Best Camping in and near Rondeau Provincial Park

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Chris's Place

2 sites · Tents50 acres · West Elgin, ON

Presently offering a tent camping site only, but working to bring you an off grid glamping experience soon in our 19th century former granary by our lake! Parking is at the campsite, following a 400m tractorway over grass. This tractorway enters and exits onto the county road independent of the host’s private home driveway. Our small, bio-diverse farm is in a quiet location but only 10km from shops and cafes. Our property is run with minimal chemical inputs and a lot of hard manual labour producing hazelnuts and chestnuts, sometimes heartnuts and pecan, in our tree nut orchard, and alfalfa: grass hay. We also run a seasonal farm shop selling our produce and crafts. We are very lucky to have a 1.5 acre lake which you are welcome to explore by our canoe (canoe, two paddles and life preservers provided) supporting sun fish, bass and perch with midland and snapping turtles and thousands of tree frogs in the spring, and the occasional musk rat, beaver, woodland ducks, and heron. You may also see bobolinks, barn swallows, and bats in summer, ask to borrow our bat detector to listen to their chirps at dusk, or binoculars to watch wildlife. Check out our ancient Jesuit pear tree, 65’ tall, you may never see another as it is a very rare tree. We are on the migration routes of Tundra swans and Monarch butterflies. Star gazing is very good, there is very little light pollution. Tall poplar trees provide shade and shelter as well as pleasant sounds of the wind. We provide free 5G drinking water per day, firewood (unless there is a ban), use of fridge/freezer, electric outlet for short term use eg charging a battery, all picked up or found at the farm shop (5 minute walk). We provide a rustic recycling station including kindling, matches, and we collect clean, washed recyclables, compostable veg scraps and paper and garbage after your stay. Please don’t bring your own firewood, even if you intend to burn it right away it can still import plant pests that may harm our crops, thank you. Footwear is advised. Conditions underfoot are usually extremely good, soils are free-draining sand and gravels, but there is lakeshore mud and fluctuating water levels in our groundwater-fed lake. Our floating dock and deck may be slippery when wet. We do try to keep poison ivy in check but it does pop up here and there. We experience a modified continental climate with the effect of the Great Lakes. Winters bring often fluctuating temperatures ranging between plus 10 degrees and minus 20 degrees. Winters are long, once the Great Lakes freeze they keep air temperatures quite low until late Spring; daffodils and tulips emerge and flower in May, by when snow flurries and frosty nights are usually over. June is usually pleasant t-shirt weather and hay-making month with little or no dew. You can expect hot, sultry, stormy days and nights in July, and some daytime temperatures in the low 30s Celsius before the humidity index which can push the experienced heat into the high 30s and keep night time temperatures in the upper teens to low 20s. July is the best month for spectacular thunderstorms and strong winds with risk of a tornado. August is appreciably cooler at night so much so that you may need a blanket or extra layer of clothing, and footwear to withstand heavy dew. September sees the beginning of crisp days and the turning of vivid fall colours of red, gold, pink, orange and yellow which develop even further into October. November is when the leaves are all falling or fallen, with relatively mild weather and frequent rainfall and snow flurries through to Christmas, with more snow in January and February. The typical snow season lasts from November until April, interspersed by rapid thaws and rainfall. Rarely does this create significant problems underfoot due to our soils being free-draining sands and gravel, but occasional localized flooding can occur in low-lying spots over icey ground.

Potable water

Toilets

Campfires

from

CA$50

/ night