Canisbay Lake Campground

It’s also Ontario’s first provincial park, and one of the most popular provincial parks. Located a few hours northeast of Toronto, we thought it would be the perfect place to enjoy some fall colours.

Because it was also a good time of year for northern lights, we booked at the Canisbay Lake campground, as it actually had availability near a north facing beach.

It’s located near the middle of the Algonquin Provincial Park, so we figured it would be a good, central place to camp. Central = theoretically a bit less driving as we explored some of the park’s numerous lakes, hiking trails, and other attractions.

It was ... an experience.

We dealt with less than ideal conditions in terms of the weather, and definitely a mixed bag in terms of the overall experience.

Pull up a chair, and we’ll tell you all about it - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Like... “collapsed outhouses” ugly! LOL.

Update: In May 2025, we decided to give the campground a second chance. This post has since been updated in several places, with more current information.

The Basics:

Campground Name: Canisbay Lake Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park
Address: Hwy 60 P.O. Box 219 Whitney, ON K0J 2M0
Website: https://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/algonquin/canisbaylake
Price Ontario Provincial Parks uses a pricing matrix across all their parks. See 2025 Camping Fees for more details.
Reservations: Ontario Parks Reservations
Park Classification: Natural Environment
Season: May 9, 2024 to October 19, 2025

Logistics

Algonquin Park is open year-round, though a lot of the camping starts winding down after labour day - with most campgrounds closing by the end of October.

It’s Canada’s oldest provincial park, and features many historic sites and Protected Historical Zones across its 7,630 square kilometers.

Though it’s located in south western Ontario, it’s known as one of the best places to get the “Northern Ontario” camping experience, without having to drive more than a few hours from the city.

Registration and Check In

As always, booking our site was quick and easy through the Ontario Parks reservations site.

We didn’t actually know where to sign in, so because we’d Google mapped to “Canisbay Campground Office”, we drove past the west gate, directly to the Canisbay campground.

Check in was quick and friendly as always, but ended up being paperless - I really need to get in the habit of doing the pre-registering online. We’ve been running into a few paperless campgrounds lately!

Anyway, your camping permit is necessary for parking in any of the other areas - like the visitor center or trail heads - so be sure to give them the license plate of your driving vehicle, whether in person or through the online pre-registration.

You don’t need a paper printout of it to park, though - everything is done via the license plate on record.

Maps and Signage

Some basic information on getting around Canisbay Lake Campground:

Park Map

The maps were definitely not great - Frankly, there are too many mapped areas to try and fit on one map (as far as the big map goes), and the little one just for our campground was super inaccurate.

Among the issues we had - really bad proportions, curves and turns not being represented on the map, roads or trails existing either in the map or in real life, but not *both*, the printed map not lining up with the online map, etc.

This was our experience both in our own campground, and while out exploring other areas.

As a tip: Because you can’t rely on curves, etc as way points when navigating, look at the site numbers specifically. “After Site # ___, we’ll turn right” will give you much better results than “take the next right”, in this particular situation.

The printed map we received upon check in was wildly different. While trails from other sections of the campground to the lake were marked, there was no such trail for ours.

According to Pokemon Go, there was a trail, but it wasn’t the short, straight line (directly to the beach) that the online map showed, it was a curved line going from near our campsite, to the parking lot for the beach.

Guess which one was accurate? Yup - Pokemon Go.

Anyway, I generally like the newspaper form maps, but when it came to this park, with that many campgrounds represented? It was just super unwieldy.

Signage

The campground signage was NOT great - really small, low contrast, poor placement (or nonexistent), etc.

For example, in one of the campground loops, you’ll see a sign saying “exit”, pointing down one road. You go down it, and the next intersection may have 3 options, and no signage indicating which goes to the exit.

Also, in some cases it was just really unfriendly and unwelcoming.

When we went to check out the day use area, we quickly came upon a large sign telling use that it was a restricted area, with “warning”, “restricted”, and “prosecuted” all printed in big bold letters.

Maybe I’m fussy, but I feel like there’s more welcoming ways to impart the info that a day use permit was required in order to park in that area.

Waste & Water Services

As with pretty much all of the Ontario Provincial Parks (aside from ones that used to be conservation areas), there are no full hookup sites in Canisbay Lake Campground, or Algonquin Provincial Park in general.

Canisbay has a mix of sites with and without electrical connections, none with water and sewer.

