
Have a good battery (or two) depending on your power consumption. And full propane bottles to run your fridge. Not such a big deal unless you can’t survive without a/c!
How are you surviving the winter so far.. We have had over 3 feet of snow already. So what do you have planned for 2022. So far we just booked Balsam Lake and Awenda and booking seems pretty easy so far compared to last year.
We're dealing with about a half inch of snow here. Very scary ;) We booked a few parks already and so far so good. The stressful times are yet to come as we get into July and August. Good luck!
Great tips. New to booking this year and it's been frustrating, but we have 6 sites so far. The people who book for 23 days are the same people who throw towels on resort loungers at 6am
FYI ... I was on the system at 7am today with my reservation already to go prior to 7 am ... and at 7 .. hitting reserve ..the system kept saying I needed to wait until Mar 6 to book??? .. today is Mar 6! and of course lost my attempt to book! Very disappointed and .. what am I doing wrong?
I know how frustrating the system is. When everything is working correctly it will tell you that you need to wait until Mar 6 if you click reserve before 7 am, even if it's a fraction of a second before 7 am. If you click reserve at 7 am or after, but someone else got the site, it will tell you that the site is unavailable for the dates you chose. Now it's time to sit back and wait for cancellations in a few weeks. Good luck!
They used to save a certain percentage of sites for people without reservations but they don't do that anymore. If you arrive at the park without a reservation they will check for availability but likely there won't be any.
I just checked myself for backcountry on Opeongo Lake and it's site specific. On the reservation site click on the Backcountry tab, not the Backcountry Registration Tab. The Backcountry tab is for all the parks that offer site specific reservations for backcountry and you can reserve a specific site. The Backcountry Registration tab is for the parks that only offer First Come First Serve sites that can only be booked up to two weeks in advance.
You sure can. On the Ontario Parks Reservations website go to your reservation and on the side you 'll see a "change reservation" button. Click on that and you can change the dates. You have to be within 4 months of the date to cancel the day. You'll have to pay the cancellation fee for the one day that you cancelled. 4 months out is 10%.
It means that people can't use generators in that area of the park. So you won't be bothered by the noise of your neighbours generator running. Manny people, especially in tents would appreciate that.
Log in to your Ontario Parks account then click on "My Reservations". Click on the reservation you want to change. Then click on "Change Reservation". Click on the first box that shows the number of nights, then select your new dates. You will be charged a penalty for any dates you cancelled. So if you dropped two nights off your reservation you pay a penalty for those two nights. The penalties are 50% within 1 month of your scheduled arrival, 40% within 2 months, 30% within 3 months, 20% within 4 months and 10% within 5 months. I think you might also have to pay about $10 for a change of reservation fee on top of the penalty.
@@CampingwiththeColes Thanks, i got it. However, I was about to ask can I gave these nights up for someone else. You mentioned about FB group (OP cancellation) but I am not canceling the entire trip... just a few days. I thought to give it to someone else. Not sure if I can do that ... the whole trip is clear - you need just change the name but part of the trip - i do not know. That's why i am asking ...
@@teachingmusic4315 That's not something that we have done ourselves. I suggest that you go to the Facebook group facebook.com/groups/642963122809166 and ask them for the best way to do it. Good luck!
No problem. Here is the Campnab link campnab.com/r/kcley9. I keep forgetting to mention in the videos that links for everything we talk about are in the description below the video.
To stop booking a site for 23 days and cancelling the majority of them , simply raise the cost of cancellation substantially, if you cancel more than 1/2 the total number of days of your booking . If you have to cancel 100% of your booking ( that would satisfy emergency’s) then that cost should be only 5% or admin costs . Sadly the lack of vacancies will stop many newcomers or families from enjoying nature .
Change your refund policy so that visitors that give r days notice on cancelling a day use reservation get their money returned to them It is extremely unfair to your visitors to not refund their money, eapecially during a pandemic and especially when it is not clear on your online reservation booking system that the cancellation window is only 2 hours. This an extremely unfair business policy and will turn many visitors off of future booking qith Ontario Parks
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
If you have any tips for booking an Ontario Provincial Park please leave a comment for all to benefit from.
Just a heads up you've got your email fully visible when you're logging in. You should probably blur it out just to be safe.
Thank you for these wonderful video's , I used to drool over the park"s own pictures & say "I want to go there" ,& then face an ordeal finding where these places were . Now no problem..
