If you're like me, you count down to summer for BOMBERS football.... but also for CAMPING season!   Can't wait to get outside again!  

This week & next week online reservations OPEN for National Parks.  I just scored my crew 5 nights at Wapiti, Jasper for August Long Weekend.... woot woot.  Funny, by the time my reservation was confirmed, tons of Aug long bookings were made.  Plus the site I scored is now booked for virtually all July & Aug. 

So... get on it, people!  It'll be warm out before we can say, "the Oilers have been eliminated from playoff contention!".   

Alright...maybe it won't be THAT warm in February  

When I was a kid, we couldn't really afford to go on big trips for summer vacation, so we did a ton of camping around Manitoba. Being from Pinawa, it was mostly the Whiteshell (spent a LOT of time at both Opap and Big White), but also did Spruce Woods and Riding Mountain once. Our family did a lot of back-country canoe trips into the Experimental Lakes area around Kenora....Rushing River and Blue Lake, too. So many great times. My focus is primarily on fishing these days, but I still do love to camp. Had a killer time a couple years ago at Quesnel Lake in the Nop....camped on an island with a bunch of family and friends over Father's Day weekend. First time I'd done that in awhile...definitely missed it. Trying to convince the fiancee that she'd be okay in a tent rather than a trailer....to me, trailer isn't camping. If you can't portage it, it's not camping....

3 minutes ago, Noeller said:

When I was a kid, we couldn't really afford to go on big trips for summer vacation, so we did a ton of camping around Manitoba. Being from Pinawa, it was mostly the Whiteshell (spent a LOT of time at both Opap and Big White), but also did Spruce Woods and Riding Mountain once. Our family did a lot of back-country canoe trips into the Experimental Lakes area around Kenora....Rushing River and Blue Lake, too. So many great times. My focus is primarily on fishing these days, but I still do love to camp. Had a killer time a couple years ago at Quesnel Lake in the Nop....camped on an island with a bunch of family and friends over Father's Day weekend. First time I'd done that in awhile...definitely missed it. Trying to convince the fiancee that she'd be okay in a tent rather than a trailer....to me, trailer isn't camping. If you can't portage it, it's not camping....

Used to do a lot of back country hiking through the Mantario trail.

These days, we do a yearly canoe trip where we head out out into the back country.  Has typically been out to ELA, which is beautiful, but we are thinking of starting to explore some new areas.

5 minutes ago, Rich said:

Used to do a lot of back country hiking through the Mantario trail.

These days, we do a yearly canoe trip where we head out out into the back country.  Has typically been out to ELA, which is beautiful, but we are thinking of starting to explore some new areas.

there's a lot of great spots to go, for sure.....I really, sincerely miss the Canadian Shield living out in AB. Yeah, we have the Rockies and they're gorgeous.....but man I love the shield. I love those big open lakes that are so cold and deep and HUGE rock faces right next to you as you boat along. Can't even explain how much I miss that...

Yeah I fall asleep outside sometimes too.

On a more serious note, if you are into kayaking/canoeing, head out to the Caddy Lake tunnels if you get a chance.  It's relatively close to home and it's good paddlin.

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

When I was a kid, we couldn't really afford to go on big trips for summer vacation, so we did a ton of camping around Manitoba. Being from Pinawa, it was mostly the Whiteshell (spent a LOT of time at both Opap and Big White), but also did Spruce Woods and Riding Mountain once. Our family did a lot of back-country canoe trips into the Experimental Lakes area around Kenora....Rushing River and Blue Lake, too. So many great times. My focus is primarily on fishing these days, but I still do love to camp. Had a killer time a couple years ago at Quesnel Lake in the Nop....camped on an island with a bunch of family and friends over Father's Day weekend. First time I'd done that in awhile...definitely missed it. Trying to convince the fiancee that she'd be okay in a tent rather than a trailer....to me, trailer isn't camping. If you can't portage it, it's not camping....

Manitobans are lucky to have such great camp spots all over the province.  I'm the son of teachers, so barely spent any summertime in the city growing up & while it's tougher to do that now as I get older, still like to give it an effort.  

