(Sheep Mountain) Visitor Centre and watch flocks of Dall’s sheep from the viewing decks. For an once-in-a-lifetime treat, splurge on a glacier flight over the rugged interior of Kluane Park.
www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/yt/kluane/index.aspx $15.70/night per site
Superior National Forest and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
MINNESOTA
Introduce your family to the true spirit of wilderness camping with a visit to Minnesota’s Land of 10,000 Lakes. With over one million acres of lakes, rivers and forest, this area offers incomparable wilderness canoeing and a network of 23 front-country campgrounds. While the Boundary Waters are most famous for extended canoe tripping, more developed campgrounds such as South Kawishiwi River give a taste of the wild combined with amenities like running water and group shelters. Located just 10 miles from the town of Ely, South Kawishiwi offers canoe rentals and easy access to short or long paddling excursions.
www.friends-bwca.org,
www.fs.fed.us Reservations:
www.Recreation.gov or 877-444-6777 $10–$22/night per site
Pacific Rim National Park
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Watch the powerful waves roll shoreward in Pacific Rim Na- tional Park. Of the park’s three distinct areas, the Long Beach section is most accessible and child friendly. From Green’s Point Campground, you can easily walk to the ocean or cycle along the smooth sand with the snowy peaks of interior Vancouver Island as a backdrop. Rent sea kayaks or hire a water taxi in nearby Tofino to visit Meares Island and hike through groves of giant cedars. Organized park activities include exploring the diversity of Long Beach’s tidal flats, daily rainforest walks and cultural programs about the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations.
www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/pacificrim/natcul/natcul9.aspx $23.50/night per site
Sandbanks Provincial Park
ONTARIO
Huge sand dunes and miles of golden beaches make Sandbanks Provincial Park a popular summer destination. The campsites near the inlet have near-tropical water in summer while the more exposed Lake Ontario side of the park has good waves for boogie boarding and body surfing. Ride your bikes (rentals available) along gently rolling country roads past old Loyalist farmsteads, smugglers’ coves, pick-your-own orchards and tempting ice cream parlors. Try your hand at sand sculp- tures at the annual Sand Fest or visit the park amphitheatre for evening interactive presentations about Sandbanks’ natural and cultural history.
www.ontarioparks.com/english/sand.html Reservations:
www.ontarioparks.com/english/reservations.html $40.50/night per site
CHARLOTTE JACKLEIN has worked as a guide in Prince Edward Island, Ontario, the Yukon, Hawaii, Australia and Ireland. She is currently an outdoor educator in Ontario.
Best Campground Games
Play these games with just your own camping party, or ask other campers to join you for even more fun.
Scavenger Hunt: Find stuff in nature from a list; look for items unique to that park. Make sure scavenged items are not alive, or play a photo hunt variation and give kids an inexpensive digital camera to document found creatures and plants without touching.
Balloon Lift: Divide players into teams of two and place a balloon on the ground in front of each pair. Teams try to pick the balloon up and pop it between them without using any hands. The first team to
pop their balloon wins.
Caterpillar Race: Fun for larger groups. Players split into two teams and line up in single file at a start line. The first camper bends over with hands on the ground. Each successive camper bends over and holds onto the ankles of the person ahead to create a caterpillar. On “Go,” both teams race forward around a tree or camp chair roughly 20 feet away and back to the start. If a caterpillar breaks, it must stop and reform before continuing on.
Frisbee Golf: Each player has a disc; players take turns locating a distant object as the target. Campers take turns throwing their discs towards the target, keeping track of the number of throws. The
camper with fewest throws to hit the target wins the hole.
Predator and Prey: Define an area on the beach or in a grassy field. All players are blindfolded. Choose one player to be the predator, attach a bell to him or her. The rest of the players form pairs and choose animal identities. Everyone spreads out in the play area and the animals try to find their partners by making animal sounds (chirps, roars, barks, etc) before the predator touches them. All animals walk, not run. The game ends when all of the animals pair up or the predator tags all the animals.
—Virginia Marshall
www.canoerootsmag.com 31
PHOTO: VIRGINIA MARSHALL
PHOTO: BRUCE KIRKBY
PHOTO: CHARLOTTE JACKLEIN
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