Do we need more camp grounds?

9,000 camp sites were booked today, according to the CBC web site. Manitobans like their camping, obviously. However, now it will be almost impossible for me and my buddies to get adjacent camp sites, if any.

When most campsites get booked the very first day, there's some kind of market failure. What's the solution? Increase camp fees, or build more camp sites, or leave it the way it is?

Limit the number of sites you can book are we talking weekend ones or seasonel

I consider a motel stay roughing it... So, I am ambivalent. Heh heh.

Gotta say the tree huggers have a very loud voice. Hell they are loudly criticizing a Tim Horton's camp fer Christ's sake.

We brag we are THE land of lakes. Surely we can carve a few more spots out.

I think we need more for sure. All that IKEA-fueled growth in Winnipeg's suburbs is going to create more and more demand for camp sites. We also need more golf courses.

The other solution is to stop population growth. Stop people from moving here, and anybody who wasn't here 5 years ago has to sell their house and move away. It sounds drastic, but if I can't get a campsite, this is the type of thing we might need to consider!

Why not carve out some spots from the north end. It is already full of wildlife...

Bring it on!

ummm.. I thought that they did have some "drive up" spots available.... could eb thinking of another camping area though

and yeah more camping the better... hell more private campgrounds should be built.

There's lots of smaller campgrounds out there. I'm sure if you look, you'll find. They just aren't the most popular places. What about Brandon way? Spruce woods comes to mind.

"However, now it will be almost impossible for me and my buddies to get adjacent camp sites, if any."

what exactly are you looking for in terms of a campground? put some tents up? havea bonfire and drink beers? some swimming? some fishing? some hitting on desperate local chicks?

There are federal parks (Wasagaming is huge) as well as private campgrounds around, which includes those run by service clubs (Roatary, Kinsmen), so I'm not sure if we need more. I wonder how many of those spots are the seasonal campers that take their trailer out at the beginning of the season and leave it there all summer? Anyway, there is an abundance of campsites around the province, but the popular spots (Falcon, Grand Beach) get filled up pretty fast for weekends, but I've never had a problem for weekdays.

Deank wrote:"some hitting on desperate local chicks?

hehe hit up one of the parks just across the border. I have noticed (back in the day) american chickies are... ummm... very friendly!

The seasonal sites are different than the campgrounds.

The seasonals work on a bid/draw system where you submit your name and it gets drawn for a specific lot.

The campgrounds (most the provincial ones) allow online booking...for up to 21 days/nights stays.

We just booked ours yesterday...they had an online queue which took over 2 hours to get in to make the reservation. For the time period we're going, there was only one spot left at that campground with electric & water.

All provincial campgrounds have a few (usually 5-10) "walkup" sites available, that they leave open for occasional campers. But it's first-come/first-serve, and usually have a maximum stay of 3 nights.

Despite my limitations towards booking...choosing a different park, or parameters for camping would have increased my odds. I don't think we need to add more camping...but perhaps focus on the "less popular" parks and find out why they lack attendance. Perhaps add something to them, or improve them to attract more people.

By the way GOM...many of the campgrounds now offer cabins...which are as good as a local hotel (minus the maid service)...so you might just enjoy yourself if you give it a shot .

I recall a discussion about campgrounds and the like before but that might have been in another life. Ages is right. There are a some great spots in this province, but they might be less popular for a number of reasons (distance, amenities, etc) I'm tempted to try a "yurt" this summer. Maybe I can even convince my wife to join me. (Or find a second wife that enjoys camping, but thats a topic in another thread.)

I love going back to ontario and just going to one of the trillion lakes spotted around Nortwestern ontario and finding a nice spot on a lake and putting up a tent.

the yurts are supposedly a very nice stay. I have not been myself but some friends go every year to the yurts... and they already have a 5th wheel trailer parked on a seasonal spot at a different lake

Deank wrote:the yurts are supposedly a very nice stay. I have not been myself but some friends go every year to the yurts... and they already have a 5th wheel trailer parked on a seasonal spot at a different lake

We looked at the cabins & yurts when we were looking.

The only downsides to the yurts is the lack of a toilet...and that you're not allowed to cook inside.

There's a toilet nearby...but walking a bit at 2am when you have to "go" can be annoying.

Since we'd have to setup a dining tent anyway though...we figured we'd save the difference between a camp site and yurt and just tent it.

AGEsAces wrote:There's a toilet nearby...but walking a bit at 2am when you have to "go" can be annoying.

You never heard of bushes???

Pardon?

Freeman wrote:

AGEsAces wrote:There's a toilet nearby...but walking a bit at 2am when you have to "go" can be annoying.

You never heard of bushes???

Not worried about myself .

Deank wrote:what exactly are you looking for in terms of a campground? put some tents up? havea bonfire and drink beers? some swimming? some fishing? some hitting on desperate local chicks?

I have found that hitting on desperate chicks while camping with the wife is a bad idea.
Bonfire & beers? Yes. Also, a beach is preferred, and a nearby golf course that doesn't suck. Hecla is nice and Grand Beach also works in this regard. The small campground at Falcon is OK, but I don't want to camp in that big campground.

For those talking about Yurts and Spruce Woods .. the yurt bookings at Spruce opened up earlier in the year and they're already booked solid for the summer. There might be some available at other camp grounds though.

cherenkov wrote:For those talking about Yurts and Spruce Woods .. the yurt bookings at Spruce opened up earlier in the year and they're already booked solid for the summer. There might be some available at other camp grounds though.

Yes...Yurts & Cabins open a month ahead of the other sites.

Has anyone ever rented a yurt? If you did can you tell me what it's like? We are thinking of trying it this summer, I am not much of a camper so a tent is out. We usually do a cottage but this year money is tight.

Years ago, we rented a cabin at Camp Morton. Very reasonable, clean, etc. Kids were small, had a great time. While they are out of the way, short commute to Gimli for beach and stuff. They have them at Hecla as well.

There's 7 campgrounds with Yurts now.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/parks/cabins/index.html

Goth_chic wrote:Has anyone ever rented a yurt? If you did can you tell me what it's like? We are thinking of trying it this summer, I am not much of a camper so a tent is out. We usually do a cottage but this year money is tight.

how tight is money... feel like going for a drive?

stay at camp jellystone in South Dakota.
http://www.jellystonesiouxfalls.com/cabins.html
check out the events and maybe go for christmas in July or something.

IG Guy wrote:I love going back to ontario and just going to one of the trillion lakes spotted around Nortwestern ontario and finding a nice spot on a lake and putting up a tent.

Agreed,

I'm not talking about squatting on someones land for days on end like can happen here on vancouver island, but finding a nice semi secluded location set up a tent and 'small camp', be respectfull of the land and leave no trace is far preferable to a pull up RV site.

Three summers ago me and two other 'managers' basically ran a 118 site campsite on hornby island and it was an eye opener. No computer bookings, no fancy booking system, it was basically a huge 10 foot by 3 foot graph paper 'system' that you worked with pencil and eraser. It was a system 'inherited' from the last lady who ran it for 15 years and has 'pennies in jars' type system for accounting. It gave me a good idea 'how' things work, and made me appreciate how valuable a pc can be.

I can also say, most people have no idea the headache that a remote (remote as in two ferries OFF of vancouver island, three from the mainland)campground can be. The last long weekend my appendix burst and it took 8 hours from leaving the house till i even got to the hospital where the surgery happened. Too much stress in that job - certainly not enough pay!!!

After that experience, i'd rather camp in a spot where i dont have to 'check in'.