Planning for the Quest 2018 Summer Road Trip

For several months now, I’ve been planning and organizing my 2018 summer Road Trip to visit three National Parks: Georgian Bay Islands, Bruce Peninsula and Pukaskwa.

The first order of business was planning our route. Following lots of research and discussions, Michel and I landed on the following itinerary: two nights in Georgian Bay Islands National Park, two nights in Bruce Peninsula National Park, two nights on Manitoulin Islands, one night in Batchwana Bay (on our way to Pukaskwa), three in Pukaskwa National Park and then rather than drive back south to Ottawa, we would circumvent Lake Superior, driving through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. We would be travelling 3,625 kilometers in a two week period.

The second order of business was finding accommodations. For those of you who have reserved camping sites in either provincial or national parks know how difficult it can be to reserve a spot. Which is why, the minute (literally the minute), the camping reservation site opened up at 8 am on April 22nd I was online to reserve a site in Georgian Bay Islands National Park and in Bruce Peninsula National Park. I successfully reserved a site in Georgian Bay Islands but at 8:04 when I tried to reserve for Bruce Peninsula, all the sites had already been reserved! Grrrr….. So frustrating.

Regardless of this slight set-back, I eventually found great (but modest) accommodations for every night of our road trip. I’ll fill you in on the details once I’m on the road.

Once I knew where I would be sleeping, I reserved our tickets for the half-day cruise to visit Fathom Five National Marine Conservation Area and our tickets for the ferry from Tobermory (Bruce Peninsula) to Manitoulin Islands.

Now that the itinerary is finalized, the accommodations confirmed and the tickets purchased, I will turn my attention to the less pressing details such as identifying good restaurants, potential activities, including best hiking trails and historic sites. I’m also researching and reading books about the areas we will be visiting.

I’m almost ready to pack my bags….