We Forgot How Good This Ontario Park Is | Charleston Lake Provincial Park

On this episode, we visit one of the most tranquil parks that we have not been to in a long time, Charleston Lake Provincial Park. Charleston Lake is located in eastern Ontario, northwest of Kingston. It was nearly 30 years ago that we last visited and honestly, we had forgotten how nice this park was. So join us on this episode as we rediscover Charleston Lake Provincial Park. We are Terry and Cindy O'Keefe and we've been camping together for more than 45 years and we invite you to join us as we share our latest RVing experiences and adventures. I got my parking brake. There we go. You have arrived. Okay, so I just went and registered. Now, when we were last camping, we were at Algonquin and what happened when we were leaving Algonquin? Why were we concerned the last day we were there? We had no power. The power was out. And then we went to Bonnechere and why did we leave Bonnechere early? There was no power. Guess what has just happened here? Nature, I think there's no power. The hydro's out. Actually, you can just hear they just started a generator for the office. They have no idea why the power's just gone out. Charleston Lake has approximately 239 sites in three campgrounds, about half with electricity. We were staying in Shady Ridge Campground, which lived up to its name. To the driver's side? Yes. Okay, how's that? Yep, that's better. Maybe a little more. Our site was well shaded from the July sun and it was fairly level. It also had a secret, a path to a private rock terrace overlooking the lake. Oh my gosh. We can bring chairs here. We absolutely can bring chairs here. And as if the views from our site weren't surprise enough, our first night in Campfire actually sparkled. I don't know if the fireflies are going to show up on the video or not, Sim. There are a lot of them though. Yep, they're all over the place. This is a great spot for a coffee. Charleston Lake has two beaches. The main beach is located right in between Bayside and Shady Ridge Campgrounds. Here you'll find a large buoyed swimming area and sandy beach. And at the south east end of the beach is the main storage area for the park's rental fleet of canoes, kayaks and paddle boards. You'll also find more watercraft at the park's smaller second beach in Shady Ridge Campground. And just beyond that area is the dog beach. That swimming area this way. Okay, come on. This was a unique area with lots of shade and a pretty shoreline. Yeah, this is perfect. Ranger. While the area around the beaches is reserved for non-motorized watercraft, the rest of the lake is open to boats and the park has a fish cleaning station and an excellent boat launch with docks. Charleston Lake's Discovery Center is small but staffed, offering information on park programs and exhibits about local flora and fauna. Who are you looking at? And one of those exhibits might not be for you if you suffer from Ophidiophobia. It's a black rat snake, which happens to be the largest snake found in Canada. Oh, I know what this is. Is it true these guys climb trees? Oh, yes. I often go walking through the park in my own time and I usually see them hanging around the trees and climbing around. Yeah, so this is from the snake. Oh, is it ever? Yeah, it feels it's not what I expected. So this is what the inside is. So if you look over here, this is what the outside would more feel like just because when they bash their head against something to open up their shedding and then they crawl out and it folds inside out. So this would be the inside of their shedding. Very cool. So now that we've confirmed that eight foot snakes like to dangle from the trees here, what better idea than to go for a hike? Tranquil trail, tall hardwood forest, open sedge meadows, pockets of stately white pine trees. This is an easy hike. It's not over the hill or anything, but there are a lot of tipping hazards. Yeah, exactly. Charleston Lake Provincial Park offers seven trails with distances ranging from 1.7 to 10 kilometers and ratings from easy to difficult. Perfect hole they put in that tree. That's very cool. Don't want to go too close, though, because there's a lot of bees in there. I didn't know that a porcupine spends most of his time high in a tree. Yeah, they've just grown at 90 degree angles. It looks like it's got a face or went through something from like lower the rings. Got like a face and a top and was it lower the range? Yeah. We start walking. What are they called? The Ents? Yes. Suddenly there's pine needles everywhere. There is a grove of white pines. Right or left? Trust the sign. And we're back out at the road. What do you think? Oh, it was great. I really enjoyed that. I would have liked brought Ranger, but he's going to be 10. And I don't know that he could have handled that. But yeah, it was really nice. You mother him too much, you know. He's going to be 10. After a hot summer hike, there's nothing better than ice cream. Twists Outlet. This is it. Just a five minute drive from the park gate. Twist Outlet has a well stocked camp stores and a good selection of ice cream. They have anything good. Cheers. Cheers. You started yours already. I did. And since we were out and about, we stopped at a local blueberry farm we had seen signs for on our drive in. Oh, you picked. These are fresh picked, are they? Well, these ones here were picked yesterday. OK. I like to put them in the cooler and chill them. They just taste fresher when they're chilled. Is that enough? Yeah. OK. Some pancakes. Those berries didn't last long. Those two cooked for you. I'll eat them if you want. I don't. I like mine like that. Well, after that breakfast, Terry decided to try another hike, the 2.4 kilometer Quiddity Trail. This is so lush. It reminds me of Florida. The first 300 meters of the Quiddity is barrier free and beautifully unique. Dragonflies in here. Well, it is a lookout we're headed to, and that usually means an elevated spot. I'm starting to go up. Oh, Park says this is an easy hike. Tell from my panting, I think it's a little bit more than that. Oh, man. That is quite a view. Watch your foot. So this is the fourth week in July, and it is warm today. Maybe that's why. But all the way up here to the lookout, I've only seen two people. And this is a really, really beautiful trail. I will say, though, you see me slapping the the horseflies and deerflies are still biting pretty good this time of the summer. I must say, when I started this hike, I wasn't expecting it to be like this. This was far more beautiful and interesting than I'd hoped for. So just before we wrap things up here, we wanted to share a bit more information about the three campgrounds in the park. The Meadowlands 88 sites are located in a younger forest with some partially open sites for sun seekers. Note that there is no direct access to the beaches or lake from this campground. Bayside campground. Bayside's 83 sites, the majority of which have hydro or electricity for our American viewers, are located in a mature forest close to the lake, and quite a few of the sites can handle a bigger RV. Access to the main beach from this campground as well. Many of the sites here appear to have some direct water access. The lake is right in front of the trees. Shady Ridge Campground 72 sites are also located in a mature forest with easy beach access. Well, they're right about the park. Yeah, that'll be nice to have hot weather. And we found that in all three campgrounds, privacy was pretty good with lots of green space between most sites. And finally, for our fellow RVers, the park has a two lane dump station, which always gets two thumbs up. So just some final thoughts. We really enjoyed rediscovering Charleston Lake Provincial Park. It's got less than 250 sites, mid-sized campground. And given the fact that we were there in late July, it never felt overcrowded. In fact, it never felt busy. It wasn't a noisy park and the beaches weren't crowded. For the four days that we were there, it really was our tranquility base. If you enjoyed this video, please don't forget to hit those like and subscribe buttons. It does help YouTube know that you value the content and want to see more, like on our next episode, when we'll head to the parks of the St. Lawrence and step back in time. So you go into all these really cool buildings, but you never know if there's actually somebody in there that startles you. Thanks for watching, everyone.