Ganaraska Forest Centre — Attraction in Port Hope

We went here recently for our church retreat, and the experience was pretty disappointing.

The showers only had boiling hot water. When we called management about it, they said that’s just how it is setup, which is wild because it was already over 30°C outside. You’d think they’d have both hot and cold water, but nope cold water wasn’t even an option.

There’s no AC in the building either, so it was unbelievably hot inside. Most of us couldn’t sleep properly because of how uncomfortable it was.

Check-in was supposed to be at 4 PM, but we ended up waiting outside until 5:30 PM for someone from management to show up and give us the keys. What made it worse is that when we requested for a 2 hour late checkout, they told us it would be $200 per hour but when they’re late, it’s apparently not a problem.

And communication was terrible. Every time we tried calling management, they either didn’t answer or were super hard to reach. Even during checkout, we couldn’t get a hold of anyone to return the keys.

The kitchen was also dirty and smelled bad when we arrived. No paper towels, no dish soap, no sponge. And there weren’t any garbage cans in the building or in any of the rooms. Like were we supposed to walk 5 miles to the garage bin outside for every time we have to throw trash.

Overall, not a great experience. Unless you’re okay with boiling showers, no AC, and zero communication from management, I’d look...

The forest was beautiful especially now that the fall colors are starting to come out. Its nice to see multiple activities can all play in the same area peacefully and respectfully. Mapping could be a little better and paper maps along with trail signage needs to be updated for sure. Main issue is the rudeness of customer service provided by office staff and field staff. Payment equipment not reliable due to constant poor communications which was a lesson learned to always pay cash. For first time customers a little more compassion and understanding should be taken from staff as this is your revenue ! The staff member at the front gate for pass payment was very helpful and understanding along with good customer service, but Both office clerk and parking attendant was very disappointing in dealing with, no customer compassion or customer retention focus, simply said if you have a problem with our way of business, then simply don’t come back attitude! It is not the consumers responsibility for upkeep on the systems payment communications etc. you can see the difference between privately owned VS government ran organization. Regardless of all the negativity we received both day of a days after, the forest and location is nice and near. Simply for the fact of rudeness from the two staff members is the reason...

This place is my home away from home. The Ganaraska Forest offers the best single trail riding in all of Ontario for two wheel off-road bikes. The parking lots are full of space and the single trail is well marked. I come here every single weekend and 2-3 times during the summer months during the week. I clear trail and keep things flowing for other riders. This place is amazing. There are endless single trail around the entire forest. You can ride here from 4 in the morning till 12 am if you want! The forest center is a well kept quite area when there is not much going on. The amazing man behind the counter at the canteen makes some of the best food I've tasted and is always an amazing trip down to the forest center for some food and energy! the amount of friends and riding buddies i've made and the smiles and laughs we've all had is endless and I will always love the Ganaraska forest for everything it offers anytime in the year. I hope This place keeps it's off road trails open as I myself would love to take my...