Today was a day of reflection, as we explored the tent-only sections of Canisbay Provincial park. We started out our camping adventures together in a tent, but for the past six years have been camping in our tent trailer.

Radio and dog free

The main idea of the tent trailer was to keep all of our camping gear in the trailer, so all we would need to do was to pack clothes and food, hitch up the trailer and head out. We enjoyed the fact that everything was up off the ground, we always slept on a level foam matress, and that a fridge, stove, lights, and furnace were all readily available. However, the trailer did come with certain disadvantages. Paying for storage as well as insurance was one of them; Another is the time and money required for the on-going maintenance. In addition, it still takes time to set it up and take it back down similar to a tent. On their own, these advantages of owning a tent trailer canceled out these disadvantages; storage and insurance were easily affordable, the maintenance was well within my means and abilities, and the time it took to set up and take down was not a great hardship.

Trail to water

After a certain point, we felt it was time to re-evaluate our wants and needs as we strive to further improve our camping experience. We considered hard sided trailers, teardrop trailers, and even an airstream, but then we realized that the maintenance never really goes away, the storage and insurance costs could go up, and for the convenience of being able to have our own toilet and shower, we would also have the inconvenience of sitting in a line at the sanitation station at the end of each trip and have more tanks to sanitize every season. Fuel economy would suffer as well. Besides a slight increase in comfort, we didn’t find anything compelling with an upgrade a more expensive hard sided trailer. Going for a swim in a clear lake is more our idea of staying clean while camping.

Tent sign

Then we started to notice how many beautiful sites we were missing out on by camping with a trailer. In particular, the “Walk-up” tent only sites piqued our interest, due to their close proximity to the water as well as how tranquil and private they were. To be able to have our canoe at the campsite and be able to drop it right into the water, or to be able to see the sun rise or set over a lake so close to camp really resonated with our sensibilities. We had noticed these walk up sites before at other campgrounds, but today we spent some time on one that had not yet been reserved. Very private, very quiet, and beautiful views. Some were nearly right on the water, which would have provided us with quick and easy private access to put our canoe into the water and keep it near our campsite.

Waterside

Today we decided that future camping trips are going to be in tents. We still have our old tent and gear, and it should still work, and we will take it from there.

ebikes

After our walk, we had lunch, and then spent the hot afternoon swimming in the lake and cruising around on our ebikes. This was a very restful day.