Saturday, September 2, 2006
Location: Winagami Wildland Provincial Park, Alberta

I put in a lot of driving yesterday until finally driving off the road and camping in Winagami Provincial Park in a spot I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to be camping. Oops, didn’t see the sign…

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is buying and selling of natural spaces. It’s driving me crazy. I guess this relates to pipelines, and oil sands, and clear-cutting… but that’s not what I’m about to rant about. What I want to rant about is campsites! Ok, so you’re a guy living in a van, you don’t have much money, you’re kinda living off the land as it were, and every once in awhile you like to stop at an official campsite. The only problem is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Most of the campsites I’ve been to cost about $12/night, which isn’t bad if you’re on a weekend getaway, but is no good when you’re living in a van for an extended period of time. Due to the prices, I usually sleep in parking lots or on the sides of highways, somewhere I’m not sure I’m supposed to be. Now I wouldn’t write this blog if I had only come across $12 sites, since I understand the costs: water bills, toilets, wood for fires, tourist information. But, on the way south, I stopped and, for the first time on this trip, stayed at an official campsite. The campsite is Kakisa home of Lady Evelyn Falls and it cost $15/night, plus $5 for firewood… to CAMP!!! I paid and decided to go without the fire.

You see, somehow, as far as I’m concerned camping should just be one of those things left untouched by the almighty dollar. All this money exchanging hands just to get back on the land, it just doesn’t seem right.

Now I know I’m wrong on this one. I know that there are thousands of tourists visiting campsites each year, and I know a lot of work goes into managing the campground resource. But still, in my mind a campsite should cost 10$ max, and ideally you should be able to find a place to pitch a tent for $5. It should be a Canadian standard! As a taxpayer, is this too much to ask? Hehe.

Anyway, until the price of camping goes down, you’ll be able to find me on abandoned roadways, parking lots, maybe blending in with old cars left to rust in a farmer’s field, or anywhere else economics doesn’t enter into the equation. Somewhere deep down, maybe innately, I just have a hard time pulling out my wallet to commune with Mother Nature.

Peace
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