Sand Lake Gate (Algonquin Provincial Park) — Attraction in Laurentian Hills

After camping at Lake of two Rivers another Algonquin Park and having a great experience, I decided a week later to return to Algonquin Park.... Little did I know, when inputting my GPS location that I would be traveling an extra 3 and 1/2 hours from the prior location... 8 hours was well worth it when I arrived to this gem location, hidden away in the back woods of Algonquin, and nestled beneath the trees on a beautiful Grand Lake!. .. traveling with my young son, this was a brave experience without any cell service, in the quiet solitude of the true North Ontario. Be sure to know your route, my Google map arrived just before the gates, which was a little unnerving at 9 pm in the dark, but instinctively I continued driving down the gravel road to a well lit entrance gate. Time your trip to arrive during daylight hours and you will be pleasantly surprised and greated by friendly staff and a clean , stunning park with many amazing sites... I stayed at site 7 directly on the lake and each of the sites all had a slightly differently view and special uniqueness to offer for an epic camping trip! This is a location for those , that love to camp in the real back woods and aren't expecting showers and amenities like the closer to city sister parks of Algonquin, Ontario. A must see to appreciate experience! Can't...

Went to Achray in Algonquin. Would have been 5 star but so far away for me (oakville). Loved the short hike to multiple view points for Barron Canyon (only 1.5 km) and high falls with its natural water slide and many pools was another highlight. Note the cheater trail to high falls still takes an hour or so to hike. It is not difficult (only a few places where you have to climb up or down steep inclines). Pack water and snacks since you will want to spend the day there. The paddle to Barron Canyon took about 4 hours round trip starting from squirrel rapids. It did include a short 750m portage. Oh and we did have lunch in our canoe aswell. The unpaved road that takes you to the east sand lake gate and evrything else I have mentioned is long and very bumpy. Your car will rattle hard if you don't ride the magic carpet (the perfect speed to carry you from the peak of one bump to the peak of the next bump). I found the magic speed to be between 60-80km/hr depending on which section of road you are on. The Achray camp ground has beaches so no need to drive anywhere of that is all you are lookong for. Water is very shallow for a very long distance so very nice for kids. I recommend checking...

Amazing scenes, very peaceful camp site and super helpful staff. One of our cars had problems starting after our stay, the staff helped us in getting help. Please note that there is no cellphone coverage in the area with the diameter of 30 kilometers. No payphone and basically no connectivity. In emergency cases, if you go behind the campground office, you will get a weak signal from their cell booster inside the office, but you should stand close to the wall. We could not get it on our iPhone devices but the Samsung devices could get something enough to make a call (on Rogers network). There is almost 40 kilometers of gravel road to the site but it is in perfect shape, some people visit the park with hatchback cars, but I do not recommend, you may have issues if weather changes.

Park is equipped with water and clean washrooms which have solar lights over night. Other than that there is basically no light pollution and if you are lucky to have a clear sky, you can see the whole universe above the trees...