Willisville ON – Steph Simply

“You get a strange feeling when you are about to leave a place, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.”–Azar Nafisi

*_{Welcome to your Lake Charlton Camp cabin!}*

Looking for a Canadian Adventure? 🇨🇦

If you have ever considered traveling to Canada, and you enjoy scenic, out-of-doors vacations, then add Charlton Lake Camp (CLC) to your list of places to visit. Situated in Killarney Provincial Park in Willisville, Ontario, CLC is surrounded by clear, tea-stained waters, heavily wooded islands, and rocky outcrops with the craggy, quartzite rise of the La Cloche Mountains in the background. The camp sits along the Whitefish River connecting visitors to the sparkling waters of Charlton Lake, Frood Lake, and Cranberry Lake.

*_{Bring your own boat or rent a boat, the choice is yours at Charlton Lake Camp.}*

Clean, Well-Equipped Cabins 🏕️

Charlton Lake Camp offers a variety of cabin sizes designed to accommodate families, friends, couples, or even a solo retreat. From fishing to boating, from swimming to hiking, and from exploring to plain ol’ relaxing, there’s plenty to do when staying at CLC. Throughout the camp there are plenty of hammocks and Adirondack chairs for reading and lounging about. Each cabin has its own picnic table, barbeque, and a screened porch overlooking the Whitefish River. Additionally, there is a boat dock for every cabin, and visitors can either bring their own boat or rent one from CLC. The camp also has well-marked hiking trails on and near the property.

*_{Roped-off area for swimming, and in the background you will see the fish cleaning cabin as well as the camp’s official pontoon boat.}*

Kayaks, canoes, and peddle boats, oh my! 🛶

CLC has kayaks, pedal boats, and canoes available for every camper to use. For those who like to cool off in the heat of a summer day, there is a roped-off swim area with a platform and its own beach area. Plus, in the center of the camp is a large fire pit area for which the camp provides wood for those interested in roasting hot dogs, making smores, or simply swapping tales at the end of the day. And, yes, there is wifi!

*_{Dan and Lisa help you shift into vacation mode, so you have more time for enjoying scenes like this from your cabin’s front porch.}*

Welcome to Charlton Lake Camp 🏕️

The owners, Dan and Lisa McGuire, go out of their way to welcome guests and help new arrivals get situated on their first day. The McGuires meet and pick-up visitors in a pontoon boat at the camp’s parking lot. From there, visitors and their belongings are boated across the short distance of water to their camp. Once across the river, Dan typically has a four-wheeler with a trailer available for loading up campers’ belongings, and he will then drive those belongings straight to the assigned cabin. This makes it much easier to get everything unloaded and unpacked, so visitors can quickly get started on vacation mode.

*_{It’s a quick, easy trip back to the CLC’s parking lot to get you back to town for anything you forgot or any other adventures you wish to partake.}*

No worries if you forgot something 🤔

Once campers are settled, Dan will go over the boat basics for those renting one of CLC’s boats. From that point on, campers can travel with ease to the three different lakes for sight-seeing or fishing adventures. Additionally, anytime visitors want to travel back to town, they can either boat themselves across the river to the camp’s parking lot, or Dan and Lisa will take campers across the water on their pontoon. It’s a win-win situation, especially on those days when kids (or adults, for that matter) get a bit restless.

*_{Espanola is a friendly, welcoming town.}*

Hiking, shopping, dining, Exploring . . . 🥾

The closest town, Espanola, has several stores, grocers, and restaurants, including one of our favorite pizza places, Toppers. Additionally, in the opposite direction, a little bit further down the road, is Manitoulin Island, with its closest town, Little Current . This town offers unique shops, grocer, and restaurants. Additionally, Manitoulin Island possesses a wide-array of day-trip worthy activities, including numerous hiking trails, stunning lookout points, beautiful beaches, golf courses, and museums to name a few.

A fishing paradise 🎣

However, with all that Charlton Lake Camp has to offer, it can be difficult to tear yourself away from its picturesque surroundings. This is especially true for those who enjoy fishing. The waters at this camp are teeming with small and largemouth bass, walleye, pike, and a variety of panfish. John and I have had the pleasure of staying at CLC twice, and both times we were able to find excellent fishing spots. This is because the water is full of structure, baitfish, rocky points, channels, weed beds, and plenty of boat docks. It is truly a fisherman’s paradise.

Idyllic surroundings 🏞️

That said, for those who love canoeing and kayaking, this camp is situated in a wonderland of picturesque and tranquil surroundings. Whether you canoe or kayak for exercise, fishing, observing nature, or the simple pleasure of being on the water, the waters surrounding CLC are ideal for all types of boating adventures. Plus, the camp offers paddle boats for the kid in all of us.

