Review: Interior Camping, Mississagi Provincial Park

Semiwite Lake

Location: 30 mins from Elliot Lake
Website: Ontario Parks or Elliot Lake Tourism
Map: Google
Camping Facilities: Backcountry (excellent car camping also available in the park)
Grade: B-
Stargazing: Good on a clear night
Summary: Disorganized but easily accessible backcountry camping
Thoughts: I had been dreaming about backcountry camping in Mississagi for quite a while. It's a bit further than the backcountry crown jewels of Algonquin, Killarney or Temagami, but it was smaller and promised smaller crowds as a result of its distance. I finally had an opportunity to get in my boat and paddle out into the interior in the summer of 2015, exploring beyond the excellent car camping that's available in the park. Unfortunately, I must report that I was disappointed.

The first thing I should state is that Helenbar Lake and Semiwite Lake are beautiful lakes. Semiwite

Well-marked trailhead from Semiwite Lake

does host motorboats but Helenbar is free of them. While paddling solo, it took me about an hour to paddle to the portage into Helebar (so it should take 45 mins or less with a partner). The portage into Helenbar is a dream: pretty flat, nice and wide, not very buggy, and relatively short. Plus there are clear markings to the hiking trails that branch off of it, so you won't get lost. Unfortunately, this is where my problems began. I put in to Helenbar and was excited to see this gorgeous lake and know that I had it all to myself. I say "all to myself" because I booked the lake's only site with park staff upon registering. Hence, it was going to be just me. Or so I thought.

Helenbar Lake

As I paddled into the lake, in search of the site, I noticed a splashing in the water along the shore. I thought it must be a deer or a moose going for a swim but I looked more carefully and noticed it was a human being. There were no canoes docked on the shore, so it I was confused. I figured they must have stashed their boat in the weeds, somewhere invisible. I disregarded it and kept searching for the site. I consulted my map and it seemed like I had must have passed the site. I went back to roughly where I saw the person swimming and noticed a campsite sign tucked away on shore. The swimmer was no longer in the water so I started to get the sense that something was amiss.

A horrible campsite on Semiwite Lake

I paddled up to the (my) site and discovered the person had already set up camp and was prepping a fire. She came up to greet me and I explained the situation, showed my park permit as evidence of my booking. She apologized but explained that she was hiking the McKenzie Interior Trail. As part of the permit for the trail, hikers can camp at any site along the way without expressly booking them. It just so happened that the Helenbar Lake site is also a site on the McKenzie trail. She expressed discomfort at sharing the site with me (which would have been a reasonable solution in most cases, as the site was very large), as she was a single woman and I was a single man (awkward turtle, indeed). Besides, both of us came there for seclusion, and we'd both lose that if we shared the site. I could appreciate her discomfort so I decided that the first-come, first-served rule had trumped my booking and headed back to Semiwite. Her apologies seemed sincere, if uncompromising, and she did offer me an energy bar as a consolation prize. I declined and grumbled my way back to my boat.

So I trudged back across the portage trail, I plunked back into Semiwite. Two out of three campsites on Semiwite Lake are terrible. The eastern-most site is the best, hands-down. The other two are rocky, grassy messes and I doubt that you could comfortably pitch a tent anywhere except if you squeeze it up in the fire pit / dining area. Not ideal. The eastern site is along a narrow sandy beach that also seems to be part of the McKenzie trail, so it's entirely possible that hikers will tramp through your site while you eat your lunch or sleep in some morning. It also gets too shallow to paddle about 30 meters from the shoreline, so you'll have to drag your canoe across the sand.

In summary, this is a beautiful spot, and, given it's distance from major urban centres, there is a high likelihood that you'll find seclusion on scenic Helenbar. I sincerely doubt my experience was typical and I imagine you'll have the Helenbar site all to yourself if you book it. But if you're arriving late in the evening and a hiker has usurped your site, you're going to be mightily annoyed. So if you think a late arrival is a possibility, you might want to reconsider, or at least spend the first night in the excellent car camping area (I stress this because so much of the car campground is top notch). There are also other canoe camping options in the area that you might consider, but I can't speak to their quality. Good luck!