I wish there was a fine for a NO SHOW. We were at Lake of Two Rivers last September. The park was less than 30% full. The park Ranger said the park was fully booked, he said people may have been scared by the cool weather, not us. Great video, thanks for the update.
I think it should be asked every so often what constitutes "fully booked" ...%75 ? or more ?
If people don't bother to cancel and just don't show up, they should be charged the full fee. There has to be some kind of deterrent to discourage people from abusing the system.
@@cmarion1544 When you book on line you are prepaying the site, so you do pay the full cost of the site if you don't cancel. I had a family emergency last year the day we were suppose to leave to go camping, we did not get any refund on the site.
Oh yah, and the whole time we were there the sites were empty.
Thanks so much for the tip about using CampNab - I just got a text from them and RAN to my desk to book an awesome waterfront site at Presqu’ile for 8 nights in July!! I wish we could all just book normally without the madness of having to rely on services like CampNab, but after 2 years of booking only the dregs of campsites I’m happy with the result 🇨🇦
Great! I'm glad it worked out for you.
We had a miracle this morning. After weeks of trying to book our dream site. We finally had luck.
The site was down this morning March 8 before 7am. My wife tried phoning in and got through and was was able to book the site. It was a lot of luck and perseverance! Best luck to all.
I personally think booking an entire month because you don’t know your vacation schedule sounds no different than the ‘bad’ reason for hogging sites. All in all, great tips though!
The calendar view is helpful to see which sites are in carts!
I love you guys. Great video for a beginner camper like me. Thank you for sharing.
Our pleasure! Thanks for watching.
THX for the TIPS and I saw you on Canoehound Adventures great show!!
Thanks for watching.
I am so glad about the generator filter. We had 2 bad camping experiences with larger RVs in a non-electrical spot then turn on their generator every night after dinner. UGH!! Glad Ontario Parks made this option.
Yes, it's awful when you're trying to enjoy nature and a loud generator is running for hours. In 11 years of trailer camping we've only used a generator twice and we were so extra cautious to try not to impact anyone around us. We would wait for the middle of the day when the people around us were gone hiking or to the beach so we could run it for a short time to charge up the trailer battery. We hate using it.
Excellent video, well described and informative. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great info. We also see a lot of vacant sites when we go to a particular park.
Thank you so much for these booking tips during a time when its getting harder to book sites. MUCH APPRECIATED!
You are so welcome! Happy camping.
I love, love these videos! So many people do not know how to navigate the site and get frustrated. It was very clear and concise explanation. (Love the new opening sequence too!)
Thanks so much Alison!
We really enjoy your channel , you're great people. We just saw you on canoehound stream show , really enjoyed the conversations. When your daughter chimed in, we couldn't stop laughing. We're getting used to not camping with our now adult children too. Maybe someday they'll start camping with us and their young families again. Fingers crossed. Keep doing what your doing, it's great
Thanks so much. Our camping trips our always evolving as kids come along, grow every year, then leave. Hopefully it continues with grandkids.
Loved to watch this video. Great tips. Thanks. We are die hard campers like you for years and years. Another good tip is to book campsites during the week if possible . We have 1 booked for May and 2 in June bc of this . Last year we tried The Grand River Conservation Area Campgrounds and their reservation System is far superior to Ontario PParks. Everyone gets put in the Que and literally you see the countdown allowing you to visit other websites during this countdown. But Provincial Parks are so incredibly beautiful !!
Thanks for watching. National Parks do it the same way. When we booked Bruce Peninsula we were in the que at about 1,300 and our friends were in the 19,000 range. We both got sites on the dates we wanted. We want to do one GRCA park this summer but they are updating their reservation system and they don't know when it will be available to start making reservations. We'll just have to wait and see. Happy camping!
@@CampingwiththeColes Good to know on both counts. If Im not mistaken GRCA is taking reservations March 1 st . But with changes coming, perhaps not.
Cool hearing you on CBC Radio 1 today :) Great video :)
Thanks. Happy camping!
We booked june 6. Great tutorial for those new campers
Happy new year missed seeing you guys 🎉
Thanks for all the great tips! Your videos are getting better each time! Happy Camping!
Glad you like them!
Great pointers Tips and Updates... Looking forward to our chat this coming Tuesday evening on the Show.
Can't wait!
