Easy Nav
Background
I started the Developed Campground project for my website at the end of 2023. The goal of the project? To visit and document every single campsite at every single campground in Algonquin Park. There are 1,300+ campsites spread across 12 developed campgrounds. Most of the campgrounds are located along Highway 60, with only three being located at the outskirts of the park. Those three—Kiosk, Brent, and Achray—were the last remaining campgrounds that I needed to document.
The Kiosk campground is located at the northernmost tip of the park. The Brent campground is almost equally as north, and a little bit to the east. And the Achray campground is all the way at the east end of the park. Given Algonquin Park’s massive land area (more than 7,600 square kilometres!), these three campgrounds are very far away from each other, and very far away from where I live. I wanted to finish the project though, which meant a road trip was in order.
My plan was to leave early in the morning and drive to the Kiosk campground first. This drive alone would take about 4 hours, and then I expected my work at Kiosk to take around 2 hours. Then I’d drive for 1.5 hours to Brent, and spend an additional 2 hours documenting Brent. Then I’d drive backwards for 1.5 hours to the BnB that I booked, called Top of Algonquin. The BnB would add more time to the overall itinerary since I was backtracking, but I liked the accommodations at Top of Algonquin the best compared to everything else I saw online. The next day, I would drive 3 hours to Achray, spend approximately 4 hours documenting the campground, and then a final 6 hour drive to get back home.
It was going to be a jam-packed two-day itinerary with lots of walking and even more driving. I knew Elo would be ok with the walking, but I hoped she would tolerate all of the driving!
Day 1 — Driving to Kiosk Campground and Brent Campground
I got on the road at 5:30 AM, hoping to arrive at the Kiosk campground by 9:30 AM. In the final stretch of Highway 11 there was an emergency road closure. Apparently, a truck had flipped. After getting stuck in detours and dead-ends for 20 minutes, I finally found someone to point me in the right direction. I backtracked to Powassan and took side roads all the way to Kiosk. At least the side roads provided my first wildlife sighting of the trip! There were three deer in the middle of the road, but they hopped into the bush before I was able to get good photos.
Highway 630 leading into the Kiosk campground from Highway 17 was in good condition. It’s mostly smooth ground with very little loose gravel, until the final kilometre near the campground, where it becomes more gravel. There aren’t many potholes or obstructions to worry about. Cell service is lost shortly after turning onto Highway 630, and remains lost while at the campground.
I arrived to the Kiosk campground a little bit later than planned, due to the road closure, but I wasn’t too concerned about timing. I had a busy day, but I made sure to include lots of buffer time in case anything unexpected happened… like, you know, a road closure or something.
The Kiosk campground was completely empty. There was no gate blocking the entrance into the campground, so I was able to drive all the way to the water and park my car in front of the main office. I spent two hours walking throughout the campground, taking photos and 360-degree videos. It was a chilly morning, though I came prepared with proper clothing. The sun was out and the wind was high.
I’ve been to Kiosk a few times, but it was nice to see every single campsite and spend time at the campground completely alone. Some of the outhouses look like they had been recently renovated since the last time I was there, with the smell of fresh wood lingering inside.
Next, I drove to Brent. The road leading into Brent was in a lot worse condition compared to Kiosk. Some sections were better than others, but it was about 40km of gravel road with lots of potholes and rocks to watch out for. It reminded me of a worse version of the road leading into Magnetawan Lake, on the west side of the park. My Honda Civic hatchback was able to make it through the road, but I can’t say it got there in one piece. I noticed later that a piece of plastic underneath my car had become loose and was hanging down, likely from one of the potholes or rocks I accidentally went over. It wasn’t anything urgent that I needed to deal with, but it sure was annoying.
Cell service is lost on the Brent road at around 20km away from the campground. This is around the area where I saw a hunting group set up. I completely forgot that it was hunting season, but there are “No Hunting” signs posted at the Brent campground and various other areas nearby.
I had never been to the Brent campground before, and as excited as I was to explore the area, first I needed a quick car nap. I started at the west end of the campground and visited the campsites in ascending order. After finishing the first 23 campsites, along with the backcountry jump-off sites, I drove past the historic townsite and parked at the east end of the campground to visit the last few campsites. The ranger cabins were locked, so I wasn’t able to enter inside, but I was able to walk around the perimeter and sneak a few photos of the interior through the windows.
I really enjoyed the Brent campground. The historic townsite is an interesting piece of history lodged right in the middle of the campground. Most of the campsites are spacious and offer good privacy, many with water-access as well. Most campsites will have a few neighbouring sites, but will be private from the rest of the campground. There’s still potential for rowdy neighbours, but as an overall campground, it will feel much more secluded and private than any of the campgrounds along Highway 60.
