Algonquin Provincial Park - power access

[BigDaddyHfx]

Was checking out Algonquin park and it seems to say that the power pedestals are 30 meters from the site. Is this right? Do people really need nearly 100 feet of power cable and extensions?

[JaxDad]

shum02 wrote:
Must have worked because while U.S. State parks where shutting down campgrounds during the "economic downturn" the largest park system in North America kept all it's campgrounds open.

There's a reason Ontario is (give or take) $287 BILLION dollars in debt.

To put that in perspective, that's more than all the other Provinces debts COMBINED.

But all the parks are still open..........

[almcc]

myredracer wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
Found this photo of the outlets at Mew Lake Campground: Hydro outlet

It appears from the main website that most campsites are about 15-20 meters big and the outlets are between the two sites. So, depending on the individual campsite, you might have a 30 meter stretch, but are more than likely closer than that.

I guess you can't turn the power off at the pedestal before plugging in? That's not good. Have never seen a pedestal like that - maybe a custom design by the Provincial parks dept?

Actually you can (at least on the newer ones), the circuit breakers are mounted on the back. I believe the older ones didn't have this functionality. Those were the ones that had a button to push to reset the breaker.

[myredracer]

toedtoes wrote:
Found this photo of the outlets at Mew Lake Campground: Hydro outlet

It appears from the main website that most campsites are about 15-20 meters big and the outlets are between the two sites. So, depending on the individual campsite, you might have a 30 meter stretch, but are more than likely closer than that.

I guess you can't turn the power off at the pedestal before plugging in? That's not good. Have never seen a pedestal like that - maybe a custom design by the Provincial parks dept?

[almcc]

shum02 wrote:

JaxDad wrote:

almcc wrote:
.... it's disappointing that Ontario provincial parks could do much better, they are firmly back in the 1960's. I remember being in Pinery at that time with my parents, some things have improved but the parks haven't moved with the times and they aren't capitalizing on the change to camping habits, equipment and demographics.

Back in 1996 there was an important but quiet change in regards to Ontario Provincial Parks, this during Mike Harris' No Sense Revolution.

They were required to economically stand on their own.

The problem was, they were staffed by a bloated bureaucracy of civil servants who all belonged to a very powerful union. Wages or staffing couldn't be cut.

The only choice was to dramatically increase fees and cut spending.

That's what they did.

Must have worked because while U.S. State parks where shutting down campgrounds during the "economic downturn" the largest park system in North America kept all it's campgrounds open.

I love the Parks, will not even consider private parks while RV camping in Ontario.

That's a bit of an "apples and oranges" comparison. If you had camped in the US during the downturn period you would have noticed that they were hit much harder than we were in Ontario, partially because we took the hit during better times because of NAFTA which stripped out a lot of our manufacturing base so the downturn didn't hit us as bad (not as many manufacturing jobs to lose).

In the US the job (and tax) loss was much greater and lots of folks just stopped camping (some had their RV's repossessed). Some states like Arizona shut down some of their state parks for the summer months (like we do over the winter) when occupancy is low due to the high heat, things are now back. I call that good fiscal management.

[pegdiver]

We have had to use 100 feet of cord in Ontario. Not a problem now as we carry that much so we have many options on how to park in the spacious sites.

[shum02]

JaxDad wrote:

almcc wrote:
.... it's disappointing that Ontario provincial parks could do much better, they are firmly back in the 1960's. I remember being in Pinery at that time with my parents, some things have improved but the parks haven't moved with the times and they aren't capitalizing on the change to camping habits, equipment and demographics.

Back in 1996 there was an important but quiet change in regards to Ontario Provincial Parks, this during Mike Harris' No Sense Revolution.

They were required to economically stand on their own.

The problem was, they were staffed by a bloated bureaucracy of civil servants who all belonged to a very powerful union. Wages or staffing couldn't be cut.

The only choice was to dramatically increase fees and cut spending.

That's what they did.

Must have worked because while U.S. State parks where shutting down campgrounds during the "economic downturn" the largest park system in North America kept all it's campgrounds open.

I love the Parks, will not even consider private parks while RV camping in Ontario.

[JaxDad]

almcc wrote:
.... it's disappointing that Ontario provincial parks could do much better, they are firmly back in the 1960's. I remember being in Pinery at that time with my parents, some things have improved but the parks haven't moved with the times and they aren't capitalizing on the change to camping habits, equipment and demographics.

Back in 1996 there was an important but quiet change in regards to Ontario Provincial Parks, this during Mike Harris' No Sense Revolution.

They were required to economically stand on their own.

The problem was, they were staffed by a bloated bureaucracy of civil servants who all belonged to a very powerful union. Wages or staffing couldn't be cut.

The only choice was to dramatically increase fees and cut spending.

That's what they did.

[Brynjolf]

Virtually all Ontario Provincial Parks hydro (i.e. "electrical") sites are laid-out the same, with one power post between two sites. Algonquin isn't particularly better or worse than any other Ontario Provincial Park.

