Black River Wilderness Park — Hotel in Ontario

I stayed here this past weekend with my two year old and pregnant wife. For background, we typically go on 4-6 camping trips per year across southern Ontario (Timmins area and south).

The check in went well and the store was pretty nice. The staff were friendly and helpful upon check in. They gave us a gate code so we could get in and out easily.

When we got there we found out that the island campsites were walk in which was not mentioned on the website and given that my wife is pregnant and we are travelling with a two year old this was a pretty major let down. We made the best of it. The site was beautiful, we camp extensively and this was one of the prettiest sites that we have ever stayed at. They provided a few wheelbarrows to transport your stuff to the island but being a busy Friday they were all in use, we used our wagon to transport stuff which thankfully we had for our daughter and I recommend bringing one if you can. The path to the site was rough with pipes and many roots sticking out of the ground. This made it somewhat difficult to navigate.

The parking was a pretty significant issue. For the islands they have a very small parking lot where we couldn't get a spot the entire weekend, which meant that we often had to park at the gatehouse which was challenging for my pregnant wife and two year old. They said on check in that they were going to find the people taking up more spots than they were entitled to, however I noticed no overt effort to do so and the entire time we were there we couldn't get a spot. Eventually they said we could park in the no parking zone but by then we had already had to walk several times to the gatehouse to the car. Had my wife not been pregnant and our children been either older or not with us it wouldn't have been too bad but given our situation it was definitely not ideal.

Now, they advertise family camping- I disagree. They did have a nice playground for.kids and my daughter seemed to really enjoy that and the staff were friendly with our toddler, however that is where the "family" camping ended. The posted policy is 2 adults and dependents if any per site, but there were multiple sites with significantly more than 2 adults, usually 20 something's The site was on a steep cliff leading down to a river full of rapids. No swimming for small children at all. We knew about the cliff before we booked from the pictures but it is definitely something to keep in mind.

Most of the campers were drunken college kids that were gathered in large groups and quite loud. Pot smoke wafted around pretty frequently and there seemed to be no policy on open alcohol, people were drinking everywhere, on the sites and off, even while floating the river. Staff seemed to turn a blind eye to this or it was allowed? Anyway, by late afternoon on Saturday drunk people were everywhere and starting to get rowdy. We decided to leave a day early because the party was getting louder and nothing is worse than a bunch of drinks hooting and hollering late into the evening and keeping your small kid awake at night.

The grounds were clean and fairly well maintained. Bathrooms were always kept clean which was well appreciated. Showers looked really nice but no hot water which made it impossible to bath our very grubby toddler. If we were staying for longer this would have been a big problem, but it was just a weekend trip so we dealt with it and went home for warm showers.

They did mention on the website a water shortage, I am not sure how much of a role that played into the hot water issues. There was a water advisory posted minimally at the showers. With my experience at other parks, I've come to expect that if there's a water advisory it's posted at the water taps and not only at the showers. I drank almost a litre before I saw it!

Overall it was an okay trip, but I think in the future we will be finding a more appropriate family camping destination that is more suitable for our family and the age of...

Stayed July 28th to 30th-Island 2 Site A Honest review

Management/Customer Service

We had booked online for a girls' weekend. I had called a couple of days prior to our arrival to see if an early check-in would be possible. No one was on our site previously, so we were welcomed early. Check-in was fast and easy. Our firewood was delivered to our site, and all staff we encountered were helpful and kind. Especially the front desk lady, I forget her name; she has long brown hair, tattoos, and a red staff shirt. She was also in charge of cleaning the bathrooms, and let me tell you she is a trooper. I will explain under cleanliness. We were told they had wheel barrows to move our things as we were on island 2, but they were never there, so we lugged our stuff. (Firewood is $14.99 a bag plus tax and camp does not allow outside wood as it causes damage to the environment).

Cleanliness

The grounds were exceptionally clean and beautiful. The bathrooms are another story. I have never seen anything like it. Anytime we would hit the bathrooms during the day that poor girl would be cleaning them, but they were horrible. She couldn't clean them fast enough, I was absolutely mortified at what women would do to their bathrooms. Numerous clogged toilets due to women not flushing and flushing sanitary items down. I literally told someone with baby wipes. I hope you didn't flush that, and she laughed. People they are on septic and have notices everywhere, not to do that. The kicker was someone who used their sink as a wiping station, and it was their time of the month. That time, I puked. It's a shame I have to give a 3 star due to the parks clients. I would honestly suggest the staff invest in a pressure washer with bleach. If I ever go back, I will be in a trailer with my own bathroom.

Grounds

Aside from bathrooms. They were extremely well maintained. It is quite a picturesque site to see. It takes about 25 mins to float down the huge lazy river. Most river sites are on top of each other, but the ones near bush have a bit more privacy if that's what you're looking for. They do have cabins and yurts. I did not see the inside of cabins but saw the yurts. They do have a store on site as well, and a little market was there the Saturday of our stay. They have garbage bins, and I believe a dumping site for trailers. All in all, excellent grounds if you don't care about privacy. It is also pet friendly, so there are dogs barking at all hours.

To conclude, it's a shame the people renting have such disrespect for such a beautiful spot. So, to eliminate that, I strongly suggest a trailer with a bathroom. It really isn't the staffs fault they are in there constantly. You could not pay me enough to clean that. You would need someone 24/7. Management, please invest in a...

I was just at this park from July 18-21 2019. First the good. The park is clean and well kept and sites are flat and mostly grass. The river is a nice feature as the kids enjoyed playing in the current and tubing down the rapids. Now the Bad. I was booked into site 8 and our friends had site 9. Both are advertised as 30A services. We both had units with AC and it was very hot that weekend. I knew right away that there was something not right about the power service. My serge protector was saying the polarity was wrong. My AC was struggling to run and was kicking off. I went to the front desk and talked to Toni. She said she hoped to have an electrician in the next day (Friday) and he could look at it. The next day the problems continued. When I asked about the electrician, they told me that it wouldn’t be until Monday. My wife was not happy as it was very hot, and the AC was not working. She did not want to stay another night it we had no AC. I asked if we could move to another site and Toni said all the sites were booked that had 30A service. I told Toni I wanted a refund because we were going to leave, and she said that she would not give us one because it was our choice to leave. Sorry, the park is SELLING a service to people and if that service is not operating correctly then its is on the PARK not the patron. Later that Friday as more campers moved trailers into the area the entire area lost power. By that time Toni had gone home and no one was answering the cell number. A younger guy that works there (Kat) tried tripping the breakers and the main but that did not fix the issue. 6 trailers with no power and some very upset people. Kat did a good job managing the issue and came back with an actual plan. He ACTUALLY took the time to LOOK and see if there were OPEN sites and WOW, he found new sites for all 6 trailers. He even let us use his personal truck to move the trailers even though it was severely undersized. Thanks to him the rest of the weekend went great. EXCEPT… The park has no noise policy so the idiots in the lots across from us were up partying until 2am. I have never liked the idea of a quiet time at parks but now I know why parks have them. I can get over that, everyone is trying to have a good time. Anyway, I suspect that sites 1 to 9 are listed as 30A but are all sharing the same single service, so BEWARE if you need full power. Overall, we would probably return to this park in the future but not make it a...