Unlike the other campgrounds we’ve been to, there is no nearby “poop loop” - the sole fill and dump station / trailer sanitation station for the entirety of Algonquin Park is located something like 11 km up the highway.

If you’re coming from the west and hope to fill your trailer’s water tank before camping, that means blowing past the campground by 11 km, then also driving 11 km out of the way (and back) to dump on your way out of the park.

Well.. Not exactly “on your way”, I guess.

So, if 2 people are dumping, you’ll have to wait for them to dump - and possibly fill afterwards - before filling your own water tank.

I can’t even imagine what a shit show (sorry!) that’s got to be in the summer, especially after long weekends. 2 dump platforms for several hundred camp sites? Canisbay alone has almost 250 camp sites!

New Trailer Sanitation Station Update!

The long-awaited Canisbay Lake / Minnesing Trailer Sanitation Station is finally open, as of May 2025!

This one is located up the road to the Canisbay Lake Campground - SUPER convenient! It shares a parking lot with the Minnesing Bike Trail.

This trailer sanitation station is a VAST improvement on the Sunday Lake situation: It’s 4 lanes, with LONG lead-ups. You could probably fit 30-40 RVs in line, before there’s ANY worry about clogging the roads.

There are 5 fill stations - with threaded hoses - across the 4 lanes, so you can fill your trailer on either side, no matter which lane you’re in.

Then, there’s a dump platform on the left side of each lane.

One really nice thing is that the 2 fill stations to the left appear to be outfitted for winter use. I called the park information line, and the employee I talked to confirmed it - they plan to have those platforms open all year round!

There’s also a large garbage and recycling depot on the main road in the Canisbay Lake Campground.

Connectivity

Our cell phone reception was actually pretty good in our campsite, and around the Canisbay campground in general- on both trips. It was also good at the Visitor Centre area, and along the Spruce Bog Boardwalk Trail.

It was spotty in some places along highway 60, though... across all of our visits to Algonquin Provincial Park.

Accessibility

I would consider the Canisbay campground to be minimally accessible. Wheelchair users can definitely get by with the basics, but there may not be a lot to do.

The Comfort Stations have accessible toilets and showers - though not necessarily in working order. There is at least one accessible-designated campsite, as well.

The roads throughout the campgrounds are fairly rough and hilly, there are no wheelchair accessible paths to the beach. If you’re in a boot, on crutches, using a cane, etc - it should be doable.

The Visitor Center is accessible, with ramps throughout, even making the entire museum-like section wheelchair accessible. There’s also a fully accessible ramp trail outside!

They’re both actually wheelchair accessible!

The Bog trail was mostly boardwalk, with wide, well groomed, flat, well-packed sections of ground trail interspersed. There was a bridge at one point, and even that didn’t involve any kind of step up.

The interpretive trail at the logging museum was wide, flat, and well packed. Any inclines were minor enough to not bother me, even with my knee and back were
giving me problems that day.

I can’t recall anything that would render it NOT wheelchair accessible, and it’s definitely doable with other types of mobility aids.

Pets

Canisbay Lake is more about where dogs aren’t allowed / welcome, than where they are.

There is an entire section of the campground where pets aren’t permitted at all (sites 95-131), and dogs are banned from all park buildings and public beaches (aside from dog beaches).

There is no dog beach or dog exercise area in Canisbay, though there are dog friendly beaches at Lake of Two Rivers Campground, Mew Lake Campground, and the Rock Lake campground.

All of the other usual rules about being on leash at all times, being under control at all times, no excessive barking, and owners picking up after dogs apply.

There are a lot of predators in the park - wolves, black bears, foxes, and even something called a fisher, which I had to Google to learn more about. So - keep an eye on your dog!

Parking

The campsites pretty much all seem to be plenty big to accommodate both your camping equipment and a vehicle or two, and there are additional parking lots throughout the park.

We were actually kind of surprised at the amount of parking in some cases, like the Canisbay beach, day use area, the Amphitheatre (up the highway a bit), etc. There seemed to be parking for FAR more people, than those areas could even accommodate.

Light Pollution, etc

Very little light pollution in this area. It was QUITE dark at night, there isn’t much in the way of artificial lighting.

The morning after the power went out (during our first stay) - and hadn’t come back yet - it was straight up creepy to look outside of our camper. Just a black void, not a single source of light anywhere.

