by Karen Neumann

Created on: August 10, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

About 6 years ago we rented a cabin in a fish camp near Georgian Bay in Ontario Canada and it was one of the best family vacations we ever went on. Our children were 9 and 10-years-old at the time and now teenagers, still want to visit the cabin again. I found the camp on the internet, contacted the owner, made a deposit and we were in! The camp was so remote, after driving our van over rocks and ruts with fresh bear tracks, we came to a landing where we met our guides and two boats; one for supplies, one for passengers. We loaded our supplies, which included fresh water for 7 days, our Rottweiler Rocko and took off at dusk across the calm bay water. We were delighted by the cormorants, loons and the rocky, pine tree banks as we motored toward our cabin. We docked at a long pier that led to the cabins. There were five total with a small, communal shower/bathroom/laundry cabin. Our cabin was on the water, very rustic including a wood burning stove in the main room. We had four bedrooms with curtains for doors, a bathroom, kitchen and great room. The fee for the week included a boat so we struck out for several hours each day, exploring the bay, catching bait, fishing and swimming. All week we caught Northern Pike from shore and the boat with pretty good success, which fed us well. The owners of the fish camp were attentive to our needs and always notified us if they were going to town and asked if we needed anything.

We rented the cabin in June and the only drawback was the black flies and mosquitos. I would high recommend investing in the veils, jackets and pants because the bites are painful and the flies are relentless. The mosquitos were not as bad near shore but when we tried to hike up the foothills, they drove us back down to camp.
Wildlife was abound. I picked up a garter snake each day to say "good morning" on the way to my fishing rock near the cabin. We would lay in bed in the morning and listen to the flying squirrels land and take off on the roof. We enjoyed the song of the pileated woodpecker as well. The most memorable visitor to the camp was a bear, which was never seen but did bed down in front of our cabin one night as was demonstrated by the warm, flattened grass outside the front steps. For this reason specifically, the dogs were left to run loose in camp to discourage the bears from coming too close - they must have taken the night off.
We really enjoyed no television or radio. We played lots of cards and games we had packed for the trip. The time we shared as a family without outside distractions was priceless.

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