What a great video!! Thanks so much for all the great details and ideas. Personally love the no generator option people have been asking for several years. I've always camped far enough from RV sites I didn't need to worry but I've hear many people complain because they didn't know the park set up. Anywho.. Fanatic info, thanks!
Glad it was helpful! We almost always camp hooked up to electricity. Only twice were we in a park without electricity for a period of time that we had to run the generator. I hated running it and did everything in my power to dampen the noise and use it as little as possible.
Camping newbies. Great info for us. Thank you guys very much.
Our pleasure! Thanks for watching.
Great tips! Sad that getting sites is so competitive. We do most of those...plus we tend to prefer non-electric sites as they aren't as popular.
Super video for understanding a somewhat complicated ssystem. Your tips are bang on and like the review of the new changes to the booking system. Well done, enjoy watching your videos.
Wow! Thanks for the support.
I logged in 7:30am this morning for the bruce peninsula reservation launch. By 8am opening, there were 6000 people ahead of me. When it got to my turn 15 minutes later, there were nothing left on my ideal dates. Came back from dropping kids to school, lucky enough to get a site, although it is a bit expose, but I got in on the dates I want. It was my frist time booking on the opening day, it is a fun and intense experience. I was expecting a huge line, but not 6000..... look luck everyone.
Yeah, the National Park reservation system is very different than the provincial park system. I think I prefer it. You log on and then wait your turn. You're turn will eventually come then you can take a few minutes to decide what you want to do. It's better than hitting the button at 7:00 a.m. for a site and not getting it, then seeing that all the sites are gone.
@@CampingwiththeColes Agreed. But my luck was so bad initially.
Great vid to open the season! Love your videos and excellent campground and site reviews! Can’t wait to follow your travels this year!
Glad you like them! We love doing them. Happy camping!
You guys rock. I have already seen most of your RUclips vids. My wife loves them too. This one is timely and very informative. Thanks and keep up rocking 😍
Awesome! Thank you!
You folks are amazing , I going to tell my Aliner owners club ,all about you . I’m sure they will love your information like I do.
Awesome! Thank you!
Hey Coles, great videos! So informative, thanks so much for making them! Just throwing out a few video ideas/requests for ya.... I love the outdoors but get attacked by mosquitoes (over 70 bites, yes I counted them, in one night at a campfire using DEET!) So, maybe a bug survival video, and maybe a Q and A for us fans?? Pick your favourite top ten fan questions? Thanks so much Ben and Cheryl we appreciate you! 😁
Thanks for your support and the ideas! We're always looking for new content ideas. Happy camping.
One thing that we've found effective is to take a house fan with us. Not only keeps the mosquitos away but also gives a cooling breeze.
I take Reactine most days of the year bc of allergies to all sorts of stuff. I rarely get a bit and I live in the country. Either they don't like me or it's the allergy medicine. If I do get one, it's minor as the antihistamine reduces the reaction. Just a thought...
I'm with the fan option. A box fan set far enough away to push air over most of you. I'm type O neg and they love me. The air flow seems to not only confuse them but they also are very weak fliers and have troubles making it to you. Deet helps but it's not perfect. We tend to camp in August specifically because of the bugs. This year I spent $50 on some light fishing pants because of the biting flies while fishing. Boat fishing seems to attract these little biting SOB's that love to take a large chunk of your ankle when you least expect it. However for what little gratification it's worth, they couldn't care what blood type you are. Those bastages can't seem to zero in well when you are on shore too. FWIW
This is so helpful! Thank you so much! Those new updates look fantastic as well. I have been on the Ontario Parks website a couple of times over the past two weeks but never noticed the updates. Thanks for pointing those out!
Glad it was helpful!
very helpful, thank you!
Thanks for all the great info..very helpful. Have a great camping year 🙂🇨🇦
Thanks, you too!
So looking forward to this season maybe we'll bump into you guys again
That would be great! Happy camping!
Hello from Germany🤜🤛 . Cool👍. hp I cook many in Dutch Oven or in Kazan (cast iron pot from Asia). Do you also know Kazan pot? greeting
Hello Germany! Amazing that you found our little channel. We have a dutch oven that we use. Most often we bake black forest cake or apple crumble in it for our friends. Sometimes we use it for cooking a roast.
Super🎂🔥👍
I really appreciate all your videos! This one is great too! I'm curious why you size up your trailer size when looking for a site? This might be obvious (larger sites?) but I don't want to guess.
