ESPANOLA

Campsite 1

N 46°12.846’ W 081°39.364’          46.21410 -81.65606

Campsite 2

N 46°12.914’ W 081°39.241’            46.21523 -81.6540  

Campsite 3    

N 46°14.448 W 081°35.151’            46.24080 -81.58585

Campsite 4    

N 46°14.436’ W 081°34.771’            46.24060 -81.57951

Campsite 5    

N 46°14.093’ W 081°40.750’          46.23488 -81.67916

Campsite 6    

N 46°14.189’ W 081°41.284’           46.23648 -81.67140

Campsite 7    

N 46°14.348’ W081°41.502'             46.23913 -81.69170

 

This area is huge and probably contains hundreds of free camping sites spread over miles. From the looks of it, a lot of hunters, some of them left carcasses right at sites so you may want to look around before setting up. More than a few fishermen and a few seasonal squatters. You know, people who stay longer than legally allowed…some of them looked right at home, satellite TV and all. Turning off the TransCanada at the Home Hardware, panache Lake Road, you come to the Black Creek Picnic area.  This creek is the gatekeeper you might say. Drive further down and you come across a Ministry of Natural Resources sign designating the area for Public Use. You know, free camping. I drove around for miles, stopping in to more than a few places. Some were functional, some were spectacular and I probably drove right past a hundred more mixed in among the trees, lakes, lodges and other small businesses ensconced everywhere. These were my favourite seven Locations for Espanola but trust that if you spent a day driving through, you’d probably find even better spots to stay over.  The closest site I found is only fifteen minutes out of Espanola, so it's not like a huge diversion to go look for yourself. It’s a rugged landscape but a diversity of locations makes describing them a little futile. I will say if there are sandy beaches I didn’t find them and they’re not on the shores of the Great Lakes like most of my spots. The Pumpkin seeds are like piranhas, and reeling a worm back to shore they swarm it.  on this seemingly unnamed lake they chase it right in. I caught two, but most were too small for the hook. They attacked my weights and bobbers and were latching on to the fins of my rubber bait minnow. crazy. The actual site was a bit of a mess, and I picked two bags of garbage before I even set up camp...don't be that guy. Another thing i noticed was the dramatic changes to some of the lesser campsites I'd also clocked. grown under already so this map may change year to year.

In some of the drone pictures you can see campsite two. occupied when I got there.