It might be a surprise to you to know that the campsites in the McCrae lake Conservation Reserve are cleaned by volunteers. Without that semi annual cleanup effort, Ontario MECP would be forced to consider closing the park to camping.
The semi annual (spring and fall) cleanup of McCrae Lake campsites is on for Saturday September 7 , 2019. The cleanup the Barrie Canoe and Kayak Club is the chief organizer. As a WCA member I am posting this on the WCA’s Outings page, and I will put you in touch with the Barrie Club club member who is organizing the entire day. You do not need to be a BCKC member to join us on that day, however we will need you to sign a couple of waiver forms. BCKC will also be issuing invites for this day to members of the Five Winds Backcountry Ski Club of Toronto as well as the , The Wilderness Canoe Association and we will post an invite on Facebook under Ontario Hiking.
The cleanup day starts at the McCrae Lake parking lot at 9am.
Cleanup group members, who are not members of the Barrie Canoe and Kayak Club are welcome, and you may bring your own canoe. If you don't have a canoe, PFD, or paddle, please see this link:
https://bckc.ca/trip-sheets/summer-trip ... MClark.pdf
and contact the cleanup organizer for BCKC, , Marilyn Clark so that we can pair you with a BCKC member and put you in a canoe. If you want to bring a friend and you want to work with that friend for the day, we can do that. We usually pair two canoes together to clean a group of sites. For insurance reasons the BCKC requires that at least one BCKC member be in a BCKC owned canoe. We can't pair two non BCKC members alone in one of our canoes.
For information to contact the organizers of the Sept 7 . 2019 cleanup day, click here:
https://bckc.ca/trip-sheets/summer-trip ... MClark.pdf
or send me an email off this page.
Group meetup time is 9am in the McCrae lake parking lot. feel free to drop us a line to get directions.
A park ranger staff member of the MECP (Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks ) will be with us for the day. Please know that without the semi annual support of BCKC to do this cleanup, the MNR does not have the money to cleanup up McCrae lake campsites because park users pay no fees, so no cleanup budget. Without the twice yearly cleanup, the MNR would be forced to consider closing McCrae Lake access for camping.
Please consider helping us keep it beautiful and accessible for all. thanks
(you are welcome. We do it because we love the place too.)
additional information under itinerary description, items required and items recommended
Andy