Family Friendly Campgrounds Close to Ottawa

Summer 2020 is the year of camping for many families. Lara shared how her kids love backyard camping, which is a lot of fun, but if you’re also looking to get away and out of urban (or suburban) Ottawa, check out these family-friendly campgrounds close to Ottawa. Some are provincial parks and some are privately owned. Before you book a site or visit, check what facilities/activities are available and continue to follow public health advice, including physical distancing by keeping at least two metres from others, wearing a face-covering when physical distancing may be challenging or not possible, washing hands regularly with soap and water or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.

Cardinal KOA 
609 Pittston Road
Cardinal, ON K0E 1E0
Phone: (613) 657-4536

Located an hour away from downtown Ottawa, this family-friendly campground has amenities for kids including a heated pool, a splash pad, kids climbing wall, a big bouncer, a mini-golf and a pirate ship playground (please note: at the time of writing this, these were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions). Activities also include hayrides on Saturdays and movies under the stars on Saturdays evenings. Summer Saturdays also include activities such as arts and crafts sessions, soccer and bike races.

Cedar Cove Resorts
100 Cedar Cove Road
White Lake, Ontario K0A 3L0
Phone: (613) 623-3133

Located about 45-minutes from Kanata in White Lake (just past Arnprior, Ontario), Cedar Cove offers seasonal sites and weekend camping. There is also a grocery store, pool, sandy beach, restaurant, volleyball courts, a playground (please note: at the time of writing this, the playground was closed due to COVID-19 restrictions). and more. White Lake offers fantastic fishing too and they sell worms and tackle on-site!

Murphy’s Point
2243 Elmgrove Road, R.R. 5
Perth, Ontario K7H 3C7
Phone: (613) 267-5060

 Located on Big Rideau Lake, Murphy’s offers a sandy beach, walking trails, weekend activities as well as an early 1900s mica mine you can book free tours of, as well as family-friendly interpretive programming from June to Labour Day weekend. You can also rent canoes and kayaks for an additional fee (please note: at the time of writing this, these were unavailable to rent due to COVID-19 restrictions) and there is a small general store that sells ice cream and popsicles. If you’re lucky, Chuck Commanda will be onsite building a birch bark canoe (hopefully he’ll be back in 2021). 

Lac Phillippe Campground
300, Lake Philippe Road, La Pêche (Ste-Cécile-de-Masham),
Québec
613-239-5000

The largest camping sector in Gatineau Park with a family atmosphere, located 3 kilometres from the registration kiosk, and close to services, amenities and beaches. 206 campsites, wooded and semi-wooded. Close to Wakefield and offering many trails and beautiful views of the lake, this is one of our favourite campgrounds. 

Rideau River
2680 Donnelly Drive
Kemptville, Ontario K0G 1J0
613 258-2740

Located on the historic Rideau Waterway, this is a nice family campground with shaded campsites. It’s only 40 minutes away from Ottawa and surrounded by many small towns that are also worth exploring. You can rent canoes and kayaks for an additional fee (please note: at the time of writing this, these were unavailable to rent due to COVID-19 restrictions), which is a great way to explore the waters of the Rideau – or if you have a motorboat, you can fish for muskie or bass. 

Wesley Clover Campgrounds
411 Corkstown Rd
Ottawa, ON. K2K 0J5
613-828-6632

Open from June to mid-October, Wesley Clover offers family-friendly camping without travelling very far! Just 15 minutes from downtown Ottawa in a tree-filled setting, this campground is the perfect urban getaway – especially if you are new to camping or have young kids and want to try camping someplace closer to home. There are beautiful urban trails, places to bike and a fire put. There is no water to swim or fish in, but if you’re looking for a night outdoors in a rural setting, Wesley Clover is the perfect campground for that.

Voyageur Provincial Park Campground
1313 Front Road, Box 130
Chute-à-Blondeau
K0B 1B0 613-674-2825

With four beaches on the Ottawa River, Voyageur offers lots of space for families to relax and swim. They also offer a summer nature interpretation program and great fishing right from shore! There are also walking trails and many picnic areas. Great for a day or a weekend stay.

What campgrounds are your family’s favourites?

Winter yurt camping in Gatineau Park: Fun for all ages!

If the thought of camping in the winter sends shivers down your spine, don’t let it! This past winter was the first winter that my family and I ventured into to the great outdoors to camp, but thanks to the numerous yurts and four season tents available in Gatineau Park, our camping experience was unforgettably comfortable!

So much so, that we did it again this past weekend! We packed up our sleeping bags, camp pillows, marshmallows (and other, more nutritious food), clothes for the weather (which was cool, but not freezing), and hiked the 3.4 km to our yurt to settle in for a weekend of fun.

We were lucky because this time we invested in the luggage and water  transportation to our yurt (it’s available for an additional fee), but we didn’t when we went in December, and we managed just fine then too – thanks to my Hercules husband who managed to carry almost everything on his back. And yes, if you don’t pay for it you have to bring your own water – for cooking and drinking (if you’re lucky there will be plenty of snow, which lessens the amount of water you will need to bring).

