and as a comparison for you Yanks, here are some Ontario Provincial Park fees, a regular non electric site with shower access type campground is $36, 41 or $45 depending on the niceness of the park and or site.
https://www.ontarioparks.com/fees/camping/2017
Quebec prov park near here outside of Montreal is $31 for a regular, non electric with shower access site.
https://www.sepaq.com/pq/oka/tarifs.dot
but apparently there are bike in fees that are less, but I cant find them on the website, saw them last year at some point but forget how much it is. They make a point of not clearly having it on the site, in english anyway.
As someone who peruses the Canadian park system
once in a while, I'm always confused by how much more of a 'luxury' or niche outdoor activity seems up there despite Canada having a massive reputation for its outdoor beauty. Here in the States we don't even think about it - conservation lands, bike trails, bodies of water all with easy access and amenities (parking lots, bathrooms, etc.). Take the
Minuteman National Park here in Lexington, Mass. It's a NP yet totally free (no camping though) - multiple large lots to park in, facilities. Same activities cost money up in CA, and usually much more than here. Some of their
bike trails have user fees... yeah, OK. Maybe it's just Quebec, I don't know.
Originally Posted by
jamawani
What has happened, however, is a gradual but continuous move away from park philosophy of a century ago when the National Park Service was founded in 1916. The NPS has always has a dual mandate - difficult to achieve in its conflicting nature - first, to preserve for future generations and, second, to provide for the public enjoyment. The national parks in the U.S. have been viewed as a public trust - open to all. That is one of the reasons that the NPS is consistently one of the highest rated government agencies. But it is also a reason that parks are loved to death. Even though more limitations have been put into place, the idea of public access remains core to the NPS.
Have you read Bill Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods"? I found his disdain for NPS's mismanagement and incompetence hilarious. The NPS has been understaffed and under-budgeted for quite a long time now, all while NP attendance has skyrocketed throughout the nation. So I don't blame them for trying to make ends meet, but it still leaves a bad taste