With cloud cover blocking any potential celestial light sources, it was just... nothing.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen it so dark in my whole life! I could have been staring into a black tarp a foot away from my face, and wouldn’t have known - absolutely no light, no depth perception as a result - it was eerie!

Anyway, had the weather cooperated, we likely would have had a fantastic view of the night sky from our own campsite - or at least down at the beach.

The beach at Canisbay is mostly north facing, and there are several other areas in Algonquin that would be fabulous for aurora borealis photography over water.

If you’re interested in possibly seeing the northern lights, check out our posts: Aurora Hunting, How to Photograph the Northern Lights, Can I See the Northern Lights Tonight?, and Where to See Northern Lights in Ontario.

Miscellaneous

The roads are kind of rough in the Canisbay campground, with the added annoyance of speed bumps.

Additionally, we don’t know what was going on, but there was a weird outbreak of wild caution tape going on in the park.

Also: Collapsed or in-the-process-of-being-dismantled toilets. You don’t know fun until you’re watching your husband take artsy photos of a collapsed outhouse, LOL!

We actually ended up turning it into a game: Spot the Caution Tape. It was EVERYWHERE.

There was caution tape tied to non-functioning pipes sticking out of the ground (all over the place), at the day use area, randomly tied to something (a pipe?) submerged in the beach water, etc.

Also: 3 out of 5 urinals in the mens washroom at the Visitor Center were taped off and out of order.

I thought my husband was going to burst with pride when he showed me the photo after doing his business - he DEFINITELY won the “spot the caution tape” game.

Lots of “out of order” type signs and situations in general.

Also: While probably not the fault of the park, the power went out on the last night - not returning before we left - and served as a fun little punctuation to the theme of the stay.

I was actually surprised to see the comfort stations completely dark. I guess I would have expected they’d be on some sort of backup generator or something?

May 2025 Update:

Things were marginally better, more than a year and a half after that first visit.

Most of the vault toilets that were in various stages of explosion / prep have been built, and look decent. Inexplicably, it seems like the one that had sheeting as doors... is in a similar state.

The tire is still half submerged in the day use beach, looking just as trashy as last time.

We saw only a couple instances of caution tape during our second stay... but SO MANY PYLONS. I don’t know if Canisbay is undergoing long term upgrades or something?

Anyway, the accessible facilities at the comfort station all seemed to be open for use, this time around.

Campground Amenities & Info

We visited during the shoulder season, which may have impacted the amenities during our stay. Here’s some basic information, though:

Creature Comforts

Comfort Stations have a weird distribution in Canisbay. There are 4 campground loops, with 2 of those kind of off on their own, separate from the other two.

Neither the loop with sites 1-52, nor the loop next to it (Sites 53-101) have a comfort station.

On the other side of the main road, the loop with sites 102 - 175 has an older style comfort station, and the loop we were in (Sites 176-232) had TWO comfort stations.

In addition to our loop having a disproportionate number of comfort stations, they were both much nicer than any we’ve seen in any other provincial park campground - they looked like libraries!

Anyway, each of these three comfort stations feature flush toilets and laundry facilities, though only the older style one in the other loop appears to have showers. Weird!

There’s also another comfort station type building on the main road, across from our loop. That one has flush toilets and showers, but no laundromat.

Anyway, aside from the comfort stations, there are flush toilets and vault toilets scattered throughout the two loops without comfort stations, and vault toilets throughout the two loops that do have comfort stations.

... just, you know... some might not exactly be standing anymore! (See earlier section about the caution tape game!).

Park Stores

The park store situation here is a bit different from other provincial park campgrounds we’ve been to.

There are three branded stores - each run by Algonquin Outfitters - in Algonquin Park:

1. The Canoe Lake Store & Portage Grill

This one’s a bit west of Canisbay (at km 14), and sells souvenirs and outfitting supplies. The restaurant is an eat-in grill.

Note: This one is referred to as “Portage Store” online.

2. Lake of Two Rivers Grocery & Camp Store

This one is east of Canisbay (km 31) and has a weird mix of basic groceries and more bougie items (Beyond Burgers, almond butter, Bolthouse Farms juices, etc), along with souvenirs and a café and grill in the building next to it.

3. Lake Opeongo Store

This one is clear across the park - past km 45, and up another road. We didn’t visit this one, and don’t really have any info on it.

