Ontario Provincial Parks User Fee Changes for 2014

     It is an unfortunate comment that, among all of my many blog articles, the one that gets the most hits both overall and on a continuing basis is my first entry which laments the high costs of user fees for Ontario Parks.  People search the web wondering why the costs are so high for camping and day use fees in Ontario Provincial Parks and end up finding my blog.  This shows me there is a disconnect between what people are expecting to pay for a night of camping and  the actual fees that are being charged for using these parks. 

    I have now taken it upon myself to analyze the Ontario Provincial Park user fee increases year by year when they are released since I don’t think anyone else out there does this.  Sometime in November, Ontario Parks quietly rolls out the next year’s fees on their website without any comment s explaining what the increases are, so I collect the data from past and present years and analyze the data in a spreadsheet and make some comments to give some transparency to park users who are concerned about the user fees for Ontario Parks.

     For the analysis regarding the fee increases between 2013 and 2014…  this year’s increase from 2013 shows a moderate increase in camping fees.  Per night, the fees have increased in the neighborhood of 3%, similar to last year’s increase as well.  This still is three times the inflation rate.   The inflation rate in Canada for 2013 was 0.91% according to this.

     Fortunately many of the other fees show no increase – reservation fees, group camping fees, and most of the day use fees have been frozen from the year before.  The only other thing to note is the fees for cross country skiing see a substantial increase of 18% up to $13/day for 18+ regular rate users.  Senior, youth and group skiing rates have also gone up 9-11%, not as much as the regular rate user fees.  Some roofed accommodations have also been adjusted upwards, fortunately not the yurts.

     Crown camping accessible areas which at one time had offered a solace from the crowds of the Provincial Parks are themselves becoming overcrowded recently, as people look for backcountry alternatives that you don’t have to pay exorbitant fees to use.  There’s many spots that are difficult or impossible to find parking spots at crown land access put ins because so many people are opting to use crown land instead of using Provincial Parks for their backcountry trips.

Excel Spreadsheet with the user fee data and analysis from 2011 to 2014 is located here.

Links

OutdoorJay - High Cost of Camping in Ontario Provincial Parks

OutdoorJay - 2012 Fee Increase

Ontario Parks website – 2014 Fees

Ontario Parks website – 2013 Fees

Elora Gorge Tubing

    Ontario must be proud of the recent commercialization of Elora Gorge tubing, since I see it on Ontario ads they show before movies start nowadays.  Elora Gorge itself is fantastic.  It's a strange world.  Very close to Guelph the City I live in, but at the same time it's rather alien with it's striking scenery.  It's a canyon cut deeply into the local limestone geology which the beginnings of the Grand River flowing through it, on it's way to Lake Erie.  It's walls are almost vertical and you do feel insignificant when you are standing inside the gorge.  There's many caves to explore lining the walls of the gorge.  The water is quite shallow most times of the year, and the flow through the gorge is mainly controlled by the Grand River Conservation Area Shand Dam just upstream of it.
     You can hike along it's perimeter making for a decent day hike, camp at the Elora Gorge Conservation Area, or go tubing through the gorge along the Grand River, which also flows through the conservation area.  I found out today that the commercialization of the tubing part has kinda ruined something that was pretty cool I had experienced in the past. 
     My first encounter with Elora Gorge was 20 years ago.  I myself was in University in Waterloo about a 40 minute drive away, and my friend was going to University of Guelph and invited me out for the weekend as he wanted to go to Elora Gorge.  I had never heard of it before, much less know where it was.  Elora is a 15 minute drive from Guelph.  We got there mid morning and had to go to a local truck tire mounting shop.  We 'purchased' an inflated inner tube for around 20 bucks and I think they gave us something like $10 back at the end of the day of returned the tube to them.   You walked down to the gorge and got to the water through a crack in the cliffs.  From there, you floated down the river alternating between short stretches of class 2-3 rapids and lazy river type of flow where you slowly drift downstream.  To be honest, the tubing is a little overrated, it's fun, something to do, but not super amazing.  Depending on the time of year flow can be a little low and you scraped your butt on some spots.  There is one place where the rapids are pretty gnarly, and you could get out and walk back up past them to run them another time.  Noone wore helmets or PFDs.  Oh and the best part - people brought beer with them down the river.  Some people made their own mini inner tub/cooler just for the beer.  Yeah, pretty awesome.  And noone from the Conservation area gave a crap what you did in the gorge.  The whole affair took an hour or so.   Then you got out and walked back to town carrying the tube, or rolling it along the ground.