Last year was mostly my regular spots; Camp Morton north of Gimli, Caddy Lake, big Whiteshell seasonals & annual fishing expedition out at Shoe Lake. 

This year, more of the same, only I've got a friend's wedding in Jasper - - great excuse to see that beautiful part of the country!  And actually... part of the reason i made this post; I had no idea some National Parks are open for reservations this soon in 2018!!  

2 hours ago, Rich said:

Used to do a lot of back country hiking through the Mantario trail.

These days, we do a yearly canoe trip where we head out out into the back country.  Has typically been out to ELA, which is beautiful, but we are thinking of starting to explore some new areas.

If you've never been to Shoe Lake, give it a go.  Backcountry.  Boat to site...which is it's own island.  Absolute paradise. 

3 hours ago, Jimmy Pop said:

If you're like me, you count down to summer for BOMBERS football.... but also for CAMPING season!   Can't wait to get outside again!  

This week & next week online reservations OPEN for National Parks.  I just scored my crew 5 nights at Wapiti, Jasper for August Long Weekend.... woot woot.  Funny, by the time my reservation was confirmed, tons of Aug long bookings were made.  Plus the site I scored is now booked for virtually all July & Aug. 

So... get on it, people!  It'll be warm out before we can say, "the Oilers have been eliminated from playoff contention!".   

Alright...maybe it won't be THAT warm in February  

We're big campers as well, thanks for the thread. We start our countdown  for our annual family summer camping  trip beginning every  December 26th.  We really like Englishman River Falls on the Island, it's incredible imo.  

Bolded section = music to my ears. :-)

1 hour ago, Jimmy Pop said:

Manitobans are lucky to have such great camp spots all over the province.  I'm the son of teachers, so barely spent any summertime in the city growing up & while it's tougher to do that now as I get older, still like to give it an effort.  

Last year was mostly my regular spots; Camp Morton north of Gimli, Caddy Lake, big Whiteshell seasonals & annual fishing expedition out at Shoe Lake. 

This year, more of the same, only I've got a friend's wedding in Jasper - - great excuse to see that beautiful part of the country!  And actually... part of the reason i made this post; I had no idea some National Parks are open for reservations this soon in 2018!!  

If you've never been to Shoe Lake, give it a go.  Backcountry.  Boat to site...which is it's own island.  Absolute paradise. 

I believe it's Shoe we're headed to in June...my cousin and some of his buddies. Pretty excited about that. I'm embarrassed how little time I spent in the Nop when I was living in Pinawa. The Whiteshell was always just easier because we could boat in from Pinawa.....but man I love Nopiming. The trip to Quesnel/Manigotogan/Happy a couple years ago was so good. 

birds hill baby! woo!!

 

joking, that's camping for dummies.   Its a nice little place to take a kiddo for first timers but I'm definitely more of a roughing it kind of camper.   We like to go to otter falls, pickle lake or if we are feeling lazy,  this private place in Minnedosa.   its such a blast to have so many awesome campgrounds and parks within 3 hours drive around us here in Manitoba.

 

 

4 hours ago, Jimmy Pop said:

big Whiteshell

 

When I was a kid, I went to Big Whiteshell... There were no cottages on the lake. not one.

One fishing camp, a boyscout camp, and a rustic cabin resort, no water, ice box refrigeration.

 Went on one trip in Nopiming, moose river, other than the people I was with saw two people total in a week.  went fishing,  caught a Jackfish on very cast. (little ones, a pound) They were starving I guess.

@spuds Bird's Hill campground by the Lake is about as nice as it gets close to a city the size of Wpg.

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 20188 yr by Mark F

10 hours ago, Noeller said:

there's a lot of great spots to go, for sure.....I really, sincerely miss the Canadian Shield living out in AB. Yeah, we have the Rockies and they're gorgeous.....but man I love the shield. I love those big open lakes that are so cold and deep and HUGE rock faces right next to you as you boat along. Can't even explain how much I miss that...

That's where I grew up.  I had four of those deep cold lakes, plus Superior, within a bike ride as a kid. My old man worked in forestry, so he knew all the secret logging roads that would lead to great camping and fishing on crown land. Spent a lot of my childhood bouncing around those old roads. Later on, my folks had a spot at Northern Lights Lake, southeast of Quetico and just north of the border. Last time I ever went dirt biking with my brothers was up there.

