A brief update on maps: We continue to add maps to the new reservation service, on almost a daily basis. If you need to check what parks have their maps, remember to check the availability table on the Ontario Parks website. The last update was January 8th.

Moving on to Ed’s comments from the last article. (For the uninitiated, the comment is found here) In summary, the comment focuses on maintaining your selected camping dates while changing campground maps within a park.

One of the challenges in learning the new system is that there are more options for making reservations, and in general, more options in navigating the site. Ed’s comment has flagged one of those options where dates are not being carried over and so we decided to run through step by step how to navigate the maps and have the all important camping dates maintained. As a side note, the option where dates are not carried over has been flagged with our developers and will be changed down the road.

Step 1: Making a Reservation

From the reservation service home page, click on the “Make a Reservation” link.

Step 2: Fill in the park, campground and dates

Fill in the form for selecting park, campground, dates and type of equipment. In this example we’re using Killbear as per Ed’s comment. Follow the pink hand in the image, and click “Search by Map” once you have filled in your information.

Step 3: The campground map

Our 3rd step isn’t really a step, but we included the screen capture to show what the initial page looks like. You can see a small part of the campground, and a “breadcrumb” navigation just at the top of the map. (where the pink hand is pointing). Let’s say Kilcoursie campground didn’t come back with anything, or you just wanted to look at another campground. The user (that’s you) has to click on the breadcrumb navigation leading back to Killbear overview page.

Step 4: Killbear’s Campgrounds

Once you’ve clicked on the Killbear link, you’ll be shown the screen capture below: An overview of all Killbear’s campgrounds. Follow the pink hand again and click on Beaver Dam campground.

Step 5: Viewing the second (or third, or fourth) campground

As you can see from the Beaver Dam campground map screen capture, it is indicating there are sites reserved (in red) telling us that our camping dates entered previously have been carried over to this campground.

Step 6: What happened to my camping dates?!

There are two instances where your camping dates will NOT be carried over. Most likely, instance #1 below was happening to Ed. (Ed if you’re out there, please confirm. )

Instance #1: The sidebar drop down menu that also allows you to switch campground maps does NOT carry over your dates. As mentioned above, we’ve flagged this with our developers, but for now, this menu is highlighted by our friend the pink hand in the screen capture below.

Instance #2: Using the “breadcrumb” navigation to go to a completely different park. That is, I don’t want to go to Killbear anymore and want to look at Algonquin instead. If you go right back to the Ontario map of parks, it will be necessary to enter your dates again.

That’s it in a nutshell! We hope that if others are experiencing the same trouble navigating from campground to campground within a park that this article helps. And thanks to Ed for commenting in the first place. In summary, it is possible to navigate from campground to campground using maps with your camping dates saved, just do it using the breadcrumb navigation as shown in Step 3 above.

Please click here to check the map availability for your favourite park. If your park does not have the campground map available, you can still make an on line reservation by:

– Going to the reservation service at OntarioParks.com;
- Click “Make a Reservation” from the top menu;
- Fill in all your search criteria and click “Search by Grid”.

The Search by Grid option is available for all parks open for reservations

- The “Login” tab is listed at the top of the page where its says Shopping, Register Now, Login and Francais

- Go to www.OntarioParks.com and follow the “On-Line Services” link to the “Reservations” link. You need to enter by clicking on “By Internet – LOGIN – next page, upper right”. This link takes you to the new reservation website.

- Select the ‘Login’ tab from the top right corner of your display screen.

- After successfully logging in, choose “Update Profile”. This is where you can use your temporary Login name and Password.

- Once you have signed in, for security reasons, we recommend that you create your own unique Login name and Password.

Over time new enhancements will be available, such as campsite photos and a shopping cart feature. Check back at this site, for future updates on the new features.