Some of you may be wondering why we wanted to camp in the winter or early spring? There are many reasons to camp off season, including:

1)   Peace and quiet

With the exception of a few hard-core tent campers, other than the people in nearby yurts and four-season tents, there were not many people around, which meant that the only noise we heard were from trees blowing in the wind, a couple of coyotes and raccoons at night, a grey-horned owl (which was incredible to hear!) and our own breathing – it was glorious!

2)   Bright nights

Yes, you have to use an outhouse and sometimes children need to go in the middle of the night, but the bright snow makes walking in otherwise complete darkness a little brighter, and night in the middle of the woods in winter is a special kind of beautiful.

3)   No bugs

Isn’t that great? No need to carry bug spray of any kind, nor did we have to worry about nighttime creepy crawlies while going to the outhouse (not to mention because it is so cold, the outhouse never smells!)

4)   Winter fun and wildlife

To access the yurts and four season tents in Gatineau Park you can hike (if there isn’t a lot of snow), or cross country ski or snowshoe. Along your journey you may be honoured with the presence of deer, moose and other wildlife!

5)   The Wood Stove

I can tell you right now, even in the middle of winter you will not be cold at night. The wood-burning stove (the wood is included in the rental price and is available near your yurt or tent) will heat up your accommodations quickly. The first time we spent the night in a four-season tent we were so hot that we opened all of the windows and doors to let some cold winter air in (my recommendation is to always have a window open at least a crack, it helps regulate the inside temperature)! It's an efficient source of heat and it's what you will use to cook your meals - a unique and educational experience for everyone!

6) Memorable Experience

I guarantee your kids will be talking about their winter camping trip for months to come! My daughter loved hiking to the nearby lake and looking for animal tracks in the snow. She loved having to cook everything on a wood stove and she loved eating dinner by candlelight (there is no electricity after all!).

There is also a journal in each unit with stories from people who previously stayed in the yurt or tent. Their stories are funny, interesting and relatable – like the first time winter campers in our yurt who didn’t realize the walk was so far so they chose to leave behind a beautiful orange skillet for future yurt visitors to use, simply because it was too heavy for them to carry back out.

My only complaint is that the online booking system can be confusing, especially for first time users and there is a chance something can get double booked (it happened to us once, but they were kind and gave us our money back plus a voucher); but once your yurt or tent is booked you’re all set!

Tell me, have you camped in the winter? It’s our hopes to check out some of the amazing yurts and four season tents in Algonquin Park next year. I’ll make sure to let you know how it goes…

Camping in Bon Echo: Part 2 (or, Camping with Kids)

The other day I wrote a review of Bon Echo Provincial Park. In general we had a great experience, but there were some challenges. I complained a bit about the park management, but most of the challenges were related to the difficulties when camping with young children.

This was our first camping trip with two kids. We've gone with our oldest daughter around 18 months and then again at 3 years. This time we had both girls - one is 22 months, and the other will be 5 next week.

The walk-in site was tough with young kids. If you're planning a walk-in, or a canoe/portage trip, I would strongly recommend giving it a second thought. We had to carry all of our stuff - two tents, one kitchen tent, two coolers, one giant tarp, all of our bags, shoes, jackets, toys etc. over a 5 minutes rocky trail to get to our site. I'm all for "backcountry" or "real" camping, but I think I'll enjoy it a lot more when my kids are old enough to carry things themselves. Obviously you'll pack less if you're canoe camping, but it will still be a tough slog with little people who are learning to walk!

Another challenge is sleep - young kids who are used to a quiet/dark room will have challenges falling asleep and staying asleep, especially if you are unlucky enough to have loud neighbours (which we did). Expect to be tired, and perhaps consider bringing along ear plugs for your own comfort (we found the white noise app on our phone to work really well for my youngest, and we charged the phone in our car each morning!)

Here are some other tips that worked really well for us, and made the experience fun:

• tarp your site - try to cover as much ground as you can. If you experience torrential rains (which we did!), your children will still have some dry space to do crafts and read books
• If you're car camping, consider purchasing a kitchen tent. It gives you some great space to cook, do crafts and play games, and if you keep it zipped up, will ward of the bugs!
• Pack a huge tote full of markers, crayons, stickers, playdough etc. We brought this out every day, and the girls spent hours colouring and crafting.
• Also consider packing sand toys, Kidnoculars (or just regular binoculars will do!), bikes, and containers for collecting leaves, rocks and other things kids love to pick up
• Blowup mattresses are amazing - I know Thermarests are smaller and easier to pack, but blow-up mattresses make a huge difference for comfort.

My last piece of advice? Let go of control - yes, it will be messy. It will be dirty. You might be a bit tired (at least for the first couple of nights). But it's worth it. You'll have lovely campfires, see shooting stars, swim in a cool/clean lake, go for nature walks, and watch your children delight in the outdoors.

Our oldest started the trip complaining about the "stinky" toilets, being afraid of bugs, and getting upset over her feet being dirty. By the end of the week she was picking spiders off her legs and saying "oh, hello there Daddy long legs!" The transformation was amazing!

What are your tips for camping with young children?