A first time Camping in Canada

As of today, it’s been roughly 2 years since I moved to Canada. One of the goals I had, even before moving, was to explore the country’s outdoors. But for me to do so, means including my young children in the process. Practically, this means that I have to be mindful of the destinations and the length of the outing. I find it extremely important that all is done for them to enjoy the first few experiences, so then later we can try something more adventurous.
I have camped many, many years back, in Alaska. It was summer, so weather wasn’t bad, although the nights were around 5C. That means that whatever experience I had then were long gone. This would be a quest from the very beginning.
GEAR — I researched a lot online before making my decisions. I watched several videos and red many reviews both from experts and amateurs. Since I don’t plan to camp in extreme weather, the gear I got was the following:
- Marmot Mummy Sleeping bags for my wife and I (rating -3C and -16C)
- Rectangular sleeping bags for the kids (rating +5C and 0C)
- Marmot Limelight 4P Tent.
We still need a few things such as mattresses and pillows, but these are more related to comfort/ budget, than performance.
Although many people cook using the fire pits, I thought that would be a interesting idea to buy a stove. For one, it’s more compact — doesn’t require finding (or buying) wood — and leaves less mess to deal with. For a family of 4 people, I was recommended a proper cooking stove, but to start I got a smaller GSI.

For good measure, I decided to do 1 outing on my own to test the gear and the spot and make sure that the family would also enjoy their first time.
Premises: 1 night stay — no more than 1h30 from home — must have washroom — shower is a bonus.
Disclaimer: My idea of camping is to be closer to nature — away from the clutter of the city life — to enjoy the tasks at hand — and experience a natural environment.
Using the criteria above I quickly learned that what I should look for in a campground or Park are the “walk-in” — “radio free” spots. These tend to be a bit away from the crowd and preserve more of the “natural” ambiance.
Apart from the hundreds of private campgrounds spread around all provinces, I decided to test Ontario Parks. You book your campsite like a hotel room… choosing the date, party size and how many nights. The website is easy to navigate and the best tool I found was the site availability on a map. I was lucky and scored a walk-in spot a few dozen meters from a washroom. The booking for 1 night Fri-Sat including tax was $52. When arriving at the Park you must check in at the Park House, where you’ll be given a slip for parking and for your site. Note that there are check in and out times just like a hotel. These vary a little from place to place, but for me check in-out time was 2PM.
Upon inspecting my site, the very first thing I did was pitch my tent. It had rained all day and all the time during my drive there, so I took this break to set it up as quickly as I could. Then, I decided to check out the washroom installations. I was pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and general offering. Kid friendliness — Check!
Because I had gotten there a little late in the day, after all said and done it was nearing 8PM, so that was time for cooking. I decided to test the ready made packs where you add boiling water for cooking. I got a chili pasta for dinner and an oatmeal for breakfast.
The thing about cooking with this specific stove is that you must remember to bring a lighter. Some stoves have a magnetic spark built in.. it might be a good idea. I also thought would save me a lot of trouble to have water at hand, so I got a foldable 20L tank for $11. This can be used for cooking, drinking, washing and so on…

Because you can use the pouch to eat the food, there was no mess to clean up. The GSI cooking set is also great because you can fit all that on the table inside the pot, and the carrying case can hold water for cleaning.
I was lucky during the night… not one drop fell. I was a little nervous about using the 0.8' mattress I got from Woods because it seemed a little too thin. Turns out that because the ground was flat it was not bad. Also I spent $38 on this one, compared to others that sell for upwards of $100, so it was fine.

In the morning I boiled some water once again and had an Oatmeal pouch, which turned out to be really tasty.
Fearing the heavy skies, I hastily put away everything. The tent was really easy to disassemble with the elastic poles technology, so I was in the car in 25 minutes. As soon as I started driving away the skies opened up.
