Camping season gets underway with most local provincial parks at capacity

The summer camping season is underway at provincial parks across the province, with diehards who say relaxing, enjoying the weather and doing nothing is their everything.

"It's the chance to get together and have some campfires and roast some marshmallows and, you know, swap lies to each other, you know, about how much snow fell over the winter time, and my pile is bigger than your pile. It's all good fun. It's the camping thing," said camper Peter Carell.

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Mara Provincial Park superintendent Scott Thomas said they are ready hoping for a smooth introduction to the first long weekend of the season.

"The regular rules apply for camping. The alcohol ban that was present on this weekend for many years is now no longer in effect, so we just focus on respectful behaviour, respecting your neighbours, and respecting the park environment," Thomas said.

Anyone setting up camp at the Orillia provincial park might notice some changes.

"We removed over 10,000 ash trees which were infected by the emerald ash borer," Thomas said.

The emerald ash borer is a disease that kills almost every tree it comes in contact with.

"That project was deeply impactful, so there's less shade and less privacy," he added.

While only a handful of people were setting up their sites on Thursday, Thomas said most of the local provincial parks are near capacity for the weekend.