     But times have changed, and not for the better, in my opinion.  Today I wanted to go tubing.  It was 27 degrees out.  So me and a couple friends headed out to Elora and got to the Conservation Area.  I've read a bit online how you now are supposed to register with the conservation area to go tubing.  Well, we got to the area at about 2pm and the sign read 'Tubing Equipment Sold Out'.  After researching online, it is common for the tubing equipment to be gone by 10:30 and tough titties, they have no more, you can't go tubing.  And by equipment, they mean you are required to sign a waiver, wear a helmet and a PFD.  And now they also require you to pay for Conservation Area day pass fees, and on top of that, pay for tubing registration fees which they give you a wristband for proof of purchase.  This whole deal now costs $5.50 for entrance fees, $3.00 for tubing fee, plus it's a $25 rental for the tube, helmet and pfd, if you don't own these things.  That amounts to $37.86 after tax each person, way expensive. Just a huge money grab because the conservation area happens to be situated along a good stretch of the gorge to do some tubing. And sorry, it's an absolutely blatant ripoff, period.  It's not worth that much.  There's no arguing about that.  The maintenance of the gorge itself is zilch other than the ridiculous Disneyland style infrastructure they have created a massive galvanized staircase for access to the water which wasn't needed before. The equipment is very cheap.  I'm not sure a helmet is necessary, but a PFD is a good idea to have. I am not sure if it is legal to control access to the waterway and tell you what equipment you need to wear due to the of the Navigable Waterways Act.  And there's also the commercialization and promotion of it.  This means there's huge crowds of people, and people that shouldn't be on the river in the first place are participating in it like kids that are too young, people that can't swim, etc.  It's for teenagers and young adults mainly who have decent swimming skills.  That's really the only kind of person who used to use it.
     So, today I was glad that they had no more equipment left.  Instead, we just walked up the Irvine River.  The Grand River and the Irvine Creek merge at Elora, but both have canyons.  Up that way, there were no people at all.  It was nice and peaceful, we found a slightly deeper swimming hole area to chill out in the water and just hang out, enjoying the beautiful scenery.  And it didn't cost anything.  Sad to say it, but Elora is another place that commercialization and development has ruined a previously cool activity.

High Costs of Camping in Ontario Provincial Parks

Camping used to be a low cost vacation option.   However, it is a bit of a sore point with me that it certainly isn’t anywhere near being cheap any more in Ontario, and it’s getting more expensive every year even inflation adjusted.   I will mention park fees were frozen from 2010-2011, but there was a rather hefty increase in 2010, and Ontario still stands head and shoulders above all other province/states in it's comparatively soaring user fees for camping.  As well, with the introduction of the HST instantly added 8% more to everyone's camping user fee bill.

Recently, for 8 days of a mix of backcountry camping and car camping in Algonquin Park,  it cost an exorbitant total of $660 dollars for camping user fees for two people, after reservation fees and HST were tacked on.  Extend that to a month’s length and you get an absurd cost of $2400 a month.  In any city (well, maybe not Toronto) for that amount you can rent a large house or very well appointed multi room luxury condo for a month…  and all I get for camping is the privilege to use a patch of dirt to pitch my tent,  sometimes water supplies and garbage disposal for a few items, possibly a shower.  I don’t know what others seem to think about this, but I think it’s somewhat of a travesty.    Ontario has one of, if not the highest user fees for camping in North America.

The Ministry of Natural Resources claims 80% is paid by the user and 20% is funded by the government.  I dunno, maybe there’s some serious management issues, since I seriously still don’t know why it costs so much to run these parks – maybe it’s time to look at the ledger books and trim some fat, or get the logging companies that exploit the parks to pay more.   I don’t see the need to build and fund mega-interpretive centers such as the new ones in Algonquin Park and the French River for the drive through tourists, or maybe the bus tourists who go to these centers should pay user fees to visit them.   I also would prefer to lower the base camping fee and charge people per use for the showers as is done at many parks outside the province.  Many times I am just using a park for a stopover for continuing driving all day or launching point for backcountry trip and I am only there overnight, 12 hours max., using no amenities except for the toilet.

Furthermore, it is the "'Friends of {insert park name here}" groups that produce the value-added  amenities that you pay for while purchasing documents: producing maps and interpretive guides for trails, not the Parks themselves.

