Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park — Attraction in Calvin

If you’re a group of 20 something’s, steer clear of this place. My family had the most awful experience here. The park rangers were cold and unfriendly from the very start.

We were evicted within 5 hours of being there, simply because one ranger thought we were being too loud. Not once did he ask us kindly to keep it down. The first time he came by, he issued a first-offence warning to my cousin for bringing her drink onto the dirt road, where HE led her to talk to her about excessive noise. After this, we all went to the beach to chill out and within 5 minutes of returning to our campsite, the rangers showed up again...this time with OPP officers. The rangers wouldn’t tell us what was going on. We had to ask many questions to figure out that we were being fined, then it was the police who told us we were being evicted. The ranger couldn’t even tell us himself.

He was young and obviously inexperienced, as there was no effort to provide clear communication. Most of us felt uncomfortable driving, since we were drinking. Therefore, we agreed to stay on our separate campsites, cook our food, go to bed, then leave early the next morning. The rangers didn’t even check up on us once. They obviously just wanted us out.

What’s more frustrating is how later that night we heard kids screaming and parents laughing loudly. The rangers didn’t seem to have a problem with them, though. Which leads me to believe they were targeting us solely based on our age.

My cousins and siblings hold a camping trip every year. We’re always respectable and we always get along with campground staff. However, Samuel de Champlain’s staff were rude and acted unfairly.

This is the first time I’ve ever had to complain like this and hopefully it’ll be the last. My friends and family will never be returning to...

A beautiful provincial park with a lot of things to do - hiking, canoeing, swimming, etc. The only reason for my 4 star rating is based on the conditions of the campground. The campsites are a little on the small side compared to what I've seen at other parks, though maybe it depends which site you book. The comfort station at the campground was also not well maintained - by midnight, some of the stalls would be out of toilet paper, some would be clogged, and the floor and sink area were a mess. Drainage in the shower stalls was also bad - there would be a large, deep puddle of water in the area that's designated for changing in, making it difficult to maneuver and also to exit the stall. It was the long weekend when we camped, but some of the campsites didn't have the proper facilities. When we arrived, one of our group's two sites had a broken picnic table with rusty nails sticking out of where the board was missing. Not a huge issue for us since we were all hanging out at one site anyways, but then a neighbouring (vacant) campsite had no table at all, though the campers that arrived must have requested one because they had one by the evening.

In terms of hiking, it was awesome! We hiked the "Geology Loop" trail within the Etienne Trails. We had a group of 9 ranging from young kids to older adults, and we completed the hike in under 4 hours, including breaks. A word of caution: when it says steep cliffs, there really are - there was one area of the trail where we had to climb up from a stream to a path about 1m above it - you either need a lot of strength or someone to boost you up.

Overall, a great provincial park and I would go back! Just hoping they improve the maintenance of...

Wish we had more days to explore this beauty of a park. Clean, well maintained, outstanding scenery. Park staff were the most helpful staff I've encountered at a provincial park. Hats off to Mat who works in the information centre/museum. He was so informative and answered every random question we asked about the history of the fur trade and the voyageurs. (do not skip this visit, I was taken back to elementary school learning about our unique history.) The rapids are fun, bring a tube and plan to get yourself unstuck from a large rock or a downed tree... Seriously, it's fun. Kayaking on the Mattawa was gorgeous, we could hear really loud rushing water from the river and followed the sound until we wadded through an ice cold patch of water and found ourselves a fresh spring waterfall.

Comfort stations are the usual, of course its going to be a bit dirty with muddy water.. It's camping, wear your sandals in the shower and change in the washrooms. I'm not expecting the Plaza hotel from a park shower. Pleasant surprise was the "outhouses"... They were actually flush toilets with a sink to wash your hands.

Just a small issue and it's not the parks fault... But other campers faults. PACK OUT WHAT YOU PACK IN. Stop leaving random garbage and junk at your sites. Pick up a recycling bag from the registration office and bag your cans and plastic... It doesn't belong in the fire pit. Our site had random metal coat hangers left scattered about, and bread tags etc. Point of camping in our countries parks are to leave no trace.

Keep the...