Camping at Wasaga Beach

This weekend, Glen and I drove up to Wasaga Beach to spend the weekend with Mon, Christian and the kids. Wasaga Beach is about two hours north of Toronto and on the edge of Lake Huron. Apparently it is the longest freshwater beach in the world.

If it weren’t for Mon and Christian going, I don’t think Glen and I would have ever gone. Beaches in general don’t inspire much enthusiasm in us, plus compared to the beaches back home, the ones here are a little odd to us. Still, it was an excellent opportunity to get out of the city, see somewhere new that was close to home, and of course spend time with friends.

I collected the car in the morning from the rental place down the road and called Glen to bring our stuff down. Considering we were only going for one night, we took a lot of things. The tent and the air mattress were the biggest items, then came the blanket, the pillows, a small suitcase with tracksuit pants and towels and sheets, then a few shopping bags with food and games inside. Going to a hotel/motel doesn’t require as much stuff, that’s for sure.

I drove. I did ask about getting Glen’s name on the rental but as I didn’t have his license when I collected it, I let it go. I’ll remember for next time. The drive wasn’t bad though. It’s pretty direct (though I did miss one of the turn-offs so we had to detour – and have a bit of an argument at the same time). Eventually we arrived around 11am at the camper van site.

Mon and Christian had hired a camper van the day before and drove it up. Apart from all the hassles they had in collecting it (they didn’t get on the road until 6pm, after organising for a pick-up at 1pm), they’re able to get around northern Ontario with everything they need, cook, and keep the kids entertained. They had rented space at Wasaga Pines Family Campground and there was space next to the van for us to put our tent.

The tent went up easily, in about five seconds in fact. I inflated the mattress, made the bed and then it was all ready. I’ve only slept in a tent outside two other times in my life: one on a school camping trip for one night and the other at a dance music festival for two nights (which was hideous). Glen has frequently, over the past 10 years, said he wanted to go camping but as I wasn’t so inclined, if he didn’t organise it, I sure wouldn’t.

Camping at Wasaga Pines is camping-lite as all the amenities are there and you don’t have to worry about bears. Camping rough I think I’d find a bit difficult (and think Glen would too).

After getting all setup, we headed to the actual beach (the campsite is about 10–15 minutes away from the beach). There we found bogans. I didn’t think Canada had them but there they were in their hundreds. Wasaga Beach has a flat greyish beach that abuts the road. There are no dunes for most of it so what you have is a whole lot of shops, carparks and bogans in their suped-up cars, pumping out loud music. Guys actually cheered when other guys revved their engines. I thought that was something you only saw in movies and bad TV shows.

We headed down towards the water, staking out a spot far to the right of the many, many people on the beach. In fact, we were close to a cordoned off bit of beach that was protected for nesting Piping Plovers. The water was freezing, way too cold to go in for a swim. I saw one other person in there and he was quite a distance out but still the water only came up to his knees.

We sunbaked and ate food. Jani played with his shovel and bucket. Mon went for a jog, then a quick dip, and then a nap. Glen and I fell asleep briefly on the beach, then he went and napped with Mon in the camper van. Christian and I stayed with the kids. Because the sun sets so late, we were there until about 5pm. I got a little bit burnt in patches because I didn’t put any suncream on. I think it’ll go brown.

After the beach, Glen and I got some food and drinks and took it back to the campsite where we had dinner and a few drinks. Leo, the baby, went to bed early and Jani went off about 7:30. The four us stayed up until a very late 9:30-ish, playing Scrabble and eating jellybeans.

Climbing into the tent, Glen and I realised it was going to be a cold night. I think we both slept poorly as we huddled against each other for warmth. At about 4am, we both woke up to go pee, noticing that the outside of the tent was completely wet with condensation. It was also about this time that we heard something howling in the distance. First instinct was wolves, but it was probably coyotes. (Anyone care to make an educated guess?) They were far away and soon we fell asleep.

I think we woke with the sun but I tried desperately to sleep a bit more so buried my head underneath the covers. Mon and Jani then came out to see us at 7am. We had a long morning of eating breakfast and reading books to Jani. We packed up our stuff and then took ages to decide what we were going to do. Eventually, plans were made and we set off about 11 or so.

Glen and I went to Walmart because he wanted to check it out, hoping to see some of the “People of Walmart”. It’s just a supermarket. We bought food then Glen went and fumed in Tim Horton’s. We then went towards the beach to meet Mon and Christian but stopped to play mini golf at this great mini-golf place called Skull Island Adventure Golf.

It’s decked out with pirate ships and water, treasure chests and skeletons. It’s bright and clean and irresistible. Glen and I went in and started playing. I got one hole-in-one, while Glen got two, however, I beat him 50–63. We cheered and shouted when we got our holes-in-one. At the last hole, Glen won a free game because he got it in the right hole. It was a fun detour.

Turns out going to play mini golf was a good move as we got to the carpark at the beach just after Mon and Christian. They’d driven across town to fill up their propane tank, only to find it was already full and the gauge was broken. They were so pissed off as it had dominated their thoughts for the better part of a day and a half. The plus side is that we arrived together and could choose a spot together.

Today we went even farther to the right of the people on the beach. It’s only late May and the place is already jumping. June, July and August you probably can’t move. We found a shaded table past the nesting Piping Plover site (we even saw a plover too, piping along its merry way), setup and sat down. We ate food then Jani and Mon went to play by the water’s edge, while the rest of us stayed at the table. I bounced Leo on my knee most of the time.

Glen and I left at 2 because he’s got to get some work thing done for tomorrow. Traffic was a little heavier getting back into Toronto, probably because everyone is coming back from their cottages up north. We got home, unpacked the car and then I returned it to the rental place. I dropped the keys through the slot…then realised I’d locked my house keys in the car. I’ll have to get them tomorrow.

So that’s the summary of our little jaunt to Wasaga Beach. It reminded me a lot of family holidays to Albany where we’d stay at caravan parks, be beach bums, play games and eat lots of food. Happy memories. I’d like to go to Algonquin Park sooner rather than later (Alastair and Bec saw five moose there the other week) and yes, camping wasn’t bad. I’d do it again, though I think we need sleeping bags instead. Warm ones.