Paid for but vacant sites

loulou57 wrote:
In our provincial parks (Ontario), you must occupy the site. If you have a seasonal site where you are set up it is different.

I understand people wanting a seasonal site, however I feel that our provincial parks were supposed to be for everyone not for a few who are lucky enough in a draw to get a site. It really bothers me when you go to a northern park that is supposed to be a wilderness park, meaning very few amenities and you see sites set up with little fences around or sheds and large patio furniture set up on a deck. If people want a permanent site then go to a trailer park where you can add all you want.

You can reserve five months ahead but it seems now that if you do not reserve within a few days of the five month deadline you will never get a site. Therefore seasonal sites in a public park should not be allowed.

When we booked our holidays there was only one site available in all of Ontario. We still had to drive 10 hours to get to it.

AMEN !!!
our constipation areas,,,, or is that conservation areas? LOL anyways allot of them allow seasonals and they receive a large influx of tax dollars to keep them afloat each year, yet as a tax payer I have a very difficult time in getting a site, never mind a nice site as they have all been taken up by the seasonal campers, I can understand the need for the guaranteed income if the park is not busy, but it should have delegated sites for that, and an equal amount of good and crappy , so say if there is 10 water front sites and the park allows a 50% seasonal occupancy than only 50% of those sites should be allowed to be used as seasonal. Take an example like Durham conservation area, south of Owen sound on the Saugeen river, it use to be a really nice park on a beautiful section of river, the last time I was there it looked like a refugee camp, talk about a pile of trailer trash, the only thing that was missing was bubbles and julian (from trailer park boys) a rule was made about permanent structures due to municipal tax laws so some of these rednecks built tarp addarooms and tarp condos and a couple had areas enclosed with tarps and 2x3's bigger than their trailers, a car on blocks on one site, dismantled bicycles piled up on another, among other junk on some, I was never so disgusted, I wrote a couple letters to various people up their food chain, don't know if anything changed, have not been back there in about 6 years.

for reservations Ontario parks holds a site till noon the next day, if you have an issue,,, medical, vehicle problems, if you call they will hold it for you beyond that.
I have witnessed people come in on a thursday, drop a trailer open the awning and set out 2 chairs, then leave and come back friday night. I never camp that close to home that I could fees-ably do that, but hey if thats what it takes, that could be considered as occupying the site, they arrived set up, left and came back within 24 hours, whats the difference if I was to get a site say at bon echo, and go for a hike in or canoe in at kawartha lakes for 1 night leaving my fith wheel at bon echo set up or to be a cypris lake set up for a week and go spend a night out on flowerpot island.
what I don't like to see is when someone books early and then cancels at the last minute just to gaurenty a site, thats not fair, and it use to be quite common practice untill they started charging for cancelled reservations days