Hey Reader!

As a follow-up to last week's email, I'm going to go into a little more detail about non-operating provincial parks. Turns out, a lot of people were unaware that this amazing alternative to crown land existed, and still comes with no reservations and no park fees.

You can see a full list of non-operating parks here.

What are Non-Operating Parks?

Similar to their operating siblings, non-operating parks are protected by Ontario Parks. The main difference, however, is that non-operating parks tend to have no facilities and no staff. They also don't require reservations, permits or fees.

For those reasons, in a lot of ways, non-operating parks function like crown land. There are a few key differences however:

• There may be park staff: Resource Stewards are employed by Ontario Parks as roving park wardens, and they do visit non-operating parks.
• You need to follow Ontario Parks rules: Among other things, this means no flying drones and no cutting down trees for bushcraft projects.

Despite those rules, it's still an excellent trade off for free camping.

Also, just because it's a non-operating park, doesn't mean you can camp. You have to check the park's website to see if camping is allowed. Some non-operating parks are adjacent to urban areas and other parks which don't allow camping, or they're protecting a sensitive environment (or they're just way too small!). When you're on the park's website (on the Introduction tab) - look for the image below. If the camping icons are blue, you're (usually) good to go!

There's been a few occasions where the icons didn't match the sign at the park. Usually if you Google the name of the park and "camping" you'll be able to find a little more confirmation on whether camping is allowed (for example, the Egan Chutes PP website says there is camping, but if you google "Egan Chutes camping" one of the first Google images is of the park's welcome sign, which says no camping).

Routes in Non-Operating Parks

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some routes in non-operating you can consider.

Note: The links below head to the route's trip report, so you'll need to be a member to view the maps and campsite locations. If you're not a member, create an account and use the code EXPLORE when you check out. This will allow you to temporarily read the reports for free. If you're already a member, THANK YOU!!

​Noganosh Lake - What a hidden gem! Noganosh Lake PP lies a little south of Lake Nipissing and covers several lakes within its ~30 km2 boundaries. There's limited information online about the location of campsites within the park, so pick up a copy of Kevin Callan's Top 50 Canoe Routes of Canada.

​Magnetawan River - This is a ~75 km route from Highway 124 to Highway 69. There are several campsites on either side of the river, and most of the rapids can be portaged. Tip: If you're not into canoeing, a few of the campsites can be hiked to from the logging roads south of the river. I won't broadcast my favourite campsite around here, but if you're interested in camping here send me a message directly.

​Mattawa River - Another route near Lake Nipissing, this one has fewer campsites and is closer to civilization. But there are only a few rapids / waterfalls to portage around, so it's suitable even if you're not a whitewater paddler.

​Chiniguchi Waterway PP - One of my favourite spots in Ontario, this is a park in the Temagami region with the world's largest remaining old-growth red pine forest. There's also an awesome waterfall along the route and some top-notch campsites.

Other Non-Operating Parks with Camping:

• Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands
• Wanapitei PP
• Little White River PP
• Steel River PP
• Mississagi River PP (not to be confused with Mississagi PP which is a regular park)
• Lower Madawaska River PP

​You can find all of my routes for non-operating provincial parks here.​

I hope this has been helpful and you're able to do a little more free camping this summer. As always, if you have any questions, please let me know!

Happy adventuring,

Mikaela