COMMENTARY: Manitoban tent-trailer types an underserviced market

Featured Posts — 07 September 2010

Starlight was bright enough to silhouette a stand of jackpines over the weekend in Blue Lake Provincial Park. Photo by Chris Marchand

In 35 years as resident of the Dryden area, it occurred to me recently that I had never spent the night at Blue Lake Provincial Park.

Certainly I had swam its azure, almost Caribbean-looking waters, jumped from its highest diving rocks as a teen, braved its treacherous portages with a canoe slung over my shoulder, snowshoed the Rock Point Trail, and rappelled down the vertical climbing routes at the Blue Lake Crag.

I also got red ants in my pants there once, but it’s a bit of an em-bare-assing story.

While I can proudly claim that I once slept in New York City in a tent trailer, I must admit there was a period in my life when I was just ‘too cool for car camping’.

Yes, every item in my camping arsenal was an ultra-light, compact and ridiculously expensive necessity, designed to be stuffed into huge 70 litre packs and carried on one’s back for many miles from the car.

These days, it’s a bit of an adjustment tempering an adventurous lifestyle to accommodate the vulnerabilities of an infant.

What do people with babies and young children do to scratch their outdoors itch? They go car camping.

You only have to visit a few other Ontario Parks to realize what a crown jewel Blue Lake is for our area. It’s a perfect confluence of flowing exposed granite, sandy soil, open jackpine forest and crystal-clear water that has attracted campers for generations. It’s as easy as outdoor living gets.

The park celebrated their 50th season in 2010 and was buzzing with its typical friendly Manitoban family crowd over the long weekend, campers who seemed to be regulars, or devotees of this special place, come for one last frigid dip in the lake or to savour a walk through the smoky jackpine grid of camp sites.

The park has built an amazing new shower facility in the past year that smartly incorporates some of the Vermilion Bay area’s distinctive pink granite into its design.

It’s tempting to take exception to the price of contemporary camping — $40 per night for an electric site, $35 otherwise, (plus reservation fees) is nothing to sneeze at.

But instead of complaining about the great time I had this weekend, it makes me wonder about regional tourism outfitters who continue to bemoan the ever-slowing trickle of ‘hook and bullet’ American Plan visitors. Have they taken notice of the thousand or more Manitoban families actually competing for high-priced campsites every weekend between Rushing River and Blue Lake parks?

Bicycles are far more numerous than fishing rods and firearms in this crowd.

The child-laden ‘Toban tent-trailer set may not be dropping thousands of dollars, but they’re showing an increased willingness to drive past Kenora to string up the ‘ol patio lanterns, despite the lack of options for them.

In just three months, I’ve already learned not to underestimate the shortage of recreational choices that comes with kids.

I’m among a captive market that it seems only Ontario Parks has learned to serve.

Chris Marchand

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About Author

chrismarchand

Chris Marchand is a native of Dryden, Ontario. He served his first newspaper internship at The Dryden Observer in 1998 while attending journalism studies at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops B.C. He's worked desks as both reporter and editor at the Fernie Free Press as well as filled the role of sports editor at the Cranbrook Daily Townsman. Marchand was named editor of the Dryden Observer in Aug. 2009.