Length of stay - 4 nights
Weather - Rainy with a chance of flood
Campers - 4 (Roger, Melanie, Mya & Jasper)
Privacy
Most campsites were well treed and provided a lot of privacy. Actually, it may have provided too much as the campground was very, very dense and that meant there were limited pathways through the trees to get to other areas. Also, our campsite was so private, we were a good 10 minute walk to the showers - and a 20 minute walk to the closest park. It was a negative to be so secluded.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Amenities
Duck Mountain boasts lake swimming, parks, hiking trails, boat rentals, horse rides, mini golf and an interpretive centre. We were also able to take in a couple campground events including a magic show, face painting and balloon animals. Unfortunately, due to weather conditions we missed out of the Crafty Campers event that I'm sure Mya would have enjoyed. All in all, the amenities were positive, but they didn't stand out above other campgrounds we've been to before. The lake has a very tiny beach, and the road to get to the boat rentals is extremely congested. There was also only one park in the entire campground (and is not located with the showers, which is odd) and is not anywhere near the actual campsites. It's a hike just to get to the park, or you have to drive. The mini golf and horse rides are a five minute drive from the campground, but there is no biking/walking path to get there. We had to drive to avoid biking with the kids on a main highway. The hiking trails that we did get to experience were great, but due to the rain and flooding, most were washed out and we didn't get to continue. The interpretive centre was small, but a welcome treat to get our little kids to get out of the rain and the mini golf was a fun course. The park at the beach was also large and fun, but with the rain we didn't play on it much.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Campsite
We sprung for luxury camping this trip and paid for electricity, water and sewer. What we didn't realize is that we would be one of the furthest campsites in the park and were a long hike to any services. The bonus was that we didn't need any other services, but when the pipe broke near our campsite and it took an hour to fix, we were left without water in our camper and had to drive to the nearest bathroom. The campsite itself was narrow and due to all the rain, was partially flooded and the ground was very soft. The camp fire also was not moveable, so we were stuck having it in a puddle of water during the rainiest day. We stayed in a section of the campground that was newly expanded and this meant that the road was made of dirt and gravel instead of being paved. On a hot, summer day this might have been alright, but as we camped during a flood, we were constantly covered in mud. Walking our dog was a complete pain. Luckily Mya and I had our rubber boots - and I think Roger will finally cave and buy some for our next trip.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Bathroom/Showers
As we sprung for luxury camping, we didn't have to use the bathroom/shower house. However, I discovered that there was only one bathroom/shower house for all 207 campsites in the Birch section of Duck Mountain. I felt lucky to not have to wait in line for a shower. When I did use the bathroom, it felt clean and was similar to the shower houses found in most provincial campgrounds.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
We chose Duck Mountain because Roger had gone there as a kid (although he went to the Manitoba side of Duck Mountain) and remembered really liking it. But, all-in-all, we felt there wasn't anything special about this park to bring us back in the future. And although the park can't be blamed for the amount of flooding, the rain didn't help this particular park to shine. It was a 4 hour drive for us to make it to Duck Mountain and in the future we would prefer to stick closer to home. We did make the most of our trip and were able to go on some hikes, a boat ride, bike rides and a lot of walks and we really enjoyed being stuck together in all the rain :)
Melanie
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