SELKIRK PROVINCIAL PARK – AUGUST 2014

 

We were looking for a close to home park to visit the weekend after we returned from our northern holiday. Selkirk seemed like a great option since it had been a couple years since our last camping trip here. It’s a nice, close to home option for us when we’re looking for a weekend trip away. Friends of ours brought their fifth wheel and camped near us, as did another friend with his camper truck. What an awesome time out with friends! As well as relaxing and catching up with company, we kayak fished on Lake Erie. We found the water to be a little choppy and spent most of our time out kayak surfing instead of fishing!

We chose a different site for our stay at Selkirk this time. It was in Campground 4 which was the seasonal section at one point in time. Our site backed onto a field and looked decently private online. Of course it was a little different in “real life”! Although there was a green space behind it, there was a road fairly close behind us. It wasn’t busy, but we could hear traffic. Also, I missed the tree smack in the middle of the sight when I booked online. It took me some maneuvering to back the trailer in so we could put the awning out. As well our water tap leaked non-stop. We both took the filter off, the pressure regulator and the hose to try to fix it, but it was the couple the park had fitted on that was leaking. There was nothing we could do other than let them know. The park was very busy with most sites near us taken, but it remained very quiet. We enjoyed campfire donuts with our friends on Saturday night and visits over the course of the weekend. It was a fun weekend away!

As usual, Selkirk did not disappoint. It’s a close park that’s clean, quiet and well patrolled. I think next time we camp here, I’ll look for a site back in our usual campground area. This area was okay and maybe I could have found something without a tree in the middle if I’d looked harder. Still, it was a great time away spent with camping friends!

SELKIRK PROVINCIAL PARK – JUNE 2012

We booked this weekend for our first camping trip out in 2012. Because of the late booking, our favorite site was already taken along with our next couple choices. We ended up staying at site #69 which had electric and water hookups. It was a little smaller than usual and not a pull-thru. The privacy was okay, but not great. The park was very quiet all weekend despite being somewhat busy, especially in our part of the campground. I walked around quite a bit and visited a section that in 2009 seemed to be occupied by seasonals. Now all the seasonals are gone and that campground seems rather empty. Next time I think I’ll look for a site there. The park staff were friendly as usual and spent a lot of time patrolling by car and on foot. As well, they’ve added park souvenirs and more store merchandise this year. Here are some campground pictures:

Friday night the weather was pretty nice. We walked to the beach and Sandusk Creek to watch the sunset and check out how far we could get to the beach to launch the boats. The sunset was beautiful, unfortunately the beach was covered with icky green algae. Not very pleasant if you’re into swimming. Here are some photos:

Saturday morning we woke up to rain and it continued to rain, rain, rain all day. The clouds would roll in and roll out. We had hoped to get out kayaking but couldn’t until around 6pm. We spent about 3hrs on the water fishing. Dave caught some silver bass and I caught a nice perch. The lake was pretty calm for kayaking, fortunately since I found out my small dry hatch cover had blown off somewhere along the way to the park.  Here are some kayaking pictures:

We finished up our kayaking with a nice campfire Saturday night. It had cooled off a little on the water and the sun had almost set by the time we got back to camp. The fireflies put on quite the show both Friday night and Saturday night while we enjoyed our campfire. The areas around our campsite were aglow with so many fireflies – magical! Sunday we woke up to warmth and bright sunshine. As always, Selkirk provided a nice place to stay for a quick camping trip away from home. Word of advice though – if you’re going for the beach, skip Selkirk. It looks like they are doing a fair bit of work including cleaning up the beach, but honestly, there is so much work to do to make it anywhere near other provincial parks such as Port Burwell or even Rock Point. If you’re going for some rest and quiet relaxation or maybe a paddle, then Selkirk is a nice, clean option.

Here is a link to the Ontario Provincial Parks site for Selkirk and my Picasa album for Selkirk:

https://picasaweb.google.com/116741237613027767021/SelkirkCampingPhotosJune2012

http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/selk.html

SELKIRK PROVINCIAL PARK – AUGUST 2011

We camped at our favorite site at Selkirk for the weekend in August. The site isn’t very private, but it is very nice. Lot’s of room here. It was a very relaxing weekend. We walked to the beach both Friday night and Saturday night to watch the sunset over Lake Erie & Sandusk creek.  Saturday morning we headed out on Lake Erie to do some kayaking and fishing. While out there, we caught a couple nice perch, a couple catfish, a sheephead and a very nice bass – my first larger fish landed from a kayak. Here are some sunset and park photos:

And some photos of our Lake Erie kayaking:

We were off the water mid afternoon. The rain they were calling for looked like it could arrive at any moment. I really wanted to hike the Wheelers Walk Trail at the park and a little rain wasn’t going to stop me, so I headed out to the trailhead. The rain arrived as I began the hike. I was disappointed with the trail itself as it wasn’t very well marked nor very well kept either. I think a little trail maintenance is in order.

Here are some more photos of our stay at Selkirk:

Selkirk is one of our favorite close parks to camp at. There are many nice pull thru sites, some with electric and water. It wasn’t very quiet when we camped here, but it was a good stay regardless. The park was pretty much full.  Our kayaking on Lake Erie was a fun time out and we kept a couple nice perch and the bass for a future fish fry.  We’ll continue to camp here because we enjoy this park. Here are some links:

http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/selk.html

https://picasaweb.google.com/116741237613027767021/SelkirkCamping2011#

SELKIRK PROVINCIAL PARK – SEPTEMBER 2009

We camped at Selkirk for a weekend in September in 2009. This site was not our first. The one that I reserved was close to the lake, but also close to the group camping area which was full. We asked to move and since the park was basically empty, had our choice of many sites. We chose this one which was very large and nice. It had a water hookup as well. So, here are a couple photos of our two sites:

The weather didn’t stay nice for long and we ended up rained out many times during the weekend. We wanted to launch our kayaks at the park launch, but couldn’t, see pic below!

Soon after this photo, the skies clouded over and it began to rain again. We didn’t end up kayaking or hiking this particular weekend. We did however do what we usually do when the weather is bad for any amount of time – a road trip! Below are some pics of Nanticoke and Port Dover.

Our road trip took us to the Port Dover Museum which was kind of cool and to the fishermans memorial at the waterfront. We also found a nice butcher shop on the way back to the park. Can’t remember the name, but if I do in the future I’ll post it. The weather cleared out a bit late afternoon so we had time for a fire. The next morning it was stormy again so we packed up early and headed home. Here’s some pics below of our site again the beach Sunday morning.

Here is the link to this park:

http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/selk.html As well, here is the link to the Port Dover Museum:

http://www.norfolkcounty.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=376&Itemid=116

And here’s a link to my Selkirk Picasa album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Adventurer67/SelkirkProvincialPark#