Mother nature Likes to play 🌦️

While staying at CLC this past June (2024), there were drastic weather shifts. We arrived with a cold front that sent temperatures into the 40s at night. The subsequent highs during those first two days were in the 60s. During this time, rain moved in, followed by a heat wave. With the heat wave, lows never went below 70 degrees, and the high temperatures reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit (30s Celsius). However, by the very end of the week, temperatures moderated a bit.

Fat-Bellied, Chunks 🐟

The extreme weather shifts made for some interesting fishing conditions. Therefore, we weren’t able to catch as many fish as we did the year before, but we did catch fish daily. We caught some real beauties too! There were numerous fat-bellied smallmouth bass, which are always fun to catch and release. Plus, there were several chunky largemouth bass, a few random panfish, and John even caught a pike while fishing for a bass!

licensed for fun 🤩

In fact, we caught over 40 fish by the week’s end, which was great, given the weather. We released all that we caught; however, the camp does offer a nice fish-cleaning station for those who keep and eat their catch-of-the-day. That said, anglers need to ensure they purchase the right fishing license in order to do this (conservation license vs sport fishing license).

sensory experience

Personally speaking, while John and I do enjoy catching fish, it is the pristine beauty and serene surroundings that sent us back to CLC for a second visit. Honestly, there is nothing like gliding along in a boat on the still morning waters of a backwoods, upnorth lake, listening to the call of the loon, feeling a light breeze nuzzle your cheek, and inhaling the aromatic scents of pine and moss. Furthermore, spending time with nature for hours at a time stokes an appetite, making even the simplest of food taste like a feast. Plus, all that sun and fresh air lulls you into the most restful sleep at night.

Make Memories that last a lifetime 🍁

If you’ve ever considered experiencing a Canadian wilderness trip with friends or family, consider giving Charlton Lake Camp a look. The owners are fantastic, the cabins are clean, and they are fully stocked for your camping needs. With its panoramic scenery, tranquil waters, and plenty of choices for your out-of-doors activities, CLC is a spot where vacation memories are made to last a lifetime. This is one place John and I hope to visit again at some point in the coming years.

“The pull of nature, the peace of the forest and water couldn’t be ignored any longer . . .”–Dan McGuire, owner, Charlton Lake Camp

There’s Something about CanadA🇨🇦

It had been a long time since John, my husband, and I had been to Canada. Unlike me, John began traveling to Canada for annual fishing trips in 1985. At that time, he was the young one, newly initiated to the fishing group. Thirty-five years later, many of those long ago fishing buddies have since departed to heavenly waters. Others have lost interest in participating in a trip that requires such a long drive, and some no longer have the vacation time needed for a week of fishing plus an extra day or two for driving. John gets it, but his heart was breaking with the thought of not returning to his beloved fishing playground.

Therefore, after a bit of “mediation”, John and I sketched out a travel plan that included a trip to Canada, specifically to Charlton Lake Camp, but it also included a couple of other stops along the way. (One of those was Mackinaw City, MI for which I previously wrote about last week.) Little did either of us know how very much we would enjoy Charlton Lake Camp and its lovely surrounding areas!

Charlton Lake Camp🏕️

*_{Park your, ring up Dan and Lisa, and get ready to cross over the other side, releasing your day-to-day stress and immersing yourself in the laid-back, relaxing environment of Charlton Lake Camp.}*

Nestled in the La Cloche Mountains just beyond the hamlet of Willisville, Ontario.

Charlton Lake Camp, currently owned by Dan and Lisa McGuire, is a picturesque waterfront setting. With access to Frood Lake, Lake Charlton, Cranberry Bay, as well as canoe only portages leading to Grace Lake (made famous by the Canadian Group of Seven Artists) and Nellie Lake, Charlton Lake Camp offers a wide-array of adventures for family, individuals, or friends. Think of all your favorite summer activities–fishing, paddling (canoe, kayak, paddle board, and even peddle boat), hiking, boating, swimming, sunning, campfires, smores, lounging/reading/napping in hammock, and plenty of space to hike, write, paint, draw, or simply dream–and you’ll discover that Lake Charlton is the perfect place for all of these and more!

*_{Bring your own or rent/use one of the camp’s many canoes, kayaks, peddle boat, pontoon boats, Lund aluminum boats}*

For those interested in fishing, Lake Charlton has access to over 1,700 connected acres of fishable lakes. Their waters are filled with northern pike, small and largemouth bass, walleye, and a wide variety of panfish. Of course, they can’t turn the fish on for visitors, but during the week John and I were there, we landed scores of large and smallmouth bass while a group of guys staying in a nearby cabin caught their legal limit of walleye and several sizable northern pike.

