Park #1: Port Burwell Provincial Park

 Park #1:  Port Burwell Provincial Park

Date: September 27-29 2024

Site: Group Site 402

Party: Tillsonburg Guides/Pathfinders/Rangers and Leaders

Port Burwell Provincial Park with its tall trees and sandy, almost manicured beach, nestled on the banks of Lake Erie, is gorgeous.   Probably my most camped park.  Beyond countless family vacations here, this park was the site of some pretty massive Scouting (and Guiding) jamborees in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Country Cat here, Port Burwell is also my most camped Provincial Park, however this was my first time here with Guides! City Cat next, this was my very first time at Port Burwell Provincial Park.

How we came about camping here as a unit was simple, it was within the required 30 - 40 minute drive from our town, it had a group site and it was affordable.  Coming in at just under 250$ for two nights on the group site this was by far one of the most affordable camp sites we’ve had in Guiding. Hindsight, maybe we should have asked ourselves why it was so darn affordable??

The group site we had was huge. We had a large central fire pit and at least 12 picnic tables.  As well there was a lovely bench overlooking the cliff. Did you know that the girls gave this bench a special name? They called it the Depression Bench, where they could sit and think about their life choices.  It was a great place to sit and watch the sun come up and view the lake. Oh, that is a much better use for the bench! There were massive tall trees that seemed to reach the sky. When we arrived I thought the site was awesome, so beautiful with all of the trees. The leafy canopy was fantastic, until the sun went down.  Then the site was plunged into a darkness unknown to man. As someone who dislikes the dark, this was the point at which my opinion of the site drastically changed.  What was an artistic display of foliage and fauna in the light became a nightmare of invisible roots and other tripping hazards in the dark.  Was that wind whispering through the dry leaves or a rodent of unusual size coming to attack? The raccoon ended up being quite friendly, and he just wanted a hot dog, he didn’t want to attack. No worries dear reader, we did not feed Cupcake the Raccoon hot dogs. Walking to the lone 4 stall “comfort station” at night was terrifying. Weren’t the comfort stations in general terrifying?  Thankfully we had some makeshift lanterns (jars with glow sticks in them) lighting the path back to our site which helped.   

Oh yes, let's talk about this “comfort station”.

There are 2 group sites in Port Burwell, they are essentially side by side and they share a washroom facility.  These group sites can easily accommodate 100 people combined.  The shared facility can accommodate 4 people simultaneously.   Now, I know I’m not a “maths” person, but, yall, something does not add up here!   Not only were there not enough bum holes, they were literal bum holes.  These were not “comfort” stations.  They were “poop chutes”.   The dreaded outhouse, dressed up with some bricks and solar lights.   Thank goodness it was a windy weekend, otherwise the smell would have sent me packing. We were incredibly lucky to have the group site farthest from the comfort stations. Walking towards them in the dark, you knew by the smell that you were close. Our site was far enough away, we couldn’t smell them until we were about 10-15 feet away.

Is it the end of the world to have non flushable toilets at a camp?  No it’s not.  But did we hike into the park proper to go to the playground and use the large actual comfort station with flushable toilets and warm water?  Yes.   Yes we did.   

Did I contemplate driving back into the park proper to take a hot shower whilst leaving my co-leaders to fend for themselves with the unit…..I will never tell.

Bathrooms aside I would totally camp in Port Burwell again.  It's a gorgeous park with so much life.  Our unit saw deer, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, crows, hawks, bluejays, tree frogs, a feral cat and possibly a coyote. Agreed! I think that we are going to encounter far more interesting bathroom situations on this adventure, might as well get used to it. I’m never going to get used to it!!!

1 park down, 114 to go!  Where to next??