Whispering Pines - Curran, Ontario, Canada

Im sure there are those you like this place.....however I am disgusted with it, 1. There are no proper showers. 2. The land is cluttered with garbage/old building materials. 3. The children's playground is 100% unsafe for children. 4. The pond has a weird smell to it. 4. And the customer service is unfriendly. No wonder the prices are so low.

Great private place with wonderful surroundings and scenery. The bugs are quite hungry, but this is because it is near four swamps, so omg bring all the bugspray you have! The sites and roads are marked, it's easy to get to, and the outhouses never ran out of toilet paper (hehe! That's a first!)

Highlights: No water stations No showers No place to even wash hands Toilets are only outhouses I was overcharged Noisy ***Edit: I am responding to the owners response here. I did talk to two staff members. They had green shirts on with the word 'STAFF' labeled on the back. They asked me to wait at the registration for Casey, another staff member. I paid Casey the $35. I asked Casey where I could take a shower, her response verbatim, "There are no showers but we do have a pond." I do not need to be refunded the money. Thank you anyway. End of Edit*** Details: I read the Whispering Pines website before leaving for my bicycle trip from Ottawa. The website states, "no hydro or water hookups." This entails that one will not have an electric or water 'hookup' for an RV. The website also mentions they have "showers" and "eco toilet" (it's in the 'about us' section). On top of this the review from previous visitors states the prices are great (one reviewer even stated that he was given a special rate for cycling in). The bottom line: There are no showers (I was told I could use the pond). In fact, there is no place to wash hands. There wasn't even a place where I could use my hands to splash water on my sweaty arms, neck, face, etc. The eco toilet is fancy language for outhouse... literally a hole in the ground. Out of the six 'eco toilets' I peeked into while holding my breath, only two had toilet paper. There was an empty bottle of hand sanitizer propped up outside. The website states $15 for staying overnight for 12 hours. I should have been charged this price since I showed up at 8pm and left at 7am. It's $30 if you want to stay overnight pitching a tent. I brought my camping hammock (not a tent) and stayed less than 12 hours. I didn't get charged $15 or $30. I paid $35. So the rates on the website and the rates at the registration don't match up. Oh, there is no drinking water stations. They have one 5 gallon bottle with a pump attached. I had to walk the 200meters from my site with my two water bottles, fill up, go back a 100meters to the 'eco toilet' hole with my own toilet paper, use the water to wash my hands and rub off all my sweat with my bandana, then go back 100meters to refill the bottles to make stew and having drinking water. I got into my hammock at around 10pm and wanted to sleep after riding 108km. I had a site far from the nightly singing activities, but I could still hear drumbeats and shouting well into the night. When I finally did get into deep sleep, a couple woke me up at some odd hour with their shouting. They had lost their way or lost something and decided to figure things out as loud as they could. I have stayed at campgrounds in many countries around the world (Korea, UAE, Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia, Singapore, etc). In fact I have camped in every US state (including Hawaii and Alaska). Whispering Pines should stop calling itself a campground. I could have just as easily parked my bike in a public park and camped overnight. I would have left $35 richer and smelling much better.

Rustic, beautiful, totally suitable for you and your family. Absolutely love this spot. Bring your own gear, come fully equipped and you will enjoy!

This place is not suitable for a family! No showers (website says they have 'eco showers'), no water station, and no place to wash your hands or face even! I understand rustic and our family loves the environment but this place is a shame for the prices they are charging! At least put toilet papers in the outhouses and fill in the empty hand sanitizer bottle! If you have the confidence of offering paying customers with children 'a pond' for showering, you should simply start by changing your website and being rustically honest! Imagine the quality of the pond water at a place with no toilet paper, hand washing, or showering! Not for my kids! Rustic does not mean unhygienic! Why not pitch a tent in the forest along the highway?!..same service level but for FREE!

Make no mistake: Whispering Pines is rustic camping, so your experience will be a return to the basics. That being said, the land is stunning, mystical, and welcoming. The lake is refreshing, the beach is wide, and the bonfires are magical. I've been going to Whispering Pines for years for events and festivals, and every time I leave the campground, I yearn to return and reconnect with the land that knows me.

Seriously. I would avoid this place. The people are nice enough, but the place just doesn't live up to the hype they put out there. We went in the middle of the week expecting some people, but not many. I believe there was one other person on the whole site. We had booked for a few days leaving our departure open. That week was so hot, even our dog was wilting in the shade. The amenities were way below acceptable; and I'm no snowflake when it comes to camping. But the outhouses were a nightmare. Every last one of them. Dirty and full. No tp. Went to take a shower the next day, and the place actually creeped me out. Dark, dank, mouldy and dirty. I did manage to use the toilet, but I ended up bathing in their man-made cesspo...errr lake. Even then I was sceptical of the viability of the water. So then we decided to pack up and go somewhere cleaner, and just plain livable. A provincial park!

Lovely, serene, well-treed land. Camping space was sun-dappled but shaded from heat of direct sun. Little beach area was well maintained and outhouses stocked regularly. Plus, the owner is the most wonderfully kind person.