What about Boats?🛶

Visitors to the camp can bring their own boat; however, the camp offers a full fleet boats for rent, including 14’ Lund Aluminum fishing boats, three pontoon boats, as well as 16’ and 18.5’ tripping canoes. All boats come with 9.9 Yamaha motors, and every cabin has its own private docking slip. John and I merely stepped off the porch of the cabin in which we were staying and walked down a slight embankment directly to our dock. The docking was sturdy and easy; plus the camp had an excellent launching ramp to get to and from the camp.

*_{Step out of your cabin and walk the pine-needle carpeted path to your own dock.}*

For those who like to keep and eat their fish, Charlton Lake Camp has a centrally located fish cleaning hut. It is well lit, screened-in, and it even has outlets for those who prefer to use electric fillet knives. I noticed several campers using this hut throughout the week.

Accomodations🏡

*_{We stayed in cottage 7. John sits at our picnic table assembling fishing gear upon our arrival.}*

Charlton Lake Camp is made up of twelve symmetrically arranged cottages with one, two, or three bedrooms, and all have one bathroom. Every cabin faces the lake, a point John and I loved, and each one has its own tightly screened porch. The kitchens are well-equipped with all of your cooking and eating needs. There is also a propane BBQ and picnic table for each cabin. Most of all, Dan and Lisa work hard to ensure their cottages are scrubbed clean for your arrival, hence a 9:00 am check out time, and they even have their cabins treated monthly for pests. As an added bonus, the camp’s water goes through a multi-step filtration process, and it is completely potable–no funny smell or weird taste, just pure, clean water.

Just splashing about🏊‍♀️

*_{Swim platform and roped off swimming area in front of sandy beach to left of picture. Meanwhile, fish cleaning hut is center with one of the pontoon boats and more of the camp to the right.}*

For those who love to splash about, the camp has a roped off area for swimming with its own private sandy beach. There is a swim platform for those cannonball splashes, and there are plenty of Adirondack style chairs for drying off or simply lounging about the water’s edge. The swim area is centrally located in the camp making it easily accessible for those quick trips back to the cottage for snacks, beverages, or that bottle of sunscreen you may have forgotten.

Want to Hike?🥾

*_{Map of hiking trails on Charlton Lake property, along with a few of my written notes regarding other nearby trails.}*

Did I mention that the camp also offers hiking? Both Dan and Lisa have plenty of outdoor expertise and experience. Unfortunately, the management and day-to-day upkeep of running the camp leaves them very little room for that these days. However, they have hiked all of the trails on their 50 acre property. They will gladly give visitors maps and offer tips for finding the best views of the lakes or the La Cloche mountains. John and I can attest to the fact that the trails are well-marked, but hikers will definitely want to bring along the bug spray when heading off into the woods!

a “Reel” gem of a Place!💎

*_{John claims the fish look bigger when I catch them due to the fact I am under 5′ tall! 😂}*

Personally speaking, John and I fell in love with this gem-of-a-camp. Dan and Lisa are attentive and available hosts if/when guests need them to be, but they do not hover. The camp fosters a laid back vibe that warmly welcomes family and friend groups as easily as it does couples and individuals. The interests of guests while we were there varied–some were drawn to fishing, boating, and/or swimming while others were more drawn to quiet walks, card games, and reading. Additionally, several of the cabins are pet friendly, and we certainly made friends with a few camp canine guests!

Pristine Waters🌊

The lakes encompassing Lake Charlton Camp are pristine and do not appear overused. Its surroundings are serene and filled with bird song, encouraging guests to unwind amidst the exquisite nature-centrentric setting–alabaster mountains; rising rock on wind-swept islands; pine-scented, needle-strewn forested paths; and plenty of rippling lake water. Paradoxically, guests are a super-short boat-ride away from nearby Espanola, Whitefish Falls, and Manitoulin Island, but I’ll write more about that in my next piece.

We’ll Be Back

In conclusion, whether you are looking for a solo/couple nature retreat or you’re looking for a one-of-kind summer/fall adventure for family and/or friends, check out Charlton Lake Camp. It provides the ideal setting for getting back to nature and all the simple goodness the great outdoors provides if only we are willing to venture there. The cottages are clean and comfortable, the view of the lake is spectacular, especially with the setting of the sun, and the location is ideal–far enough away from all the sights/sounds of the city, but close enough if you need to get back to town for that one item you forgot to pack. In fact, John and I have already tentatively booked our stay for next year. Meanwhile, I am already dreaming of waking to the sound of the loon, listening to gentle sounds of lake waters lapping the shore, and the glint of evening sunlight as it kisses the lake goodnight.

Here’s to safe and happy travels!

^{Important Note from Author}

_{John and I only practice catch and release fishing. According to the U.S. National Park Service, this practice improves native fish populations by allowing more fish to remain and reproduce in the ecosystem. We make every attempt to handle the fish properly, photograph it quickly, and then gently release it into the waters to continue swimming another day. This also allows other anglers the opportunity to experience the joys of fishing and the great outdoors for years to come.}