I spent 2 hours documenting Brent and finished at 4:00 PM, while there was still some light left in the sky. I learned my lesson during my first attempt driving down the gravel road, so I drove much slower and more cautiously on my way out. By the time I got back to Highway 17, the sunlight was quickly fading. I arrived to Top of Algonquin at 5:45 PM to find a beautiful house on a massive 68-acre property. My accommodation was in the basement of the house and came equipped with a large living area, a comfortable queen-sized bed, and a private bathroom.
Top of Algonquin is a shared accommodation, with the owners living upstairs. They only accept one booking at a time though, which provides a much more personal atmosphere. It doesn’t feel like your traditional accommodation, because, well, it’s not. You’re being invited into someone’s home, and from the moment you arrive it feels like you’re staying over at a friends house rather than a paid accommodation. There’s a separate entrance at the basement level, but I was invited in through the main level of the house. Rick and Colleen, the owners, were very warm and welcoming. They have three dogs on the property, one of which became best friends with Elo. I thought Elo was going to be exhausted after the extremely long day of driving and walking, but I shouldn’t have doubted her… she’s an Australian Cattle Dog, of course she found energy for a zoomies session with one of the local pups!
After I got settled in, I spent some time upstairs chatting and playing guitar with Rick. At 8:00 PM I went back to the basement to settle down for the evening. I had done 8 hours of driving and more than 17,000 steps, all after a 5:00 AM wakeup. Thankfully, the queen bed was very comfortable!
Day 2 — Driving to Achray Campground
Top of Algonquin provides breakfast in the morning, but I had a very long day ahead of me and I wanted to get on the road well before I had time to build an appetite. Rick and Colleen were both awake when I left shortly after 5:30 AM. I drove slowly and cautiously, knowing that wildlife could jump out in front of my car at any moment. I was hoping for a sighting, because I love spotting wildlife, but for safety sake, I was happy that I didn’t end up seeing anything.
The entire drive took roughly three hours from Top of Algonquin to the Achray campground. The approximate 50km drive down Barron Canyon Road after leaving Highway 17 was in great condition the entire way, with only very little loose gravel. Cell service is lost early on during the drive. It re-appears for a brief moment when passing the Sand Lake Gate office, then disappears again right after. Since there’s no cell service, I highly recommend putting the campground into your GPS beforehand. There’s one turn from Barron Canyon Road onto Achray Road that you don’t want to miss. I’ll also caution about using GPS in general for this drive, since Google Maps will try to send you through unofficial backroads that aren’t available for public use. My recommendation is to use Algonquin Portage or Algonquin Bound (the two outfitters near the start of Barron Canyon Road) as an intermediary stop, to make sure the GPS takes you the right way.
The road leading into the Achray campground becomes gated in the off-season, about 1.5 kilometres away from the actual campground. There’s a small area that could accommodate a few cars for parking. The mostly downhill walk from the gated area into the campground took roughly 10 to 15 minutes. After having the Kiosk and Brent campgrounds entirely to myself, I was surprised to see a few park staff at the Achray campground when I got there.
I arrived at 9:00 AM and started working my way through the campground campsites, including the 9 backcountry jump-off campsites. I took a short break after a couple hours to photograph some blue jays and squirrels that were running around, nearby the main office building. My short break ended up being longer than expected, but for good reason. I spoke with one of the park staff, Larry, who has been working for the park for 40 years! It was my first time visiting the far east end of Algonquin Park, so it was nice speaking with someone with so much knowledge about the area. We spent around 30 minutes chatting before I continued with my work.
The Achray campground was my favourite of the three campgrounds that I visited. There was decent campsite seclusion and most of the campsites had water access. Many of the campsites also had character to them, whether it was from the shoreline, rocks surrounding the fire pit, or the general terrain of the campsite. So many other campground sites, especially those along Highway 60, tend to look the same and lack character. But each campsite at the Achray campground felt unique. Plus, the beach at the campground was by far the nicest beach of any of the campgrounds in Algonquin Park. The sand had a beautiful white colour and was incredibly fine and soft to the touch. It felt like a Caribbean beach. It provided a beautiful view onto Grand Lake as well.
The backcountry jump-off campsites at the Kiosk and Brent campgrounds felt more like extensions of the campground (they barely looked different from the main campground sites), but at the Achray campground, they truly felt like “jump-off” campsites. At Achray, they were very small and clearly served one purpose… pitch a tent, sleep, and get started on your canoe trip the next day.