Both the Canoe Lake Store and the Opeongo Store have canoe rentals available, and the Two Rivers Store rents bikes. We even saw a big poster advertising E bike rental there.

There are also more traditional Ontario Provincial Park campground stores located at both the east gate and west gate, as you enter or leave the park.

That’s where you’ll find the official park stickers, badges, shirts, etc.

Firewood and ice are available at each campground’s office.

Visitor Centre

Back when we first bought our RV earlier this year and joined Facebook groups for camping, I remember someone describing Algonquin Park as being more of a city than a campground.

They said you’d need a car to get anywhere, and there’s a LOT of driving involved. I see what they mean now!

Anyway, aside from the trails, there are a few specific attractions in the park that serve the basic function of a Visitor Center (or similar!), that you may want to make the drive to.

Each of these will require a day use permit or camping permit in order to park / visit, btw.

Algonquin Park Visitor Centre

The Algonquin Visitor Centre is about a 20 minute drive from the campground, at km 43 on Highway 60.

Like the Bruce Peninsula Visitor Centre, this one has a full out museum experience involved, rather than just a few small, isolated displays.

Displays covered information on the land, wildlife, and early Indigenous peoples that inhabited the land the park resides on.

There’s a book store, and gorgeous café that opens out onto an observation deck overlooking a forest, with a lake view off in the distance.

There is also a short, wheelchair accessible trail off to the side of the building, culminating in a “fire tower” set up that basically looks like an amazing tree house.

The full sized “logging man” with CGI animation projected onto a featureless, flat face was the stuff of nightmares, as was the uplit woman with a pie.

All in all though, a really fantastic Visitor Centre.

Algonquin Art Centre

We noticed the Algonquin Art Center on our way into Canisbay - and noted it as something we would go see during our trip.

It’s an art gallery specializing in scenic and wildlife art, specific to the Algonquin Park area.

Unfortunately, it’s only open from June 1 to October 16 - so we missed our chance to see it by only a few days!

Algonquin Logging Museum

This museum is located clear on the other side of the park - just past km 54, close to the east gate, so it’s a bit of a drive from Canisbay Lake. The weather cleared up for a few hours on our last full day, so we decided to check it out.

The main building of the museum is apparently only open from June 10 - October 15, but it sounds like that’s mostly like an info desk and gift shop - the bulk of the museum is outside, along an interpretive trail.

This trail difficulty rating is accurate. This distance was a bit closer to 1.5 km per MapMyRun, but I’m guessing the overage accounts for actually looking at the displays, not just breezing right past them.

It was really interesting how it took you through time, a chronological walk through the beginning of logging in the area, to the recent past.

There are all kinds of tools, large equipment, and full scale log buildings along the route, as well as a super cute active chute, a train engine, and an “alligator” vessel - the latter two actually set up to allow you to board them.

All of the displays were really well done, and large scale - a really great way to spend a bit of time!

Day Use Area

There’s a small day use area at Canisbay, a bit of a drive past that SUPER unwelcoming sign we mentioned earlier.

To be frank, it’s definitely less of a destination than we’ve seen at other day use areas.

Very small beach, not in the best condition - just not a super attractive beach in general, not well maintained, etc. Things like... a half buried car tire right on the waterline?

There are a few picnic tables available.

Could be a decent place to picnic if you’re already in the campground - and not wanting to leave Canisbay for whatever reason - but I have a hard time imagining anyone buying a day pass with the specific intent of visiting it, TBH.

Tea Lake Dam Day Use

Honestly, the nicest day use area nearby - possibly even in the park? - is Tea Lake Dam.

It’s very small, with little picnic nooks along the outflow of the Tea Lake Dam. You can picnic right next to the rapids, with a fantastic view.

It IS a bit of a drive from the Canisbay Lake Campground - about 17 km - but totally worth it, IMHO.

Bonus if you’re stopping there on the way to check out Oxtongue River - Ragged Falls Provincial Park, which is a fantastic waterfall area that's only 16 minutes further down the highway, from Tea Lake Dam.

Rentals

The summer season rental options are almost overwhelming.

The closest option for renting equipment is at the Lake of Two Rivers Store, when it’s open. It offers bicycle rentals, as well as a bunch of info on other outfitters.

The Portage Store on Canoe Lake and the Opeongo Store on Opeongo Lake both offer canoe rentals, and there seem to be a TON of outfitters in the area, some of whom will actually deliver a canoe right to your site!

