The Massasauga Provincial Park - Our Thoughts

Over the course of the summer we spent a number of weekends at the Massasauga Provincial Park on Georgian Bay.

Since the summer and the Massassauga season are coming to a close we thought it might be a good time to share some of our favourite and least favourite aspects campsites within the park.

Campsites
Massasauga is a water access park (which is perfect for us and the boat!) with numerous backcountry campsites. Since we often arrived at the park on a Friday evening fighting the sunset we usually stayed at sites fairly close to the Pete's Place access point, we have put together a small list of the sites we stayed at (some quite frequently) along with a brief review:

Site 333

• Island Site (one other site on the island - opposite side)
• Gentle sand slope to beach the boat
• Natural beach
• Great view (looks out towards some classic Georgian Bay islands)
• Decent swimming from the site, but the islands across are a little better for deep water swimming
• Tents can be pitched on the beach or further back in the wooded area - unfortunately our tent is quite large and we aren't fans of sand, so we ended up partially blocking our path to the privy!
• Cliffs located on the North side

Site 323

• Quite secluded - tucked away from main channels on an island
• Closer to the 'big water' of the bay, so it can be windy at times
• 3 man - made tent pads (2 medium, 1 large)
• Great swimming off the rocks
• The entire site is a giant rock - be sure to have some decent shoes on hand for exploring
• Lots of raspberry bushes on the site (great for pancakes if you're there in season!)
• Limited spots to hang food, limited firewood

Site 212

• In a mooring bay, on mainland
• No place to put a tent - especially if you have more than a one man tent!
• Old, full privy
• Very rocky
• Poor swimming
• Bear visits! We had a cub and momma bear visit us at this site

Site 321

• Island site (only one on the island)
• 2 man made tent pads
• This site is comprised of two levels - tent pads on the lower level, kitchen area and firepit on the upper
• Great swimming
• Lots of area to explore
• Fabulous firepit
• Nice bay to pull boat up
• Rock, forest, beach - a great site overall

Massasauga is a great park and especially good for folks who may be trying out backcountry camping for the first time.