Bass Lake -- Lakeview

I don't really feel like I got the full picture of Bass Lake as we only really used it as a jumping off point for the rest of the trip. We were only there for one night and most of it was spent trying to stay out of the way of the emergency vehicles that showed up to help someone who'd fallen and injured themselves. (He was okay in the end.)

I didn't really pay too much attention to the park itself when booking because I knew we weren't really going to be spending any time there. I just wanted somewhere to pitch my tent for the night to break up the drive out to Killbear. That said, it actually looked pretty nice and I wouldn't mind going back sometime and exploring the park a bit. It only has one hiking trail of its own, but it's very convenient to Wye Marsh and Saint Marie among the Hurons as well as Springwater Provincial Park. And since, Springwater is day use only, having somewhere nearby to camp is handy!

So, although I don't feel like I got the full Bass Lake experience, it did leave a favourable impression and I like that it's not too far from home and close to lots of other interesting stuff. I definitely want to go back to Wye Marsh and we didn't even have time to check out Saint Marie among the Hurons or Springwater. There's also apparently another nature reserve in the area that offers free admission, so that might be worth checking out the next time we're in the area too.

The Campground

The Lakeview campground is pleasantly tree-filled which gives most of the sites a bit of privacy. There is a centrally located comfort station with flush toilets and showers, which is a nice luxury when camping. There are also vault toilets (aka outhouses) at either end of the campground. The Kidlet isn't a huge fan of the outhouse though, so I normally try to book something reasonably close to the comfort stations if I can.

(If you value privacy and quiet more than running water, it looks like the Cedar campground is the place to be. No comfort station, but there are only six campsites and they look to be more widely spaced than on the other campgrounds. They're also closer to the water. I didn't get a chance to head down and check them out myself, but the online maps and photos certainly make them look appealing.)

Firewood is sold at the camp office. I can't remember how much it cost. I think it was $8.50/bag. I forgot to ask if they sold kindling, but there were enough small pieces in with the normal firewood, that I didn't end up missing having separate kindling.

The Site

We were on site 243. Nothing particularly remarkable about the site in one direction or the other. It's close to the comfort station, flat, not too open, and a quick walk to the nearest water spigot. The soil was quite hard and I ended up having to use the back of my hatchet to drive the tent pegs into the ground. (Bent a couple of them too.) But it was nothing unmanageable.

The fire pit had a metal ring with a permanently attached (fixed, rather than hinged) grate. The grate was quite small, so it's worth bringing your own if you want to be able to cook more than one or two items at a time. The fire ring did at least have some ventilation holes in it though (unlike the one at Rouge), so at least the fire could breathe properly. And the ring wasn't too tall, so the food does end up a reasonable height above the flame as well.

I didn't have time to scope out the other sites too much, but I didn't see any that stood out as significantly better or worse than the one we were on. I'd happily stay there again.