Featuring the 100 m (320 ft) high Mazinaw Rock with more than 260 indigenous pictographs, amazing hiking trails, interpretive boat tours, and various camping opportunities, Bon Echo Provincial Park is a great place to enjoy RV camping holidays. This 83 sq km (32 sq mile) provincial park located 6 km (3.7 miles) north of Cloyne, Ontario, offers wonderful camping experiences to vacationers who are presented with various recreational possibilities including hiking, boating, canoeing, fishing, birding, swimming, interactive educational programs, and many more.
Facilities and amenities at Bon Echo Provincial Park include campsites available for RVs and tents, boat launch, comfort stations, day-use area, flush toilets, laundry facilities, picnic shelter, amphitheater, historic buildings, docks, dump station, rental facilities, park store, and Visitor Center.
Bon Echo Provincial Park was established in 1965 and the site of the Mazinaw pictographs on Mazinaw Rock was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1982. The Mazinaw Lake, which offers numerous opportunities for water activities, in the park is the seventh-deepest lake in Ontario.
Fauna common in the park include rabbits, white-tailed deer, eastern chipmunks, voles, squirrels, moose, red fox, black bear, beaver, and raccoons.
Bon Echo Provincial Park, located 6 km (3.7 miles) north of Cloyne, Ontario, along Highway 41, is a simple drive-in park that is easily accessible by RVs, trailers, and other motorized vehicles. There are local paved roads within the park that link the campgrounds and various sites of interest. As a result, RV campers have easy accessibility to and within the park.
There are three designated parking areas for RVs and trailers in Bon Echo Provincial Park. Two of these parking areas are located around Joe Perry Lake in the northwestern part of the park, while one parking area is around Hardwood Hill Campground. Overnight parking is available for RV campers at Bon Echo Provincial Park.
Subway Line 1 stops near Bon Echo Provincial Park, while three bus lines (Bus 320, Bus 36, and Bus 37) also stop near the park.
Hardwood Hill Campground in Bon Echo Provincial Park features 100 pet-friendly campsites available for RVs and tents. None of the campsites in the campground has RV hookups. RV length limit at the campground is 18 feet (5 m). Amenities available at Hardwood Hill Campground include toilets, a comfort station, and parking lot.
Mazinaw Lake Campground in Bon Echo Provincial Park features 395 pet-friendly campsites available for RVs and tents. The campground features three camping loops; Sawmill Bay Loop with 163 RV campsites, Fairway Loop with 120 RV campsites, and Midway Loop with 112 RV campsites. 286 campsites in Mazinaw Campground are equipped with electric hookups for RVs. RV length limit at the campground is 32 feet (10 m), however campers with larger rigs can contact the park to find out if there is space available.
Amenities available at Mazinaw Lake Campground include drinking water, laundry facilities, and comfort stations. The boating area, swimming beaches, and Visitor Center are located nearby.
Three natural sand beaches in Bon Echo Provincial Park are recommended for RV campers to visit to enjoy swimming. These beaches include the Main Beach (Lower Mazinaw Lake), South Beach (Day-Use Area), and North Beach (Sawmill Bay Loop), and are marked with buoys. There are no lifeguards on duty at the beaches in the park.
Bon Echo Provincial Park staff and naturalists offer interactive educational programs about the park to RV campers. Some of these programs include guided hiking on trails, learning about the 1920’s Bon Echo Inn, children’s programs, and evening shows at the amphitheater.
Bon Echo Provincial Park is a popular bird viewing location as there are sightings of various birds in the area. The Peregrine Falcon, a threatened bird species in Ontario, for example, has been seen, on occasion, nesting on Mazinaw Rock in the park. Other bird species such as yellow-bellied sapsuckers, crested flycatchers, common loon, red-tailed hawks, kestrels, and turkey vultures are popularly seen in the park.
RV campers that love to fish enjoy the experience at Bon Echo Provincial Park because the Mazinaw Lake is open to angling activities and contains various fish species. Some of the fish species available in the lake include lake trout, small mouth bass, large mouth bass, yellow pickerel, lake whitefish, and northern pike. So, visit the park with your fishing gear and test you angling skills.
The available boat ramp on Mazinaw Lake in Bon Echo Provincial Park is the perfect place to begin boating adventures on the lake. Although power boats are allowed on Mazinaw Lake, they are not allowed on all other lakes in the park.
Campers can also paddle on Joe Perry Lake, Pearson Lake, and Mazinaw Lake. Canoe rental facilities are available in the park. The 21 km (13 mile) Kishkebus Canoe Route in the park provides paddlers the opportunity to see the Aboriginal pictographs in the park.
Up to 40 km (25 miles) of linear and looped hiking trails with difficulty ranging from easy to strenuous, are available for RV campers to take leisurely walks and enjoy panoramic views at Bon Echo Provincial Park. High Pines Trail, a 1.7 km (1 mile) looped trail, for example, takes hikers through forest and wetland settings that feature tall pines, quiet forest ponds, and groves of hemlock. Shield Trail takes hikers through a section of the old Addington Road that penetrates the Canadian Shield and offers views of hardwood forests, cedar lowlands and a beaver swamp.
