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A group of us have stayed here every July for the past 6 or so years. We have tried to stick it out after the previous owners sold, but this year will unfortunately likely be our last. The camp has lost its cozy, family run feel that it had with Irene.
I will say, the bathrooms are kept very clean, and the expanded beach area is a plus, but the price, per night, more than doubled and there are so many additional costs for every little thing. My son comes camping with us each year as this is a family trip and because he’s been over 18 for the past 2 stays we’ve had to reserve an entire second campsite since the cost for an extra tent is $43/night on the same site. It makes no sense to pay that high of a rate for an additional tent when an entire site is only a few dollars more per night. That results in over $600 for our immediate family to camp for 5 nights.
The camp was very accommodating to get our group booked in prior to the reservations opening on campspot, but even the reservation process has $20 charges over and above the actual reservation to “lock in” multiple campsites, even if the reso is done directly with the camp through email.
My biggest complaint is the lack of presence of staff out and about. There’s the host site at the entrance and the occasional young staffer cleaning the bathroom or bagging ice, but no one seemed to check in on things on a regular basis. Every single day and night there were multiple dogs at multiple sites who were allowed to bark and whine and howl, sometimes as late as 11:30/midnight. Dogs were loose and wandering into our campsite and we observed another get loose from their site and run onto the highway. Any other site I’ve stayed at took the time to do a walk around every few hours to make sure no one is being disruptive, especially after quiet time.
edit - prices doubled from previous owner to new owner. I did state in my review the bathrooms are clean. Most of our party was unable to stay connected to the wifi. Possibly overloaded system with so many campers logged in, but we were frequently...
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We booked to stay 3 night at the camp, but when we got there- the fire smoke was so thick, we could hardly see the lake from the campground. There were 5 fires blazing nearby, and although the campsite was nearly full when I was booking, there were zero tents (we also wanted to tent camp), and hardly any RVs left.
We have a toddler and a baby and both my kids were suffering from the smoke, as we got to the campsite. The camp employees were extremely nice but the owner- Cory, is more concerned with making a profit than on having happy customers. We called Cory and asked if we could get a partial refund or at least a credit for next summer. She insisted that if she did that, her business would be loosing $. It was not safe to tent camp in those extreme conditions. The owner kept saying that they don’t refund on such short notice as per their policy, and that they can only refund for firewood that was pre-purchased on-line (there was a province-wide fire ban in effect). They told me they would refund $10 for each firewood bundle when we paid $15 on-line. The camp employees told me they sell firewood for $10 per bundle, not $15 that I paid on line. So if you buy firewood- buy it in person, as it’s cheaper!!! We did manage to get our full $ back for firewood, but not for camping. We have stayed at this campsite in previous years and it was run much better under the previous owners.
If you do decide to camp there- get ready to camp on brown, dry grass, and be prepared to pay extra for every little thing.
As for us, we will be taking our camping to the variety of other campsites in the area in next years....
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WOW WOW! Our family just returned from an 8 night stay at Camp Valhalla. It was our first time tent camping with our kids and we were definitely nervous (and very unprepared) heading into it. As soon as we got to Summit Lake, we were greeted by Becky/Cory and given the lay of the land. We settled in quickly, discovered the ice cream shop, and immediately jumped in the lake. Great start to the trip after a long day on the road.
Throughout the stay, we were blown away with the generousity (of the owners/hosts and other campers), amenities around the site, and fun times to be had at any time of day.
Our favourite part of Camp Valhalla was the space to relax/discover/recreate on a daily basis. We loved the sandy beaches for quick swims and paddles. There is a lot of green space for games of bocce ball...also the playground was a hit with the kiddos. The nearby trails were great for running and forest walks. We also had the chance to visit the local hot springs one cloudy day.
From a camping standpoint, we found the bathrooms to be clean and accessible (even with hot showers) and cleaning facilities to be super helpful for washing up after meals. Our site was flat for the tent and we managed to find some shade behind a tree. If you're tenting, we would suggest having a pop-up tent for over your picnic table to make your stay more comfortable! Ours came in really handy.
Overall, I'd give this place 10 stars if I could. We're already starting to plan our trip back next summer...and guessing our kids will be wearing their new Camp Valhalla shirts for the majority of...
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