The first thing that will impress you about this place is its sheer size. When you finally reach the visitor’s centre realize that you are 7 miles from the campground and the shoreline. The fact that there are 40 miles of biking trails trips lightly off the tongue until you start walking them, bring a bike and realize that mosquitoes and black flies do not require that you sign a blood donor card and come prepared. There are also several miles of board walks and at least 12 miles of nature trails. There are miles upon miles of beach among the sand dunes which are also home to the endangered Piping Plover and scores of shore birds. Don’t be surprised if a bear walks past your site or you see a coyote. Watch your pets.
The organized campground has electrical hook-ups and even Wi-Fi when it’s working but it also has bike to, hike to, or even ski to winter camping. There’s a campground store, food concessions, and rental concession. New are rental cabins and even rental camping gear. In season there’s a full interpretive program in both official languages.
An evening spring hike along the nature trail revealed Bunch Berries, Clintonia, Star Flower, Sweet Clover, Purple Violet, Canada Mayflowers, Pussytoes; Bracken, Sensitive, and Fiddlehead Ferns; a drumming Ruff Grouse, Wood Thrush, a Varying Hare, several woodpeckers, and a couple gurgling brooks. Which of the 70-some species of mosquitoes were droning around my head did not particularly interest me.
The groundhog living under one of the service buildings did not seem perturbed to have me get within 10 feet of him. With woodland, riverine, meadow, grassland, wetland, and shoreline habitat this is a birder’s paradise. Sit yourself down and let the birds come to you. Or book a trip in the voyager canoe.
The organized campground has electrical hook-ups and even Wi-Fi when it’s working but it also has bike to, hike to, or even ski to winter camping. There’s a campground store, food concessions, and rental concession. New are rental cabins and even rental camping gear. In season there’s a full interpretive program in both official languages.
An evening spring hike along the nature trail revealed Bunch Berries, Clintonia, Star Flower, Sweet Clover, Purple Violet, Canada Mayflowers, Pussytoes; Bracken, Sensitive, and Fiddlehead Ferns; a drumming Ruff Grouse, Wood Thrush, a Varying Hare, several woodpeckers, and a couple gurgling brooks. Which of the 70-some species of mosquitoes were droning around my head did not particularly interest me.
The groundhog living under one of the service buildings did not seem perturbed to have me get within 10 feet of him. With woodland, riverine, meadow, grassland, wetland, and shoreline habitat this is a birder’s paradise. Sit yourself down and let the birds come to you. Or book a trip in the voyager canoe.