The best site on Semiwite

- also has a hiking trail cutting through it

Moonrise over Semiwite Lake

Review: Mississagi Provincial Park

Trail to lake from Campsite #20

Location: 1/2 hr North of Elliot Lake
Website:  Ontario Parks
Map: Google Maps
Camping Facilities: Backcountry and Car Camping
Grade: B+ (car camping)
Stargazing: Excellent
Summary: Car camping at its best
Thoughts: I've owned the Chrismar map for the Mississagi for probably 8 years without ever having the opportunity to explore the park. The apparent seclusion, availability of backcountry camping and exceptional scenery convinced me that having this map would be a good idea, since I'd inevitably want to check this place out.  The only problem is that the park is quite far from Southern Ontario and the Golden Horseshoe area (where I live), so it took quite a while before I could convince myself to make the trip up past Elliot Lake. And I tell you, fellow camper, the park is well worth the 6+ hour drive (without traffic).

Campsite #20

This trip was strictly car camping, since the park was not my principal destination.  I was quite surprised that I could reserve a very nice site during the peak of the camping season (a Monday night in early August) just days in advance.   As you can see from the pictures, the site (#20) is large, has decent privacy (excellent for car camping) and has it's own direct access to the lake.  Obtaining a site of this quality south of Sudbury is nearly impossible because they either don't exist or would be snatched up so fast on the reservation site that you'd never have a decent chance.  There are plenty of high quality sites here; some of the best seem to be Site #s 1-4, which are actually positioned directly on the lake with good understorey providing segregation between sites.

View from waterfront of site #20

I suspect the backcountry camping is probably exceptional as well, given the limited development in the park, the low traffic and the good dispersion of the sites.  I'd be very interested in hearing from people who have stayed in the interior.

View from 3rd lookout on Helenbar trail

With regards to hiking, I was able to do half of the Helenbar trail during my stay and can report that it is one of the finest hikes I've done in Ontario, with an absolutely outstanding view (including a picnic table to enjoy it from) at the 3rd lookout.  I started at the trailhead at the northern part of the campground loop and just doubled back after reaching the 3rd lookout.  This shortens the time on the trail to roughly 1 1/2 hours, including some time at the lookouts (though I must warn, the first few lookouts are quite obstructed and can't even be compared to the 3rd).  Pictures do not come close to capturing the serenity of the spot, nor the remarkable view.  This would be a fantastic place to just sit by yourself and think/read/meditate.

Resting at the 3rd Helenbar Lake lookout

My one disappointment with the park was the need to boil water at the car campground; I had to make this trip without my trusty water filter (which was out of service at the time), and my chlorine dioxide backup was not sufficient to treat the microbes in the water supply.  The notices at the park suggest that a new filtration system is in the works, but no fixed timeline is given (sigh, the realities of an underfunded parks system).

In sum, if you can justify the drive, you need to make a trip to Mississagi.  The scenery is tough to beat in the central Ontario region and chances are you'll have the trails and interior sites mostly to yourself; in a camping destination as busy as Ontario, it's a rare and amazing experience.

Update - Oct 2012:  It is with great sadness that I must report that this gem of a car campground will be closed in the 2013 camping season, and Mississagi will be available for day use only.   What isn't clear is whether registration will be required for the backcountry, or it will be free to access or if access will be prohibited altogether. 

Update - Mar 2013: From what is currently posted on the Ontario Parks website, this park is now gated shut, with access to the interior by foot only.  It says that this park is for day use only, however, given that this is still a protected area and interior sites require relatively little maintenance, I'm still not clear if the backcountry sites are available for use.  It would be a tragic thing if they were not, given that this government-owned protected space would now be less accessible than crown land.

Update - Jan 2014: From the Ontario Parks site, normal operation of the park seems to be continuing for this year as well.  Great news! It seems the town of Elliot Lake has taken over operation of the park - great to see a municipality pitching in to protect a natural resource, given its touristic value.