On the Monday of our early May stay at Canisbay Lake, we saw an outfitter loading up canoes at the Canisbay Lake day use beach, so I guess their season starts early!

Campsite Details

Along with Pog Lake Campground, the Lake of Two Rivers campgrounds, and Mew Lake Campground, Canisbay Lake Campground is one of the largest campgrounds in Algonquin Park. It’s located on the south end of Canisbay Lake.

The sites are relatively big and fairly well spaced out, though the privacy isn’t great.

The trees - mostly deciduous trees, with a random large pine trees scattered throughout - don’t provide much of a visual barrier between the campsites.

Our campsite was large and well maintained, and - as is the case with Provincial Park campgrounds in general - had one picnic table and a fire pit included.

Of particular note: The loop with sites 53-101 is pet free AND radio free.

Aside from the drive in camping sites, Canisbay Lake also features 16 backcountry camping sites that you have to paddle to - each with a fire pit.

Entertainment and Activity

Given the size of Algonquin Provincial Park, it should be no surprise that there are a LOT of activities to choose from!

Here are some details of what you can look forward to:

Hiking

There are a bunch of hiking trails throughout Algonquin Park, and are known to be the best way to take in the beautiful scenery of the area.

Several of the trails offer stunning views of the surrounding forests, lakes, and rocky ridges of the Canadian shield via lookouts.

Unfortunately for us, we had a bit of a perfect storm of “nope” - bad weather and injury - going on, when we visited. It definitely hampered our ability to explore the interpretive walking trails that are peppered throughout Algonquin Provincial Park.

We were able to check out four trails during our stay - the Spruce Bog Boardwalk Trail, Peck Lake Trail, Beaver Pond Trail, and the Logging Museum Trail.

I’ll discuss the logging museum one down in the “nearby attractions” section, here are our thoughts on the other trails we did:

Spruce Bog Boardwalk Trail

This was a 1.5 km trail, one of the two trails in the park with an “easy” rating. It’s located almost right across the highway from the visitor center, at km 42.5.

Thankfully, this was actually an accurate rating. It was a very easy walk - wheelchair accessible, even!

Flat the whole way, mostly boardwalk, with areas of wide, well groomed, hard-packed ground trail in between the boardwalk sections.

There wasn’t even so much as a step! Absolutely nothing to remind my landing knee that it still hates me after the Agawa Bay Pictographs trail!

It was a really nice, recreational trail. The path wound its way through forested areas and a Black Spruce bog, and was just a really nice walk.

It was drizzly and crisp the morning we went, and we still really enjoyed it.

It’s fun to be able to walk through / over water environment like that - kind of an immersive experience, without the literal immersion :).

Peck Lake Trail

One of the closest trails to the Canisbay campground, it was an attractive option to check out.

This trail is about 2 km in length, and ranked as being of moderate difficulty, with the recommendation that it’ll take an hour to complete.

The moderate rating was accurate - there were a lot of inclines and obstacles along most of the trail, but nothing TOO wild.

It took us 1:15 to do, but we did stop to take a lot of photos along the way.

We did the trail earlyish in the morning, so there weren’t too many people - we were shocked at how busy the trails all got in the afternoon, especially considering it was cold, rainy, and the bulk of the campgrounds were closed!

There were views out over the lake, some marshy area - a very ADHD friendly trail, LOL.

Beaver Pond Trail

The rain held off for longer than we thought it would, so we checked out Beaver Pond Trail the same day as Peck Lake and the Logging Museum.

Well, one of us did, anyway - I didn’t think my back could handle another walk after the first two, so I waited it out while Porter did it.

This one is 2 km long, rated moderate, with an estimated time of 1.5 hours to complete it.

Without me slowing him down, he did it in 30 minutes, LOL.

Anyway, his thoughts:

“There were several cool lookouts where you could see multiple beaver dams. Some would be off in the distance, but you’d get a closer look at those later on in the trail.

Unfortunately, there was no beaver activity the day I did the walk, but it was still a fun trail.”

There was also a really high overlook at one point, right near the end of it, I think the view there would be really great to see it around dawn.”

Anyway, we’ll definitely be back on this trail on future trips to the area.”

Bat Lake Trail

This one is located at km 30, and is either 5.6 or 5.7 km long - depending on what you’re reading. It’s rated moderate.

The interesting thing about this one is that Bat Lake is really acidic - a ph of 4.3. That’s about the same acidity as tomato juice!

