When we first started camping we realized that if we didn’t book our campsite five months ahead of time we’d be totally SOL by the time summer holidays came around.
Back in February we were browsing the Ontario Parks website for information about Achray, a campground on the East side of Algonquin Park which had been recommended to us. As we looked at the different sites we realized that the one yurt was available, and so we quickly decided that it was something we wanted to try.
The yurt is a very large eight-sided tent with a high roof built on a wooden platform. The walls are made out of a thick kind of weatherproof tarp-like fabric and hangs on a sturdy frame. It has layered “windows” you can leave open to screens, cover with clear plastic, or close entirely (they attach with velcro).
The yurt sleeps six people across two bunks. The top bunks are singles, the bottom ones are doubles. (I admit, this was something I wondered about when we booked. Did I really have to sleep on a mattress that someone else had slept on? Ugh. But it was actually okay. The mattresses are covered in thick vinyl and were quite comfortable.)
Inside there’s a rather grimy plastic table and three chairs, a shelf, and one solar-powered light which hangs in the middle of the ceiling. That’s it.
At $80/night it’s significantly more expensive than camping with the tent. Leading up to this year’s camping there were times I questioned the expense of renting the yurt for the week … but I’m not sorry we booked it.
It totally withstood the wildly variable temperatures and weather conditions. On a couple of nights the temperature dipped way down (our low was 4C!). I was equally grateful to be a yurt while wind whipped off the lake and rain was pouring down from the sky. I don’t think we would have survived if we’d been in a tent.
The yurt has a propane BBQ (although no BBQ tools), which meant we didn’t have to fire up the Coleman stove and were able to boil water faster and cook our food a little quicker, which was especially handy when we were starving.
Like all sites there is a picnic table and a fire pit, which we sat around for many hours, staring at the flames and poking at the burning embers. We often lit fires in the morning just to keep warm.
The best thing about the yurt is that it’s right on the lake and is separated from the other sites. We were on our own and within easy walking distance of the beach at the same time.
The view from our site was peaceful and lovely and everchanging, every time of the day.
The down side of the site is that it isn’t easy walking distance from flush toilets and running water for drinking and washing.
There is only this:
On our first morning I trudged, groggy and bleary-eyed, to our personal “pee house” only to look up to see the flash of a white-tailed deer gracefully leaping away from this scary pyjama-clad human.
At nightfall we washed using water we heated on the fire. By day there were quick rinses in a cold lake. We brushed our teeth with a cup of water and otherwise went without showers or shaving for six days.
If this all sounds pretty good to you I recommend the yurt at Achray, especially if you’re a beginner camper and want to make it a little easier on yourself.
Next up: the critters at Achray.