That's a good question. I'm not sure why I did that in the video because usually we put "up to 25 feet" to have more options of sites. Our trailer model is a 254DSX which means the livable space is 25.4 feet but the trailer is actually just over 30 feet from hitch to rear bumper. When we get all the hits back for sites filtered for up to 25 feet we'll often pick one for up to 32 feet to make sure we actually do fit. We haven't really had any issues in a site for up to 25 feet though.
Great channel thanks 🙏🏻
I love all of your videos. Thanks for updating the 2022 booking tips. I am definitely going to use camp nab. Keep up the awesome work folks.
Awesome! Thank you!
Great information and loved your presentation - easy to follow and understand! Also campnab sounds amazing. We are heading to the Yukon this summer and this will be helpful.
Wow, the Yukon sounds amazing! Maybe one day we'll get there.
Thank you so much for the great tips! Greatly appreciated!!
You are so welcome! Happy camping!
The cancellation fee needs to be much more onerous to prevent abuse of the system.
thanks very informative
It’s my first try to book a camp site in Bruce peninsula national park for this Canada day long weekend, now I feel like I should have a back up plan.
I like how the National Parks do reservations. Be ready on February 5th for 8am. Try to make a reservation at about 7:50 and they may give you a numbered spot in line for making reservations. When your number comes up you can book for whenever you want in the season. There is a good chance you can get in for that weekend. Good luck!
@@CampingwiththeColes Really? I didnot know that. I was just gonna try my luck at 8am. Thank you. It seems a bit better than the provincial system.
BTW, Im a new subscriber and I love your contents, a lot of useful information. I dont know why it took so long for the algorithm to reconmand the channel.
@@wenren7895 We're glad you found us now. Enjoy the content and happy camping!
When are you going to release your Camping 2022 destinations? I am excited and curious to discover. Hoping some of the northern parks are on the list this year. We got engaged at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park in 1997, and spent lots of time at Sleeping Giant PP. I really want to try the Lake Superior provincial park also.
Very soon! We hope to share it with everyone sometime in the middle of April. You'll be pleased with our northern parks list. It's going to be an exciting year!
Thanks for the great tips! I just booked another trip this morning to Murphy's Point in June using Cheryl's tips with the time on the web page. We noticed you used Killbear as an example. Do you guys have a video for that park? My daughter was hoping to see a preview before we go on May 2-4. She is my co-planner and organizer. She's 11 ;) Thanks again for helping us get excited about the season.
We love Killbear but haven't done a video on it yet. We hope to be going there in July. Make sure you go to the jumping rocks. The kids love it. However, if your daughter wants a sneak peak at Killbear, I did a short video in 2017. It isn't posted on our channel due to some obvious copywrite issues with the music and some questionable drone footage ;) ruclips.net/video/pxR0MYMfZ0g/видео.html
@@CampingwiththeColes Thanks for the reply and for the video share. Look forward to seeing your July review. Good luck booking!
We camped when our kids were young, now, we're planning a week with our grandchildren/July 2023. Is there anything we should know about the "RV owner who will be delivering the RV to our site? Thank You
The Notification system is quite the challenge. I've received a ton of emails saying that there was a site that matched my criteria and launched the reservation site within 2 mins and have yet to actually see a site available. Very frustrating.
Thanks for the update on the notification system. We were concerned about how it would actually work. Your experience is pretty much how we thought it would work. Everyone gets the email at the same time and it's a race to get on the website and grab it first. It gives a lot of people some false hope. I hope you get some good luck and manage to grab some sites. Happy camping!
I’am planning a camping trip in Ontario Provincial Parks this summer, do I need a Provincial camping pass, like the Discovery Pass for National Parks. Thanks for the video, very helpfull.
There is no Ontario Provincial Parks camping pass. When you camp at any Ontario Provincial Park you pay a nightly rate and that includes up to 6 people.
Thanks, you guys are the best
Thanks!
I wish the provincial sites operated like the parks out east. Certain day, you can book for everything at the park so not everyone is looking at the same day at the same time.
Yes, we like how the National Parks do it. They announce a day that each park is open for reservations then everyone calls in and gets put in a que. When it's your time, you pick all the dates you want for that park. That way no one is overbooking and cancelling. It's a lot less stressful.
