Uncle Jim, you will be disappointed… we finally chose between our two very competitive late summer itinerary rivals, and the winner is ONTARIO! We are super excited!

The Ontario portion is focused on the provincial parks lining the northern shore of Lake Superior. We read that securing campsites at the provincial parks can be difficult, but were surprised at how true that was. Granted, we are traveling in peak season, early September, but if you’re considering an Ontario trip make sure you’re ready to hit the Reserve button at 7am Eastern time on the dot, five months ahead of the first day of your planned stay. We managed to get reservations at all but one of our target parks, but the available campsites at each were extremely limited.

Here’s the plan!

• Camp mostly in state parks heading north through VA, MD, PA, and NY, hiking along the way. We’re especially excited about exploring the Finger Lakes region in upstate NY
• Be super touristy in Niagara Falls! And hike in the gorge. Then into Ontario…
• Hike and camp in Bruce Peninsula National Park on Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron)
• Load the Airstream onto a ferry to cross Lake Huron to Manitoulin Island
• Drive along the Trans-Canada Highway along the top of Lake Superior, focusing on lakeside provincial parks
• Cross back into the US at Grand Portage, MN, and do more hiking down the west coast of Lake Superior, ending in a return visit to a favorite town, Duluth
• Pop up to check out Voyageurs National Park, a new national park for us
• Cross Minnesota and North Dakota, staying in two state parks plus Fargo and Bismarck
• Into the Rockies! Revisit Bozeman, Yellowstone, Grand Teton NP, and Jackson!
• Stay at a state park in WY on the way to Custer, SD and Wind Cave National Park
• Start heading east toward home through a collection of state parks, including some lake-focused WI parks we’re excited about, and hoping for a Harvest Host stay at one of J’s favorite breweries in Iowa, plus a return to Madison, WI

In preparation for our extensive exploration of the Lake Superior coast, we read The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Perhaps you know the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald from the Gordon Lightfoot song? The book is fantastic, and we highly recommend it if you’re at all interested in Great Lakes shipping.

We leave Virginia in late August and are already itching to pack up the Airstream and hit the road! Will we have a new family member by then? If and when that happens you know I’ll post it here!