Man, NWO is so beautiful. I gotta get a camping trip together with my old crew someday.  We used to go to Cavern Lake and knock around the bat cave ... we'd keep our beer in a deep spot of the lake just off our campsite and make a game of diving for it.  Somehow, we didn't die.

Great thread J-Pop!

Edited January 10, 20188 yr by johnzo

Is there a site that says when the individual parks are open for reservations? Trying to get into Banff and it says they are closed for reservations and will open Wed January 11, 2017, so not much use.

 

Edit: Not Banff but Lake Louise. I see Banff opens in 45 mins.

Edited January 10, 20188 yr by tacklewasher

7 minutes ago, tacklewasher said:

Is there a site that says when the individual parks are open for reservations? Trying to get into Banff and it says they are closed for reservations and will open Wed January 11, 2017, so not much use.

Are you referring to Federal and Provincial Park camping sites? Or privately run ones?

42 minutes ago, JCon said:

Are you referring to Federal and Provincial Park camping sites? Or privately run ones?

Federal.

5 minutes ago, tacklewasher said:

Federal.

Banff just opened this morning!

https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/voyage-travel/reserve

 

5 minutes ago, JCon said:

Banff just opened this morning!

https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/voyage-travel/reserve

 

Yeah, I got in there it was just the Lake Louise one I was fussing about, but it opened the same time so I'm all good.

Kootney park open for res tomorrow so still some to make.

Resurrecting this thread from the dead since the new Manitoba camping reservation system went live today.  Very similar to the Ontario Reservation System (which is not surprising since the company hired has worked on the Ontario & Parks Canada systems in the past).  

Much easier to use but the big test will be on Monday when the first day of reservations goes down.

Just now, bigg jay said:

Resurrecting this thread from the dead since the new Manitoba camping reservation system went live today.  Very similar to the Ontario Reservation System (which is not surprising since the company hired has worked on the Ontario & Parks Canada systems in the past).  

Much easier to use but the big test will be on Monday when the first day of reservations goes down.

At least it's staggered. 

21 minutes ago, JCon said:

At least it's staggered. 

Should help the system not get overwhelmed but the downside on our end is that you now go through the process on multiple times (if you plan to camp in different locations). My wife likes to go camping all over the place & does all our reservations.  So now she has to plan to waste 4-5 mornings on this now instead of one.  We'll see how it work out though - can't be any worse than it was before!

 

First reservations group opened this morning and from what I've heard, reviews are mixed. 

My wife and her friend were both able book yurts and were done in less than 10 minutes. Other friends got the same old issue of being ready & signing in right on time, only to be put in a queue that already had about 5000 people ahead of them.  Apparently with the new system you can be logged in from multiple devices at the same time to try to book so that could make the queue issue much worse than before.

The new system was never going to fix the issue of limited supply and  huge demand so it's still luck of the draw as to whether or not you'll be lucky enough to book something.  Haven't heard of anyone being booted out of the system while they were waiting though, which was a huge issue previously, so that's good news.

1 hour ago, bigg jay said:

First reservations group opened this morning and from what I've heard, reviews are mixed. 

My wife and her friend were both able book yurts and were done in less than 10 minutes. Other friends got the same old issue of being ready & signing in right on time, only to be put in a queue that already had about 5000 people ahead of them.  Apparently with the new system you can be logged in from multiple devices at the same time to try to book so that could make the queue issue much worse than before.

The new system was never going to fix the issue of limited supply and  huge demand so it's still luck of the draw as to whether or not you'll be lucky enough to book something.  Haven't heard of anyone being booted out of the system while they were waiting though, which was a huge issue previously, so that's good news.

Booked yurts to stay in for a wedding in August and was in and out in under 10 mins. Logged in right at opening. Checked back 10 mins later and was 488 in line but the line was moving really quick. Gave up my spot after 4 minutes and was down to 240 in line. I think the new site is excellent. Just can't be even a minute late, and that is a supply issue more than anything else. If Manitoba would pull it's head out of it's arse and allow for more private campgrounds and cottage lots this wouldn't be an issue.