Hey Coles family! I love your videos, I really found a passion for camping this passed summer and watching your video for Cyprus lake really helped me in knowing what to expect going there for my first time camping and i even booked at pog lake in september based off of your video on it. (loved both) Are you two planning on going to killarney this summer? im planning to go sometime between july and august and would really love a Camping with the Coles review on the park. Thanks !
We're so glad you found your passion for camping and that our videos helped you. We haven't finalized our plans for this summer so Killarney may still fit in somewhere. Killarney has no electrical hook-ups so it's similar to Cyprus Lake that way. Have a great time there, we've only heard good things. Happy camping!
Thanks for the tips! I am really hoping to get into Bon Echo this year, my stay last year was cancelled because of the lock down. And fingers crossed that my trailer arrives! I really do not want to tent camp anymore LOL! Can't wait to see where you end up this year!
Hope you can get there this year. Bon Echo is amazing! Good luck!
When selecting your trailer size- Do you use your trailers floor size? Or your trailers hitch to bumper size?
For example we have a Outback 244UBH (so this falls under 25ft) but it’s over if we use our hitch to bumper size. Thanks! Love your videos
Our trailer is a 254DSX so the floor size is 25ft 4inches, but the total length is about 30ft from hitch to bumper. We usually look for a site rated up to 25ft and we don't have a problem. Preferably we would like a site up to 32ft but we haven't had an issue with using up to 25ft.
Just found you guys. Tnx for the info. In your booking, where do you request sites at at allow dogs?
Most sites allow dogs. In the filters you can request to search sites that don't allow pets but no search filter for only sites that allow pets.
Thank you so much! Many years ago, we went backcountry camping in Nova Scotia regularly. Since we retired to Ontario over ten years ago, we have parted with our ultralight gear, and haven't been in any of the provincial parks. This year want to at least get back to car camping, but with a canvas tent, not a trailer. We can go non-electric. We have a solar power pack but not a noisy generator. Is the competition still high for non-electric tent sites?
The competition is less for the non-electric tent sites but they are still hard to get. Good luck!
Those are all great tips folks, thanks. My problem when booking online is never being able to be quick enough with the Reserve button! I have the system timer on right in front of me and I'm ready to click Reserve on the proper day 5 months in advance and right at the stroke of 7am but I always get a message saying the date is no longer available. Someone obviously has a quicker clicker than me or perhaps I should be clicking half way between 6:59.59seconds and 7:00.00. I'm a widower and only have one account so I guess that doesn't help either Lol. Any thoughts? :)
Sounds like you're doing everything right but so are a lot of other people. If a bunch of people click at exactly 7 am the reservation system has to randomly pick one. We miss a lot of campsites at 7 am. Now it's time to wait for cancellations and hopefully get your site. Good luck!
@@CampingwiththeColes Lol, sounds like I'm in good company. Thanks for the reply.... Good luck to you as well!
You have to be fairly flexible with your dates. Most of the group we hang with are retired so we can get weekday bookings where-as many people can only do weekend.
Absolutely, weekday bookings are easier to get than weekend bookings. We find the parks quieter and more enjoyable during the week.
I’ll be retired soon and look forward to date flexibility but the truth is that a great many do not have that luxury.
What is the app that you now use that finds and books campgrounds for you?
That's Campnab. It finds openings but you have to still book them yourself.
Do you have any tips regarding mosquitoes, their peak season, or parks to avoid? Any tip will be helpful. We are big fans of yours.
For May, June and July we try to stay as south as possible to avoid the bugs as much as possible. August, Sept, Oct is when we normally do the more northern parks like Algonquin, Killbear, Arrowhead etc. We went to Arrowhead on the 3rd week of July and were eaten alive by deer flies and horseflies. We didn't even worry about the plentiful mosquitoes because they were the least of the bug problem. The Weather Network has a bug report as part of it's forecast. This is a link to the current forecast to Canisbay Lake in Algonqin Park. If you scroll to the bottom you'll see the bug report. www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/forecasts/camping/ontario/canisbay-lake-algonquin-provincial-park
Thank you for your video, and related reviews, all awesome!
