On August 23, after 20 days of US travel, we re-entered Canada at the Sault Ste Marie border crossing, which, like many crossings in Canada involves going across a long and high bridge. Of course, we got stuck waiting at the top of the bridge. We had filled out the mandatory ArriveCan application and the border guard had few questions, but did flag me for a random Covid test which he said ‘was to be completed and mailed off to a lab within 24 hours’.
We stopped in town to stock up on food, drinks, and fuel, then drove to the KOA just outside of town. Chris had a little sticker shock buying wine from the LCBO after consistently paying half the price in the US. We were happy to see that the KOA lives up to the KOA brand name and is very nice (Chris had checked and the reviews were all very positive). Unfortunately though, the site they gave us turned out to have a wasp nest in some bushes which Cedar promptly discovered and was stung multiple times. The staff quickly assigned us a new site and we settled in for a couple days rest. The park is nicely equipped with a pool, laundry, little store, dog park, children’s play area, and a couple walking trails. They also provide an RV wash station which is a real bonus. We met a lovely couple, Don and Debbie, also from BC who’s story of retiring and moving to BC 4 years ago, finding housing too expensive, and starting RV life, was quite a parallel to ours. They also live in Qualicum Beach – what a coincidental meeting. We exchanged info and will meet up once home.
After a two night rest which recharged our batteries a little we chose a boondockers host to stay the next night. We arrived at the home and were warmly greeted by the entire family, then invited to join them for cocktails (in their garage/bar) before dinner. They are avid RVers who are happy to welcome others to share stories. They live in a small town where both work public sector jobs, and their son is a trucker. The property is large enough to easily host 5 or more big rigs. We had the place to ourselves that night.
As we head into the weekend, we were having trouble finding a campground with available sites, but were able to get one at Chutes Provincial Park which is just off the highway. The park is named after a logging chute that diverted logs around the waterfall on the river.
It’s nice to explore a ‘new to us’ park. There is a nice hike along the Aux Sables River which has quite a few scenic points to view the rapids, falls, and chutes and the trail is well maintained. The one comfort station (there are smaller pit toilets throughout), was clean and modern with 5 separate shower stalls and a laundry room.
The next morning, we stopped in Deep River at Grouse park to walk trails leading to the Ottawa River. Along our walk we discovered a ski hill with runs that lead down to the river. A couple, local to the area, verified that the ski hill is still operational and is where she learned to ski. Love finding these little gems.
Although we could have pushed on to Ottawa we decided to take a couple days to rest up and booked two nights at another KOA, in Renfrew. Again we were disappointed to see a run down campground, and they assigned us a site at the corner of two roads which was not ideal with a pup. Walking around the camp we discovered half the residents have permanent seasonal set ups, and many of the nicer sites. Curious about this, I discovered online that KOA has 3 types of campgrounds. We will have to read reviews more carefully when booking these in future, because this one was very dirty and unkept. Clearly they are not very well monitored in keeping with KOA standards.