Ontario Provincial Parks - Camping All Winter

[flumpydog]

My wife discovered that we can leave our trailer up at one of the local Provincial Parks for the whole winter on one of the hydro sites. They plow all the roads and such, so we will have access to where the trailer would be. They basically let you park the trailer all winter and then you have to commit to a minimum of 20 nights camping. We love the winter and this just sounds like a fab thing to do, rather than looking at the trailer all winter in the backyard haha.

Has anyone ever done anything like this? Good idea or bad idea?
If you have done this, do you just leave the trailer loaded up with anti-freeze and then avoid using anything, toilets or such and just use the comfort stations? I figured we could even get one of those little portable toilets and use that.

Best Wishes,
Chuck

[MikeA]

I was not aware of this. Do a lot of parks allow this or is only the one you are looking at? We are in eastern Ontario and would love to look into this.

Mike

[flumpydog]

I know that MacGregor Point does The Friends of MacGregor Point Park - Winter Camping Package , I am just waiting for a call back from them as their website is not updated at the moment. You can also search for things at the various parks by season and such and then see if there is one that you want to contact and see if they offer the same.
Park Locator

Best Wishes,
Chuck

[flumpydog]

What I was really wanting to ask is if anyone does camp during the winter months when there is snow and such? Temps here can reach -30c and will average around -10c to -20c. My main concern is with the slide outs, can they get frozen where you cannot open them or close them? The slide out on our Tracer is a cable drive.

I was thinking that with them open and if you get snow on them and and then clean them off to close them, they will still have some snow or ice. When you close them, this will melt some as the trailer was heated and then will in turn freeze again. I would hate to damage the trailer due to this. Maybe there is something that can be placed on the seals and such, like vaseline or something to prevent them from sticking? Or am I worrying about nothing here?

There is also the issue with snow and everyone playing in it and then coming into the trailer. We will do our best to brush off most of it before entering the trailer, but there will still be some and this will increase the moisture levels. I was thinking of having a small dehumidifier to combat this.

Main source of heat will be an electric unit and supplement with the furnace if needed. I was surprised to see just how fast the furnace can drain the 30lb propane tanks

The campground will have hydro available 24/7 , but since we will not be there all the time, I do not think it would be a good idea to leave some heat on low in between our visits to the trailer when it is unattended.

We really do want to get the most out of our trailer and I know people do use them during the winter, so we are just looking at what we can or cannot do.

Best Wishes,
Chuck