Canadian solo wilderness trips in a Golf TDI. Over the years this blog profiled trips to the furthermost spot one could drive in Canada to Inuvik NWT a 7,000km one way drive from Toronto. Later they opened a new road adding another 200km further to Tuktoyaktuk, so i went again. Since the USA Border closure has been extended to at least August 21st 2021 I am staying close to home so will drive around Ontario. Yes driving the same TDI is now has 660,000 kms
pre-checking notes
Toby’s Road on the north one comes by a water wetland again, this is private land. However, there is a road to the south (District Lagoon Road) with a gate if open, it appears to be a private road (unsure) but it goes to small lake that is general use crown land. Don’t know what is there but worth taking a look at. Crown land map does not show the road exist.
Pre-checking notes, update to follow.
South Bay Road Crown land access, shortly after the road turns north and one passes under some power lines, one will see a wetland or watery marsh on both sides. To the east is private property to the west becomes general use crown land after 100 metres. Walking in does not look possible but I will check, maybe a lot of poison ivy around. With a Canoe one can drop on the west side paddle around a rocky out cropping on the south side and find a camp site, no more than 200 meters from the road but fully out of sight. Parking is available along the road no no parking signs around. Still best to find a spot well off the road. If one canoes to the end of this marsh wetland and do a small portage, the waterway opens up to a large area. The map shows it as marsh that one can't paddle through, I shall see.
When driving up Hwy 400 one may see sections where the province have posted a lot of no parking signs and this may seem odd for a highway but this is likely an indicator that in the past it was is a good place to park your car and drop a canoe to access free camping sites.
McCrea Lake main parking area is towards the southbound highway access at Georgian Bay Road. Parking fills up quickly on the weekends best to take Friday off and go up Thursday for a 3 night getaway. A canoe is required to access any camp sites but there are at least 20 of them and most have a rain barrel as a toilet, no walls. I accessed the park from the north end getting off at South Gibson Lake Road, parking near the Gibson River on Iroquois Road. Although the last time I looked there a lot of no parking signs appeared.
The Gibson river requires two easy portages the first right under the hwy underpass before the river opens up. There are 3 large camp sites along the river. This access point is not often used so if you arrive late odds are pretty good that a site is still open. If you paddle around into the main park area and end up at general parking area, your car will be a 5km walk up on the 400 hwy. A bit doggy as the highway clearly says no walkers allowed. I'm not going to go into much detail here as there is lots of information online for this free camping location as its likely the most popular location nearest to Toronto.
Camping in Ontario is wonderful but getting pretty expensive for a solo traveller. A night stay at any provincial park without power now cost $52.50 plus firewood if allowed at $9 a bag or more. So, all in one could be at out $70 a night. For a budget traveller like me, where the trip is as longs as the money holds up, that is a pretty high burn rate.
Fortunately, Canada has something called crown lands, these are lands own by the government and so can be used by all residents without charge. Non-resident can also use them, they need to buy a permit which is still a very good deal ($10.57 per night). To find out where to camp for free checkout the "Crown Land Use Policy Atlas" its an online map very big file and takes time to load so be patient it shows exactly what land is free use "beige" and what is privately owned "grey". Not all land allows camping, when looking at the map look for General Use Lands the beige areas. Some areas will be green and they maybe protected forest or an existing provincial park so no camping allowed or not free Also some areas are purple indicating Indigenous reserves, you still may be able to camp there but one needs to ask and ask the right person which maybe hard to do.
As always when camping in the bush, take out what you brought in, be respectful leave no trash seriously put of you fire with WATER lots of water make sure its cold. Yes that also means your toilet paper too.
This summer I done a lot of research on the map and have identified what looks like good places to camp for free close to Toronto along Hwy 400. Even though I have planned only a 3 week trip a good part of the trip and trip post will involve going to the spots I think I found and record what I see. Take a picture, maybe stay a night, describe where they are, often a canoe will be needed to access the spots. I sold my canoe so I may need to buy a new to me one. Also give parking advice, the problem here is many public roads near private lands have posted no parking signs everywhere one would like to park to access the government lands often accessible only by water. Oh those evil private cottage owners.