CAROL JANKOWSKI
‘Roughing it’ isn’t what it used to be.
IF SWIMMING, fishing, boating, campfires and the great outdoors haven’t changed, surely camping also remains a reassuringly stable part of our recreational heritage.
Well, yes and no, but happily the no is linked to increased comforts for people “roughing it” for a night, a weekend or more.
After 39 years with the Grand River Conservation Authority, Jack Griffin knows its campsites as well as anyone. He started working for the conservation authority as a high school summer student, continued while studying to be a civil engineer and on graduation went to work full time as maintenance assistant at Pinehurst Lake in 1976.
“I liked the outdoors, and I never really left,” Griffin said in an interview at GRCA’s bucolic headquarters on Clyde Road in south Cambridge where he is manager of conservation area operations. He took the post seven years ago after 18 years in parks, followed by years as security officer and zone superintendent for the watershed south of Laurel Creek.
At heart he’s not a camper, only trying it for the sake of his children when they were young, but concedes it was fun as long as the weather was good.
Nevertheless, his job is to ensure the best possible experiences on conservation authority land so Grand asked him about camping in the 21st century:
Q: The GRCA has 2,300 campsites spread over eight conservation areas. Which are the most popular?
A: Elora Gorge and Rockwood. Rockwood is known for the movies filmed there, including “Cheaper By the Dozen 2” in 2005, and a few years back the Jonas Brothers’ “Camp Rock 2.” Byng Island at Dunnville, near the mouth of the Grand, is also very pretty.
Q: Just 946 of the campsites have hydro and water. Are they most in demand?
A: Yes. In the 1970s, most patrons were in tents and didn’t need electrical outlets, and there has always been water available throughout the campgrounds. But now there’s just a handful of tents; most people are in trailers. We’re adding services as money becomes available, but remember, we’re not funded by tax dollars and servicing a site from scratch is quite expensive — probably $10,000.
Q: So not many pup tents in evidence?
A: No, and if there are, the kids are in them and mom and dad are in a big tent beside them. But you don’t see that much anymore, not like 30 years ago.
Q: What do your age analyses tell you about campers?
A: The majority are between 30 and 40. There are a few retirees.
Q: The May 24 weekend once was notorious for badly behaved campers, not so much here as along the Lake Huron shoreline. Has anything changed?
A: At one time we had a family-only camping policy, but it changed because it was kind of discriminatory and we got called on it. Once we lifted it, young people came in and oh my. It was not only the May 24 weekend, but Labour Day weekend as well.
But it’s not like the ’80s anymore. Now we hire provincial offences officers who are authorized to enforce trespassing and conservation authority laws. That can be a difficult job even though a lot of the time they’re only dealing with two or three per cent of the people at the campground.
Q: Are all your campgrounds on water?
A: You’ve got to have water. We have pools at the two that don’t have a natural water source: Byng Island has a two-acre pool and Brant’s pool is 1.5 acres. We regularly test both drinking water and water in the >>
>> reservoirs. We did expensive upgrading of the equipment after Walkerton. With being a water agency, we’ve got to be top-notch when it comes to safety.
Q: When you get together with others in the campground business, what do you talk about besides money?
A: We’ve got to be competitive with the provincial parks and we do a market analysis annually to compare fees and programs. People’s expectations of camping have changed; they are a lot more demanding. They want sites to be fully serviced (electrical, water and sewer connections) and they want Wi-Fi, which is on the back-burner for us for now.
We are always trying to come up with new ideas to attract campers although we’ve also got to remember we’re a park and a conservation authority. We don’t want to be too urban.
We are looking at introducing glamping (“glamour” camping in cabins) in the next couple of years. We considered adding yurts, (tent-like structures) which some parks offer, but we’ve decided to go with cabins instead.
And we’re looking at winter camping, which some provincial parks offer. It would mean staffing changes; we now hire about 200 students a season, but we’re going more to college students, not so much high school. We could also bring in staff from other areas if necessary.
Seasonal camping really helped us. It used to be people could stay a maximum of 14 nights. When we introduced seasonal passes for May to October, we started with less than 70 and we’re now up to 800. Some of those seasonal campers spend summers here and winters in Florida. Others have a permanent home in the city, but choose to spend the summer living in a trailer at a campground.
Q: How important are camp programs for children and adults? A: They are becoming more and more important. Our nature centre staff go to our parks to give talks or to run a scavenger hunt and people really turn out for that.
One of the best things we started was tubing at Elora Gorge. At one time a local gas station just blew up inner tubes, but now the majority rent tubes from us. We want to make sure they have proper tubes and lifejackets before they set out; some do bring their own tubes, but we prefer they don’t for safety reasons. Tubing is a lot of fun, but you’ve got to be careful, you’ve got to be smart.
We also have a splash pad now at Elora Gorge.
Trails are always in the top three of things people like to do. Pinehurst Lake has beautiful trails; each October Canada’s largest trail race, Run for the Toad is held there. It gets about 1,200 runners. We’re going to continue to develop trails and, of course, they’ll all be accessible.
We also have a variety of winter programs. Belwood Lake, for example, offers ice fishing, and people can take their snowmobiles along the 47-kilometre Elora-Cataract rail trail. Shade’s Mill and Pinehurst have ice fishing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing; Laurel Creek offers snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. Skis and snowshoes can be rented at all the sites.
For the Family Day long weekend in February, people don’t need a licence to ice fish; they just pay the daily admission fee. We test the ice to be sure it’s thick enough — that’s been no problem the last two winters — and people can bring little tents to get themselves out of the wind once they drill a hole and sink a line in the ice. Shade’s Mill has four huts available for rent.
Q: What basic gear does the first-time camper need? A: A tent, sleeping bags, Coleman stove or barbecue, lantern, cooler, insect repellent and sunscreen. A dining tent is always nice. They should also bring clothing for cooler or wet weather.
More experienced campers get real highdollar gear. The days of pounding pegs into the ground are over; now you can put up a tent in minutes. And some of the trailers are unbelievable, with tip-outs to expand the space and all the comforts of home.
Q: And finally weather, the one thing you can’t manage.
A: If the weekend turns rainy, tenters just leave, and people in trailers stay. People really look at the forecast, but the frustrating thing is that you can have a beautiful weekend and empty campgrounds because the forecast was off.
For reservations and more information about Grand River Conservation Authority parks and programs, visit www.grandriver.ca and click on Parks or Activities. Camping fees vary, depending on location and season. For instance, at the largest campground, Elora Gorge, a premium serviced site in peak season is $45 per night. For a standard unserviced site, it’s $36. Premium sites may be larger, closer to natural features such as water, have more trees or more privacy.