As part of a province-wide plan to make camping more accessible to more people, three-week-long stays at campsites in some provincial parks in Northern Ontario will be unavailable most of the summer.
During the peak season from July 1 to Labour Day weekend, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks will reduce the maximum length of stay from 23 nights to either 14 or seven nights at the more popular parks across Ontario.
In the Northwest, the change affects Sleeping Giant, Rainbow Falls, Neys, Quetico and Rushing River Provincial Parks.
In the Northeast, it affects Chutes, Esker Lakes, Fairbank, Finlayson Point, Fushimi, Grundy Lake, Halfway Lake, Ivanhoe, Kap-Kig-Iwan, Kettle Lakes, Killarney, Lake Superior, Marten River, Mississagi, Pancake Bay, Rainbow Falls, and Rene Brunelle.
The maximum permitted stay in these parks will be 14 nights.
"We've heard from countless visitors how frustrating it can be to miss out on a summer camping reservation," the ministry stated. "With reservations in high demand, it can be difficult to get a campsite at some of our campgrounds."
According to the ministry, camping in provincial parks has grown steadily from 4.3 million reserved campsite nights in 2014 to over 6.6 million in 2021.
At other parks, the stay limit will remain 23 days.
More information about booking and staying at provincial park campsites is available online. The list of parks and the length of stay permitted is available here.
Ontario continues to allow campers to stay at the same campsite on Crown land (outside provincial parks) for a maximum of 21 days, although it's proposing to change some regulations related to Crown land camping.