This makes for an interesting situation for the aquatic life - no fish, but a proliferation of amphibians. We’re definitely going to check it out at some point!

Track and Tower Trail

This one’s at km 25, is 7.7 km, and rated moderate. It’s known for a lookout over Cache Lake, and also features an optional offshoot trail that takes an old abandoned railroad to Mew Lake.

Hemlock Bluff Trail

This trailhead is at km 27.2, and is 3.5 km long - rated moderate. This one takes you through a forest, to a nice view of Jack Lake.

Two Rivers Trail

This trail is located at km 31, is a 2.1 km loop, and rated moderate.

Lookout Trail

This trail is located at km 39.7, is 2.1 km long, and rated difficult.

Porter was able to do this trail during our 2025 visit, and says:

“This was a nice trail, well packed and wide. Some short boardwalk, goes along a small stream for a bit (might be seasonal).

Massive boulders along the sides and the cliff edge is actually boulder you're walking on. A fair amount of inclines make this moderate, if it were flat I would call it easy.”

Mizzy Lake Trail

This trail is located at km 15.4, is 10.8 km long, and rated moderate. DEFINITELY more of a day trip, than a casual afternoon thing. This one takes you by 9 different beaver ponds and lakes, and is known as one of the best spots for wildlife viewing in the park.

Biking

Canisbay Lake is the access point for the Minnesing Mountain Bike Trail, a set of 4 loops - 4.7, 10.1, 17.1 and 23.4 kilometres.

The bike trails are all rated moderate, with the warning that they’re “unsuitable for small children and unfit adults”.

If that’s not your scene, there’s the Old Railway Bike Trail running between the Mew Lake and Rock Lake campgrounds, which is a recent addition that extends another trail by 6.2 km.

THAT trail is 16.2 km, and can be accessed from Rock Lake, Raccoon Lake, Pog Lake Campground, and Mew Lake Campground.

It’s described as “leisurely”, with no warnings about unfit adults.

Swimming

Canisbay Lake has two separate swimming areas - the Canisbay campground beach, and the day use area.

They’re both sandy beaches - on shore - though gravelly in the water. Beach goers might want to consider bringing water shoes, and definitely consult the park’s website for current water quality information.

As with every provincial park we’ve been to, there are no lifeguards on duty.

Birding, Wildlife, and Nature

On our October trip, we kept up our record of reading about all the birds that could be found in the park - more than 260 different species of birds - only to not see ANY.

Apparently it’s a great place to see great grey owls, spruce grouse, and gray jays in their natural habitat... just not if you’re us, LOL.

We did hear a common loon out on the lake, so there is that.

On a subsequent trip to Algonquin, we had a bit more luck, and got to see several different bird species - A few Blue Jays, a couple Canada Jays, some Pine Grosbeaks, a giant raven, some chickadees, and a bunch of Evening Grosbeaks.

Both trips, we were hoping to see some of the moose, bears, wolves, etc that we’re always seeing other people post, no such luck.

We did see a couple white-tailed deer crossing the road at one point, though.

In terms of birds, we saw and/or heard the following on our May visit:

American Crow, American Robin, Barred Owl, Black-Capped Chickadee, Black-Throated Green Warbler, Blue Jay, Chipping Sparrow, Common Grackle, Common Loon, Common Raven, Eastern Phoebe, Least Flycatcher, Northern Flicker, Ovenbird, Purple Finch, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Ruffed Grouse, Wild Turkey, Yellow-Rumped Warbler.

We also had a few fun encounters with a wild turkey. He was always in the same spot, and we stopped by to see him each time we were in the area.

He’d come running over, try to put his head in our window, seemed VERY curious about us... then would run after our car as we left!

We’d been seeing all kind of reports of moose being EVERYWHERE along the highway - that wasn’t the case by the time we arrived.

Boating

With thousands of nice lakes - and some major rivers - in the park, Algonquin is a great place to enjoy a canoe trip.

While Canisbay Lake is a beautiful freshwater lake itself, there are also 2000 km of canoe routes to explore!

Rentals are available at a few outfitters in the park, with signs throughout (and ads in the map guide) that advertise delivery right to the campgrounds. Very cool!

Note: power boats are banned on most of the lakes in Algonquin Park.

Fishing & Hunting

There are 2,400 lakes and 1,200 kilometres of rivers and streams in Algonquin park, so plenty of opportunity for fishing - and several different species of fish to be found.