BTW, I recently tried to book an Ontario provincial camp site. I got up “early” to be prepared for the 7am opening. Logged in, picked a few camp sites just in case, had all the relevant info ready started clicking the reserve button a minute before the start… only to be told 7:02 that “those dates are unavailable”
Interestingly, all the others I had chosen were also “booked” for the exact dates (I had picked a mid week departure. Strange) When I called the operator, I was told that there were numerous people just like me trying to do the same thing. Seems like I need a faster internet connection, or better mouse…Something seems fishy here, seems that some folks are possibly jobbing” the system? Anyway on a happy note I was able to find another site, but found the process suspiciously frustrating.
I know that the system messes up sometimes. We tried reserving at 7:00 am and received the message that it is not available until (that exact date) at 7:00 am. We kept trying and it continued with the same message even though we were after 7am on that date. Finally around 7:20 am it worked. So the computer system on the park end messes up. If in your case you just got the message that the site is unavailable, that means that someone else got it. It could be 20 people doing exactly what you're doing at exactly 7:00:00 am and the computer has to pick just one. The others all lose out even though they did everything right. That happens more often than not for us. It can be frustrating but the campsites are in high demand and this is the only system they have so we have to live with it. Happy camping!
@@CampingwiththeColes Thank you for your timely reply. Agreed, its at times a competitive process. My love for camping will always exceed the challenges! Just frustrating at times...
Tried this morning, 8 sites, all gone within 35 seconds. Now try and tell me there isn't something very wrong.
Great videos. Thank you. We had been very successful with the previous booking system. This new one is confusing us and we are having a hard time get any campsite at 7:00, 5 months in advance. For campsites that are available, you can select the dates and have it in the cart and ready to reserve but for campsites that are not yet available, we cannot do add them to the cart. What is your trick?
Thanks for watching. I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly. You can't have any campsite in your cart until it is available. If it's available starting today at 7 am it will show green before 7 am. Prior to 7 am you click on that site so that the reserve button is showing. If you click on it before 7 am it will say that the site is not able to be reserved until todays date at 7 am. So, at 7 am you click the reserve button. If you are successful it will put it in your cart so that you can complete the process and checkout. If you're not successful it will tell you that the site is not available for the date you picked. We are very often not successful getting a site at 7am. Lots of people are trying for the same site at the exact same time and only one person can get it. That's when we move on and try something else like looking for another site or another park or we wait until cancellations start appearing a month later. It's a tough process because so many people are tying to reserve so few spots. Good luck!
Whenever I have tried just prior to 7am to have my login done, site and dates all ready, and I’m set to simply click on Reserve at the stroke of 7:00, what seems to happen is the Ont Parks System does a Refresh at 7:00 sharp, and my selections are gone. I then have to take a couple of minutes to again select park, site, dates, etc. all over again, and of course I’m then far too late to reserve a site for that morning. Does the Res system prevent us being all ready with selections prior to 7:00 so we can all just hit Reserve, or do you think I’m doing something wrong?
I'm thinking you must be doing something wrong. Sign in, choose your park, dates, equipment size, filters such as electric/non-electric and hit the search button. It then takes you to a map of the park. Click on a green (available site), then click the reserve button. If you click reserve before 7am it will say something like this "Reserving these dates is not yet allowed. These dates cannot be reserved until February 18, 2022, 07:00 a.m. EST." If you click reserve at or after 7 am it will either tell you the site is not available, because someone else got it first or it will take you into the reservation details pages. You can keep clicking reserve before or after 7 and the page won't refresh or clear your info. Good luck!
Great video! I sometimes see campsites booked beyond the 5 month date. How do they do this???
You are able to book up to 23 days. So a September 1 arrival, booked five months in advance (April 1), would show the site booked until September 23.
@@01AceAlpha Ah. I meant backcountry sites, which have 16 day limits - yet some are booked beyond.
Any tips/tricks for when you don’t have an electrical site with your RV?
Have a good battery (or two) depending on your power consumption. And full propane bottles to run your fridge. Not such a big deal unless you can’t survive without a/c!
How are you surviving the winter so far.. We have had over 3 feet of snow already. So what do you have planned for 2022. So far we just booked Balsam Lake and Awenda and booking seems pretty easy so far compared to last year.
We're dealing with about a half inch of snow here. Very scary ;) We booked a few parks already and so far so good. The stressful times are yet to come as we get into July and August. Good luck!
