Manitoulin Eco Park & DarkSky — Hotel in Tehkummah Township

We had so many issues while camping here, that we could not stay another night. I have camped in private, provincial, and backcountry across Ontario and have never had an experience like this.

First and foremost, the showers were disgusting. Camping and nature is dirty, but it should not be gross and unhygienic. It smelled like showering in a urinal. I'm sure that the yellow stains on the walls were just that. Additionally, the wooden bottom of the shower had a carpet-like material, presumably to reduce slipperiness due to the wood. These materials do not belong in a shower and would obviously hold onto any fluids and promote mold/fungus growth. Thankfully, I had shower shoes. You could see all sorts of refuse below the slats, including a used tampon and build up all sorts of hair and other garbage that doesn't belong in a shower. At least the shower was warm, too bad you had to hold the handle, which makes it difficult to rinse longer hair while trying not to breathe through your nose as the stench was so bad. I cannot stress here how bad these showers stank of urine. This is not rustic, this is not eco, this was unsanitary. I wish there was a lake here I could have rinsed off in rather than shower in this cesspool. This was the main reason we left early.

Flushable washrooms were adequate. Except on Friday night, another guest had left a poo on the toilet seat in one of the outhouses, and when we left on Sunday morning, it was still there. We saw staff drive around, yet they did not clean/service that outhouse at all. I wish all guests would behave properly, and I don't expect that this is normal behaviour, but I am for sure not going to move or touch a stranger's poo. I heard a lot of reviews talking about privacy, however, this clearly was not the case with our site. We had the family staying above us commenting on our food and eyeballing us as we ate dinner. Quite unnerving. Since there were better-spaced sites; they should close the ones that completely lack privacy, like ours. I have attached a picture taken from the side of our picnic table. Completely over-sold certain features. We did not find this place conducive to ‘connecting with the natural world’ as they advertise. I live in the GTHA and within a 20-minute drive, there are places more natural and relaxing than this. I want to actually be surrounded by the beauty of nature, not kept up by roosters, noisy campers, and road traffic. Not enough long hikes/natural landscape etc. This place was a let-down, especially bad was the Mother Nature trail- it is not a trail- it is the road with signs on the trees. Visitor's centre was underwhelming with a menagerie of old taxidermied animals, some of which should have been retired. Could benefit from a more streamlined presentation. I wish they had more about the unique ecology of Manitoulin/orchids/glacial erosion/alvars/Canadian shield etc.. No need for huge sofas and freezers here either. Just a strange experience. A bonus were the camp kitchens. We found the kitchen sinks useful to clean up instead of filling and using a bucket to clean dishes at our site. Check-in and signage towards office could be improved. Passing a roped-off section beside a house to get to the office feels very intrusive. Wifi was spotty at best, which is a problem when there is no staff to help. Wifi issues presented again with ice/firewood, taking 3 trips to get sorted.

In summary, eco-park was NOT the natural experience we desired, but the reason we did not stay was the showers were too disgusting. I don't think they get washed, and obviously the outhouse close to us was not serviced during our stay. Had there been proper facilities we wouldn't have packed up early. Please look at the pictures of the showers. We are pretty sure the yellow stains are urine. Someone dropped their washcloth and I don't blame that camper for leaving it as I wouldn't touch anything that fell there either.

TLDR: Disgusting showers, not maintained outhouse, lack of privacy, spotty wifi, lack of...

We picked a 'large' campsite and the site was beautiful with trees and decent grade but was too expensive for what it is worth. Loved the campsite itself but the toilets and showers are just unbearable. I mean for 107$ a night I would expect toilets to not wobble at the minimum. They are basically a pit under the toilet with a foot pedal operated shutter and the smell from the pit is unbearable even when the washrooms are clean.

The staff works hard to keep it clean but the whole thing needs to be ripped off and replaced. We have been taking trips twice a day to the ferry public washroom which is 20mts away because none in our group wanted to use the washroom shacks here. Parks Ontario only charges 38$ a night for comparable size campsites with stellar washrooms and showers.

We camp 4 times a year and even Pelee Island campground has excellent washrooms on a tiny island and only cost 77.30 a night. No need to reduce prices but please build a new restroom. I can sleep on bare dirt but sorry I cannot sit on toilets with other people's filth. Please consider this constructive criticism as there is huge potential in this park. On the bright side, the location of this campground is golden. Thanks to them for a complementary night sky viewing experience due to being in a location with very minimal light pollution. The last time I was able to view and photograph the milky way was in Algonquin back country and the view here is mesmerizing even during mid summer.

Also the signage and roads needs to be improved, I stopped for a minute in the front with my engine running trying to figure out maps and this rude lady came yelling at me asking me to move the car and she doesn't care why I was stopped. They are no signs of where parking is or they were handwritten with a paint brush 20 years ago. The roads are narrow and rough and my car was scraping all the way through because of the raised middle section of the beaten path. Not sure how someone would pull a trailer through this with sudden and steep inclines. There is another very sweet older lady who came to came to check on us and was very sweet and nice. Overall, the camping experience was good minus the...

Our visit to Gordon's Park was an affordable and enjoyable weekend spent under the stars. Excited for the chance to visit and stay at an actual dark park, we took advantage of the night tours and guided constellation tours. We got to peer through telescopes, talk to owls, and chat with interesting and knowledgeable sky watchers and other enthusiasts. Camping in the dark park was affordable, fun and enjoyable. The temperature at the end of August was still warm enough that we did not miss having a fire after the sun went down, and we got to see some incredible scenes overhead and into the heavens. The Gordon's Park crew made efforts to welcome everyone and provided several opportunities for everyone to get to know each other, share resources and knowledge. After a few hours there we'd already met several new people. Gordon's has washroom, waste and cooking facilities and has practices in place to reduce the environmental impact of tourists and visitors. In addition to water and resource conservation practices we participated in conversations that helped us understand what else we could do to decrease our impact at home and in the forests and wild(s). The education centre contains/displays some excellent taxidermy specimens, fossils, sky charts and more. If we'd had more time, I would have liked to more closely examine the fish, birds and mammals on display as well as more closely read the details on the life in the park.The university student (Kate?) who was a part of the team pointed out much of the ecological diversity found in the park, which also helped us appreciate how precious and special Monitoulin Island is, but also, Ontario and Canada. There was so much to see and do during our 3day stay that we did not have time to get into the Gordon's Park pool. We took hikes, we explored Manitoulin, we fell in love with Manitoulin, we made new friends, we played with other people's dogs - we are planning on doing it again! The park has events on all throughout the year, and is part of what made our Manitoulin Island experience soooo memorable....