Civic Holiday Weekend 2016

Highland Pines is a large private campground located on Belwood Lake near Guelph, ON. We had never visited this park before and it’s fairly close to home so we chose to book the Civic Holiday weekend here. We knew we’d have an easier drive to this park and home on a holiday weekend.

The first thing I noticed upon arrival was how easy it was to enter the park near the office, pull around the huge RV turning area and park in the designated area to register. Definitely big rig friendly!  The staff was very friendly and helpful too! We were of course reminded of the “total fire ban” upon arrival and it was well posted around the campground too. The overnight camping area is located in the Riverside campground across the road from the main office. All entrances are security gated and they give you a card with a printed barcode sticker attached. No actual cards nor security deposits.

There are two overnight areas in Highland Pines. The first is where we are with all back in, grassy full service sites. We had 30amp, water and a sewer hookup. On the other side are about four nice pull thrus – also fully serviced but 50amp.

Our site was a very large grassy corner site as you can see from the photo above. There is not much privacy in between the sites and they are all located close to the comfort stations, playground, pool, splash pad, laundry and rec hall. I can’t complain at all about the quality of our campsite. Here are some more photos of it!

We had intended on kayaking Lake Belwood during our stay, but we found it a little too windy during our stay. The lake front area of the campground looks nice with lots of room to launch kayaks or canoes and a pad to launch motorboats or jet skis. We were amazed at all the traffic in front of the launch! We’ve already booked another stay at Highland Pines in May of 2017, so hopefully we’ll have a chance to kayak then. Here are some photos of the water front.

We also enjoyed some visitors during our stay at Highland Pines. Fellow camping friends Albert and Diane came to see us on Saturday and camping friends Harry and Liz and Derek and Tatjana came by on Sunday. By Sunday night the fire ban had been lifted, so we enjoyed a nice campfire. Saturday there was a live band that played on until quiet hour.

If you have kids, Highland Pines would be a great place for them to visit. The playgrounds are awesome! I had to hold myself back. I mean really – they were amazing! Plus an awesome looking splash pad and a pool! The laundry, washrooms and showers were very clean. In fact, ALL of Highland Pines was immaculate! Here are some photos of park:

Highland Pines is a very large park and they are still building! The seasonal sites are very well kept and everyone seems very friendly. They are adding more transient sites in a different campground and of course it will have it’s own splash pad\pool and playground.

I honestly can’t say a bad thing about Highland Pines! If you’re looking for a nice, clean campground with lots to do for kids or a quiet place to kayak, give it a try. It was busy during our stay, but it was also a long weekend during the summer, so that’s expected. The check in process was easy and the staff, very helpful.

Here’s a link to Highland Pines:

http://highlandpines.com/

Here’s a link to my Picasa album:

https://goo.gl/photos/8KqjyV5eNw1F6LF68

HAPPY CAMPING!!!