Great tips. New to booking this year and it's been frustrating, but we have 6 sites so far. The people who book for 23 days are the same people who throw towels on resort loungers at 6am
FYI ... I was on the system at 7am today with my reservation already to go prior to 7 am ... and at 7 .. hitting reserve ..the system kept saying I needed to wait until Mar 6 to book??? .. today is Mar 6! and of course lost my attempt to book! Very disappointed and .. what am I doing wrong?
I know how frustrating the system is. When everything is working correctly it will tell you that you need to wait until Mar 6 if you click reserve before 7 am, even if it's a fraction of a second before 7 am. If you click reserve at 7 am or after, but someone else got the site, it will tell you that the site is unavailable for the dates you chose. Now it's time to sit back and wait for cancellations in a few weeks. Good luck!
Does all the provisional parks in ontario need reservations?
They used to save a certain percentage of sites for people without reservations but they don't do that anymore. If you arrive at the park without a reservation they will check for availability but likely there won't be any.
I just checked Algonquin Backcountry on Opeongo Lake and no specific site selection. Is this just for certain areas of the park?
I just checked myself for backcountry on Opeongo Lake and it's site specific. On the reservation site click on the Backcountry tab, not the Backcountry Registration Tab. The Backcountry tab is for all the parks that offer site specific reservations for backcountry and you can reserve a specific site. The Backcountry Registration tab is for the parks that only offer First Come First Serve sites that can only be booked up to two weeks in advance.
If I book from a Tuesday to the following Tuesday can I change the arrival date to the Wednesday?
You sure can. On the Ontario Parks Reservations website go to your reservation and on the side you 'll see a "change reservation" button. Click on that and you can change the dates. You have to be within 4 months of the date to cancel the day. You'll have to pay the cancellation fee for the one day that you cancelled. 4 months out is 10%.
I wish Premium Sites were limited to 7 nights. Let more campers get a chance at that lakefront site.
That would make a lot of sense.
What does generator free mean?
It means that people can't use generators in that area of the park. So you won't be bothered by the noise of your neighbours generator running. Manny people, especially in tents would appreciate that.
Hello, if I want to give up a part of my booking - how will it work?
Log in to your Ontario Parks account then click on "My Reservations". Click on the reservation you want to change. Then click on "Change Reservation". Click on the first box that shows the number of nights, then select your new dates. You will be charged a penalty for any dates you cancelled. So if you dropped two nights off your reservation you pay a penalty for those two nights. The penalties are 50% within 1 month of your scheduled arrival, 40% within 2 months, 30% within 3 months, 20% within 4 months and 10% within 5 months. I think you might also have to pay about $10 for a change of reservation fee on top of the penalty.
@@CampingwiththeColes Thanks, i got it. However, I was about to ask can I gave these nights up for someone else. You mentioned about FB group (OP cancellation) but I am not canceling the entire trip... just a few days. I thought to give it to someone else. Not sure if I can do that ... the whole trip is clear - you need just change the name but part of the trip - i do not know. That's why i am asking ...
@@teachingmusic4315 That's not something that we have done ourselves. I suggest that you go to the Facebook group facebook.com/groups/642963122809166 and ask them for the best way to do it. Good luck!
What is the App? Can you put a link?
No problem. Here is the Campnab link campnab.com/r/kcley9. I keep forgetting to mention in the videos that links for everything we talk about are in the description below the video.
To stop booking a site for 23 days and cancelling the majority of them , simply raise the cost of cancellation substantially, if you cancel more than 1/2 the total number of days of your booking . If you have to cancel 100% of your booking ( that would satisfy emergency’s) then that cost should be only 5% or admin costs . Sadly the lack of vacancies will stop many newcomers or families from enjoying nature .
That’s a great idea
It also wouldn’t penalize people who have a legitimate reason for cancellation
👍👍
Not a fan of 2 ppl trying for the same time and holding a site, it just encourages groups of people to take this approach.
Change your refund policy so that visitors that give r days notice on cancelling a day use reservation get their money returned to them
It is extremely unfair to your visitors to not refund their money, eapecially during a pandemic and especially when it is not clear on your online reservation booking system that the cancellation window is only 2 hours. This an extremely unfair business policy and will turn many visitors off of future booking qith Ontario Parks
Nabbing a camp.... Seems fair (not)
FULL SERVICE CAMPSITE= 60 PER NIGHT LOL THATS OVER 800 FOR TWO WEEKS MIGHT AS WELL STAY IN A MOTEL HAHA GOV MONEY GRAB