After some research, I found that 80% of user fee recovery is much more than other provinces (some 20% or less).  Or perhaps Dalton McGuinty can spend some of the mega profits (a.k.a. taxes)  the province reaps from the LCBO for some park funding, huh?

I don’t mind paying fair camping fees for the upkeep and staff, but in my humble opinion they are beyond fair right now.  I think people should pay no fees for backcountry as in Manitoba, not $10-$20(plus HST) each person per night, for something that requires essentially no upkeep.  I would gladly volunteer to construct a backcountry camp site, including building a thunderbox out of my own pocket in exchange for a lifetime free backcountry pass.

The reservation fees for Ontario Parks are out of hand, and they use these to unfairly pump up their revenue as well.  Even if you reserve sites for multiple places at the same time, they will charge a reservation fee for each time you move location, which is common in places such as Algonquin Park which have multiple locations.  We went from Achray-backcountry-Achray-Kearney Lake-backcountry-Mew Lake last trip in 8 days.  For the reservation, they thought it was fair to charge 5 x $8.50=42.50 (+HST) alone in reservation fees for this (they did us the favor of  waiving one out of 6 of the fees after complaining about multiple fees).

Another way to get gouged while camping is to get charged for parking fees when car camping or using put-ins for backcountry sites..  $13.50 per night for parking is charged at Chickanishing creek in Killarney to use the crown land backcountry sites on Georgian Bay (which they can’t charge site fees for, so they make up with elevated parking fees).  A second vehicle at any car camping campsite is good for an $8.00-$11.00/day gouging fee by the park.  Other places such as in French River, at the privately run Hartley Bay, the marina which is the only option in the area, takes advantage by charging $10.00/day vehicle parking fees plus another $10.00  ‘launch fee’ for each boat to use their dock to walk your canoe or kayak out and put it in the water.  I don't see how anyone can justify with dignity charging $8-$13.50/day so I can park my car on a 6 x 10 foot patch of dirt in the middle of nowhere.

In addition to this, the Ontario Parks charge $7.50 for a bag of firewood nowadays, most of the time substandard wood at that.  The majority of the time I buy wood at a Park now, it’s wet, if not totally soaked and doesn’t even light without some accelerant in one form or another.

The list is quite long for the user fees you get charged while camping in Ontario Parks, but each 8 or 12 dollar fee adds up quickly.  The fees charged are spread out like that so it's not such a sticker shock until you see the final bill.  Bottom line is we got charged $660 for 8 days of camping for two people with a tent, and that's even before the money I spent on ice and firewood at the park stores, and the canoe rental fees I spent in addition.   I guess camping is for the rich now.

These high fees leave me with a sour taste in mine and many other campers mouths and are pushing people away from camping and enjoying the outdoors and I find it unfortunate.  For me, it won’t stop me from my journeys as there is little alternative, other than using crown land for backcountry trips, but it is a thorn in my side to be felt like I am being taken advantage of each time I go camping. I am sure less and less people will chose to go camping for a vacation if the fees are raised any more than they already are, in this already depressed and fragile economy.

The unsettling thing is, despite the already high fees, Ontario Parks has been sending out surveys to people who have gone camping recently.  The survey starts out asking how you liked the service, but then starts asking your thoughts on potentially paying more for camping, trying to get a feel for what the response would be if they hiked fees even more than they currently are.  I'm sure most people will answer with a resounding NO.
Here's the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2011CampgroundSurveyEnglish

Here’s a quick comparative cost table I threw together:

Note:  Some areas there is a range of costs from park to park, and wherever possible a typical cost is used.  And please add HST to your Ontario bill.

Also Some Related Links:

Ontario provincial park userfees highest in North America

A comparison Between Ontario and British Columbia provincial parks management models 
Canoe camping in provincial parks with a large family is darn expensive!  
Countylive.ca - Price gouging in Ontario's provincial parks 
Kingston WhigStandard - Ontario Park Pass Too Expensive

If you have issues with the high costs of Ontario Provincial Park Fees as I do, I would encourage you to let these people know:  Minister of Natural Resource Linda Jeffrey, ljeffrey.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org,  Premier Dalton McGuinty, dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org, or your local MPP.


Updated Links to User Change Increases:

OutdoorJay – 2014 Ontario Provincial Parks User Fee Changes

OutdoorJay - 2012 Fee Increase

 

Ontario Parks website – 2014 Fees

Ontario Parks website – 2013 Fees

Ontario Parks – Poor Quality Firewood