The weather had typical November unpredictability. The early morning was similar to Day 1; temperatures were in the high single-digits, the sky was sunny, and there were some strong winds. However, by the late morning, the wind had picked up and became ferocious. There was a brief period of rain, too. While walking back to my car, I heard a tree come crashing down beside me in the forest, presumably from the wind. Hopefully from the wind…
I spent 4 hours in total at the Achray campground, including my long break chatting with Larry. It was shortly after 1:00 PM by the time I finished and was ready to hit the road. After a quick car nap of course.
I had three options that I was deciding between:
Option 1: Drive straight home taking the quickest route, approximately 5.5 hours.
Option 2: Drive home through Highway 60, adding roughly 30 minutes to the drive, making it a total of 6 hours.
Option 3: Stay at the Wolf Den on Highway 60 to split the drive between two days.
Before starting the trip, I was originally planning for Option 3. But my energy levels were surprisingly high and it was still early enough in the day that the majority of my drive would be before the sunset, so I removed Option 3 from consideration.
I went with Option 2 and decided to drive through Highway 60. Yes, it would add more time to an already very long day on the road, but there were a few reasons why I preferred this option. The most important was that I know the route like the back of my hand. It’s a completely mindless drive for me. I don’t need to worry about following a GPS, missing a turn, or anything like that. It was easy. Another big reason was that it allowed me to potentially see wildlife as I drove through the park, which would be a nice perk. It’s also a drive that I simply enjoy doing; driving along Highway 60 is my happy place. It also meant I knew where I could find a bathroom, a place to pull over for a nap, and a place to walk Elo (I didn’t plan on keeping her in the backseat for 6 straight hours). And finally, it kept Option 3 as a possibility just in case I changed my mind midway through the drive. What’s an extra 30 minutes when I’m already doing a 17 hour road trip, right!?
Nearby the park’s east gate I saw a fox that I had the opportunity of photographing a few weeks earlier. She was so beautiful. She was the cutest and most photogenic thing ever… second only to Elo, of course! The fox encounter alone made the extra time for Option 2 worth it. I was so happy with the photos I was able to capture. It was approaching 4:00 PM and I knew that photographing the fox would mean more time driving home in the dark, but that was a trade-off I was willing to make.
Shortly after that first fox encounter, I saw another fox at the side of the highway. If I didn’t just have an amazing photoshoot with the previous fox, I might have pulled over. Instead, I prioritized my already dwindling sunlight time and kept driving.
Elo had been so incredible during all of our driving so far. She slept most of the time. More than 17k steps each day probably helped with this! But even while she was awake, she didn’t whimper or complain once. She was on her best behaviour. I wanted to make sure she was comfortable during the long 6 hour drive, so I stopped midway through Highway 60 to give her some dinner and go for a walk.
When we finished our walk, I saw a family of blue jays feeding on some food scraps on the ground. There were five blue jays in total, which made me realize, I don’t think I had ever seen a group of blue jays like that before. I always only see one at a time. Maybe two. I wasn’t able to get good photos of the group together, since they kept flying around, but I did manage to get some good individual photos.
I took a brief 10-minute car nap and then began my final drive home just before 5:00 PM. I had sunlight until the Huntsville area, and then it became dark after that. Thankfully, the car nap gave me all the energy I needed to stay awake and energized for the rest of the drive.
The Aftermath
This trip was a very busy two days. I did over 17k steps each day, with a total of 17 hours of driving. I had 5:00 AM wake-ups on both days and spent 8 hours total documenting the three different campgrounds. It was extremely tiring, but I’m happy that I did it. I had never been to the Brent or Achray campgrounds before, so I very much enjoyed exploring those campgrounds with no one around.
The weather was great for November. It hovered around the single digits the entire time, but I had sunny skies the whole trip with only a few short minutes of rainfall. I would have been ok with a little bit less wind, especially at the Achray campground, but it was tolerable.
Top of Algonquin was the perfect choice of accommodation. Rick and Colleen welcomed me into their beautiful home for the evening and were great hosts. Yes, it was still a paid accommodation, but I was much happier paying for Top of Algonquin than a side-of-the-road motel. Elo was much happier too since she made a new friend.
Most of all, I was happy to finally cross these campgrounds off of the list for my Developed Campground project. There’s a short window between when the campgrounds close and when there’s snow on the ground, so it wasn’t easy with my own schedule to find time to do this road trip. But I made it happen. And the wildlife sightings were a nice cherry on top.
Campground Information & Campsite Photos
To see all of the campground information collected, including photos for every individual campsite, click on the pages below.
