Winter Is In The Air... Camping Anyone?

Greetings loyal minions!  How are we all doing on this fine week before the holidays?  I'm getting myself ready for a long weekend of studying (more on that in a future episode) and relaxing in front of my computer.  It won't be until next week that I actually make it back home to celebrate with my family.

What I'd like to talk about this week came from a conversation I had with Dad just recently.  He's interested in doing a camping trip in the Spring, and since he's considerably more on the ball than I am he's already thinking about getting some preliminary planning in place.  You see, the issue that so frequently pops up with a trip to Killarney (which is what's were thinking of) is that they've placed a maximum time limit for how far ahead you can book a camp site.  (I believe the time limit is 5 months, though I could be off by a month on that.)  This makes it so that people can't book up sites years in advance, but what it also does is make a definitive date for when you MUST book a site if you're planning on heading to a popular lake at a popular time of year.  Now, the said, we tend to enjoy camping slightly outside of the main camping season just to enjoy a bit more peace and quiet, but that doesn't mean that we can relax on booking a lake.  This means that if we have a specific plan in mind to be camping in May we should actually be reserving our preferred lake sometime next month.  You see now how organized you have to be in order to get a successful camping trip to Killarney in order; if you're not thinking about things well in advance it's possible your camping trip will fail at the reservation phase.

So yes, even though we're currently experiencing the kind of weather that makes me want to be anywhere BUT a tent, it's time to start considering the options.  We had a really smooth run for our Fall trip in September, with a single, medium length portage that went incredibly smoothly thanks to some good packing and organization.  I think this has emboldened Dad to try for something a little deeper into the park.  As with all things natural the harder it is to get to a lake in Killarney the better it's likely to be.  The other suggestion I made was something that we've been discussing for a couple years now as a backup plan in case we weren't able to get our first choice of lakes, but have never ended up doing - going for one of the camp sites in the channel between the mainland and Philip Edward Island in the Georgian Bay.  I've always thought that sounded like a neat trip, but we keep coming back to the fact that we enjoy camping in Spring and Fall when rough weather are genuine concerns, and if ever some nasty weather was to roll into the area it's likely to come in off the Bay, which means those sites would likely be the hardest hit.  It's a possibility that's always relegated those sites to Plan B or even Plan C.

Whatever the case may be, we already starting the preliminary planning for a trip sometime in May.  Anyone with some input on this proposed trip, or an interest in attending should probably speak up sometime soon since I'm sure the discussions will begin in earnest when I'm home for New Year's Eve.  Also, keeping in mind the lengthy advanced booking requirements, if anyone would like to do a summer trip to Killarney it might not be a bad idea to start getting the ball rolling sooner rather than later.

For now I think I'll stick to my nice, warm house away from the wind and snow.  Still, it can never hurt to think about these things.  I hope that you're all cosy and warm wherever you happen to be right now, and getting ready to enjoy the holidays.  This will be the last post before Christmas, so I wish you all a very merry Christmas.  I will talk to you again next Tuesday for the final post of 2010!  How exciting!  Until then be well, eat lots of good holiday foods, and enjoy the company of friends and family as much as you possibly can.  See you next week!