Any advice for 6 days hire out of Toronto in early Oct?

Excellent, thanks very much for your tips so far! This is invaluable, and I will work on these suggestions. Unfortunately can't move the dates but keen to try and get out and about so will work around any closures etc and do our best.
Keep them coming!

CanaDream is the most popular RV rental outfit. Although, have a look at OWASCO RV Rentals (on the east side of Toronto in Whitby) too - I've used them before and have been very happy with their service.

As most everyone has mentioned, you'll have a limited choice of campgrounds after the October 14th Thanksgiving holiday.

Down Picton way, the only campground that comes to mind and will be open after the 14th is Rideau Acres (about 45 minutes further east in Kingston). Its a great park and the area is great for tourism. If you make it there before the 14th, head to Presquile Provincial Park - beautiful sunsets, great hiking and birdwatching.

Algonquin will be the highlight of your trip. The Mew Lake campground in Algonquin will be the only one open after the 14th. Its a great location for base camp for exploring the park. Make sure that you've loaded up with groceries and anything else you'll need before you go in the park, because the camp store will be closed and its at least a 2 hour round trip to town.

Over towards Collingwood, if you make it there before the 14th, head to Awenda Provincial Park. Its a beautiful place. If you get there after the 14th, Craigleith Provincial Park is open 'till the 27th. Craigleith doesn't really have the scenery, but its close to Collingwood and Owen Sound for doing the tourist thing.

If you carry on 90 minutes further south/west, MacGregor Point Provincial Park is open year-round. If you feel like travelling a couple hours a bit further south, the Pinery is also open year-round. Both MacGregor Point and the Pinery are well worth a visit.

Valens Conservation Area outside Cambridge is also a great park that's sort of on the way back to Toronto (and will be open after the 14th) and you'll be happy to spend a night or two there. Also, Milton Heights Campground in Milton (also open after the 14th) is out that way and is a clean private park close to the big-box shopping.

A couple of cautions:
- If you're camping on the weekend of October 11th-14th (including the Sunday night), you will need reservations. Everything will fill up for Thanksgiving weekend. Actually, most of the spots are reserved already, so don't leave this too long.
- After the 14th, water spigots will be turned off in most parks. You'll have to visit the comfort station (usually in the laundry room) to fill a container. I suggest that you just ask a camping neighbour if you can borrow their water jugs for a few minutes as opposed to buying one; this is Canada - virtually noone will hesitate to be of assistance.

This year Canada's Thanksgiving holiday falls on October 14th. The Thanksgiving weekend normally marks the end of the traditional camping season in pretty much all of Canada and many/most parks will close on this day or shortly after.

Having said that - there are a number of Ontario Provincial Parks which stay open for camping longer - even into and through the winter months. You can check out information on each Provincial Park at: www.ontarioparks.com . Specific information on their operating dates can be found within that website at: http://www.parkreports.com/openclose/index.php?year=2013 .

Your Southern Ontario route is a good one - you'll see some great countryside - my only question might be to suggest that you include Killarney Provincial Park in your itinerary - this is a particularly beautiful Provincial Park and the adjacent town of Killarney is a gem - you won't have much in the way of services that might be open - but the park has some great day-tripping from the campground.

Lake Superior is not a particularly good idea - as you get into Northern Ontario there is no question that all parks and all tourism facilities on that route will be closed and likely gated.

As for weather - you can expect some frost - perhaps some fallish type wind/rain - but it is also the time of year when the fall colours can be fantastic - particularly in Southern Ontario - and those still, sunny, warm fall days simply cannot be beaten. For ourselves - fall camping is about as good as it gets.

Enjoy your visit.


Jay

As far as rentals, the only other one I've heard is Cruise Canada but I have no experience with either.

As the previous poster stated, you're nearing the end of the camping season but you should be okay. If you are looking at stopping at Ontario Provincial Parks, you can see here (http://www.parkreports.com/openclose/index.php?year=2013)that most of the 'non-winter' campgrounds close on Oct. 14 or Oct. 15th. You should be able to find private campgrounds open around those dates but they'll probably be closing around then as well so you'll probably need to plan the tail of your trip pretty carefully.

Last year I did notice that some companies had cheap rentals to 'return' rvs at the end of the season (can't remember if it was East->West or West->East) but that could be an nice option especially if you could extend your trip.

Mid October can be nasty weather, might want to reconsider. Plus many of the campground close by then