Its rare that the stock 25' cord on my trailer would stretch to the power post at any Ontario Provincial Park. Generally, I have to use my 50' extension as the post is usually 40-60' from the trailer. Only twice in the last 10 years have I needed to pull out an additional 25' (for a total of 100') to reach the post; and, honestly, I could have moved the trailer on the site and made do with 75'.

Also, remember that there is no on-site water in Ontario Provincial Parks. There are, however, spigots located throughout the campground for communal use. Obviously, you cannot permanently connect to these spigots during your stay. However, you'll have no complaints if you pull off to the side of the road (allowing ample room for others to pass you) and connect for 5 minutes to fill your fresh water tank. Please note: you've got about a 40% chance that the spigots in the campground are threaded; a water thief can be very handy. However, for water fillups, general practice is to fill at the dumpstation on the way in.

Speaking of the dumpstation, Algonquin is a bit unusual in that most of the campgrounds are serviced by a single dumpstation located on the highway. Towing a blueboy for 20 minutes down highway 60 is not a fun experience and is a danger to others. If you don't have a macerator pump to fill your blueboy in the bed of your truck, I'd suggest that you elect to tow your trailer (or drive the RV) to the dumpstation.

[jmckelvy]

RangerJay wrote:
..... hmmm ..... don't know why folks get upset over needing a little extra power cord - near as I can figure - one of the usual benefits of a long distance to the pedestal is lots of space between you and the next guy as well as lots of privacy - these things seems a real plus to me when camping .....

Jay

I don't see anything in the posts that indicate anyone was "upset". In our case I had never seen a park with utilities located like that. We are perfectly happy without any connections whatsoever.

In the case I mentioned above we were camping with relatives who have a Class A MH and "must have" at least electrical.

[almcc]

RangerJay wrote:
..... hmmm ..... don't know why folks get upset over needing a little extra power cord - near as I can figure - one of the usual benefits of a long distance to the pedestal is lots of space between you and the next guy as well as lots of privacy - these things seems a real plus to me when camping .....


Jay

Jay, it's not us being upset, but it's disappointing that Ontario provincial parks could do much better, they are firmly back in the 1960's. I remember being in Pinery at that time with my parents, some things have improved but the parks haven't moved with the times and they aren't capitalizing on the change to camping habits, equipment and demographics.

The parks and government people should tour some US state parks and see what could be done. We've stayed in state parks in a lot of US states where a 30 amp or 50 amp pedestal is 25 ft.(max) from the RV and the campsite separation is as great or greater than in Ontario. Some parks have full services and the rate in Natchez Trace Tennessee (as an example) was $17.35 per night for full services for us this fall.

Are there some state subsides? Probably, but the parks are much more efficiently run. There are a limited number of full time staff and volunteers host and do the campground cleaning and daily maintenance. In Tennessee the ranger comes around twice per day, once to post occupancy tags on the posts and once to check, you call or go on line to get a site, no one is at the campground entrance to do this. I suspect that in Ontario the unions would get in the way of running the parks this way unfortunately.

What's the saying, "the enemy of good is better"?

[RangerJay]

..... hmmm ..... don't know why folks get upset over needing a little extra power cord - near as I can figure - one of the usual benefits of a long distance to the pedestal is lots of space between you and the next guy as well as lots of privacy - these things seems a real plus to me when camping .....


Jay

[jmckelvy]

A couple of years ago we encountered a Michigan SP on Lake Michigan like that. I couldn't believe how far the power connections were from the sites. They were set up down the center of a wide area between a long rectangular loop road off of which the sites were arranged. Some of them would have taken over 100 ft of cord to reach. We moved on.

[shum02]

BigDaddyHfx wrote:
All I can say is WOW! Paying $50 and needing 2 or more extension cords...wow.

Look at it this way....... my neighbors are also this far away. Some parks I can barely see or hear my neighbors, I'll take that and long electrical runs over having my neighbors on top of me and parks that can barely afford to stay open. Parks DON'T cost $25\night they cost to maintain $40\night. Ontario Provincial Parks site costs are covered at a ratio of 85% by the campers who use them.

[BigDaddyHfx]

All I can say is WOW! Paying $50 and needing 2 or more extension cords...wow.

[almcc]

We used to carry a 90 ft. HD contractor's power cord with us as we've hit a few campsites in provincial parks with LONG runs. It restricted us to 15 amps but it's better than no amps, especially since you are paying for it.

We have pretty much given up on Ontario provincial parks except for one or two in the north. We got tired of having our RV scratched up by tree branches that they don't seem to want to trim and and by the unreasonable costs compared to private parks. For instance, we are parked right now in a resort where we have 50 amp power, water, sewer and cable. The daily rate is less than in Ontario provincial parks. They also have daily garbage pick up at your site and if you are out of propane, you put your cylinder on the road at your site, they pick it up, fill it and return it! Each site is cleaned and prepped by volunteer hosts prior to being occupied. Yes, it's less "natural" than a provincial park but the view outside the RV back window isn't bad:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g8zmmjxd4n5n311/AAD9gtOe9Phv5tlbJJEOqsJ0a?dl=0