Trout fishing is the big thing, and Algonquin is supposed to be one of the best places for it in Canada. Literally hundreds of those lakes have either Brook Trout or Lake Trout fishing, and some of the lakes along the highway are stocked with Splake.

I’ll save you the googling - it’s a hybrid brook/lake trout. There’s also smallmouth bass fishing, for those interested.

At certain times of year, hunting is allowed in the park - subject to Ontario Hunting Regulations, and with certain restrictions applying.

We did not see or hear any hunting during our stay.

(And we were glad to not go through a repeat of constant gunfire starting at 6am, as we’d experienced at Rideau River Provincial Park!)

Discovery Program

As with all of the other provincial parks we’ve visited, Algonquin Provincial Park runs a Discovery Program in the summer - late June until Labour Day.

There are naturalist-led walks to learn about the environment, kids programming, evening programs, and “public wolf howls”, which sounds kind of wild.

Again, though - all during the summer months only, we missed out!

The park’s amphitheater is huge and has a TON of parking - I wonder how busy it gets in the summer?

Winter Activities

While we visited Canisbay Lake prior to the winter months, procrastination on actually getting this post finished means that we’ve since experienced a bit of winter in Algonquin!

Canisbay Lake is closed during the winter (its season runs May to October), but Mew Lake is open for camping, and there are activities throughout the park.

For those into cross-country skiing, there are cross-country ski trails throughout the park, along with some snowshoeing, ice skating, dog sledding, and more.

Be sure to check out our review on Mew Lake Campground... and Winter Camping in Algonquin Provincial Park.

Niantic Games

Algonquin Park isn’t really a great place to get your Pokemon on, but there’s enough available that you’ll be able to keep up on your daily tasks.

In our loop of the park, there’s one gym, and that’s it. There’s at least 2 more pokestops in the campground - I think 3? - but very spread out. There are plenty of spawns pretty much anywhere you go in Canisbay, though - you don’t need to be right near a stop or gym.

Most campgrounds and trails have at least one stop or gym, the Bog Boardwalk had 2 or 3 stops and a gym. The Visitor Center had another handful of stops, and 2 gyms.

Cell coverage was good enough to be able to play in each of those areas without a problem.

Final Thoughts

Even after a second visit, this Canisbay Lake Campground is a bit of a mixed bag for us.

Seeing all of the random caution tape, disrepair, and bizarrely aggressive signage our first night here was more comical than off-putting, but was definitely unexpected, and set a weird tone for that first stay.

The fact that there’s still a fair amount of disrepair a year and a half later?

Canisbay Lake Campground specifically... is a decent campground. The lake is pretty enough, the sites are nice enough, but there’s nothing really to write home about, you know?

I see it less of a destination campground - itself - and more of a decent base camp to park your stuff, while you enjoy your outdoor adventure in other areas of the bigger park.

It’s in close proximity to the main highway - while being far enough away to avoid highway noise - and a relatively good location in the park.

We love that it’s got a north-facing lake, and it would be a fantastic place to see the Northern Lights, should the timing work out for you.

The thing is, Canisbay just doesn’t really measure up - for us - to some of the other Algonquin Provincial Park campgrounds.

Mew Lake is just a few minutes up the road, and that campground is fabulous - have stayed there a bunch of times since originally writing this post!

Pog Lake looks gorgeous, we’re definitely looking to camp there at some point.

Also, we’re definitely going to have to stay at Lake of Two Rivers at some point. We’ll have fun abusing the abbreviation - LOTR - when talking about it!

For Canisbay, though? I’d stay here again if there was a fairly sure bet of auroral activity, if only for the logistics. Beyond that... we’re definitely more about Mew Lake.

More Algonquin Provincial Park Campground Reviews

Want to read some more of what we have to say about the campgrounds and attractions in Algonquin Park? Here are some more reviews!

Algonquin Provincial Park MEGA Post
Kearney Lake Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park
Lake of Two Rivers Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park
Mew Lake Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park
Pog Lake Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park
Provoking Falls, Algonquin Provincial Park
Raccoon Lake Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park
Rock Lake Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park
Tea Lake Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park
Whitefish Lake Campground, Algonquin Provincial Park

Interested in seeing our other Provincial Park reviews? We've got a huge - and ever-growing! - list of them here: 2 Nerds in a Truck Campground Reviews