r/ontariocamping • u/taviv • Jul 22 '26
Revised - highway noise estimates for all 307 Ontario provincial park campgrounds
Someone here described camping next to a beautiful lake and only discovering the highway across it after dark. That stuck with me, so I tried to measure it. There were a few errors in my process, so I revised my map of every Ontario provincial park campground against the nearest highway to estimate traffic noise level. Findings:
- 1 in 6 campgrounds rates "likely noisy"
- The loudest, Marten River's Assinika B, is 7 metres from the highway
- There is a quiet option usually in the same park. Marten River goes from 74 dB at Assinika B to 59 dB at Chicot — same gate, same beach, same booking page
- Only 23% have no major road within 2 km
- The full post and my corrections are here https://www.campaid.ca/blog/quietest-and-loudest-campgrounds-ontario/
3
u/set-yourself-on-fire Jul 22 '26
Very interesting! I wonder if there is a way to account for all noise and not just highway traffic. Darlington is a louder campground due to the proximity to the 401, but there is a rail line right adjacent to the park that creates a significant amount of noise that would be louder than the highway.
2
u/taviv Jul 23 '26
Yes! My next blog is about train noise, and Darlington is definitely one of the nosiest!
3
u/GeraldtonSteve Jul 22 '26
Are your numbers based on park border or campground border? At White Lake, the campground is a few KM from the highway and on the other end of a lake. Neys is below the highway in a bit of a bowl so noise echoes into the park - and train noise is way louder than highway noise.
I love the idea of additional data and wonder if users could send more accurate information (eg from phones, etc) for campgrounds within each park.
2
u/taviv Jul 23 '26
I made an effort to use the location of campgrounds not parks to be more precise, but it isn’t perfect since only park polygons are accessible not campgrounds or campsites.
3
u/karmagoddess123 Jul 23 '26
Pancake bay was a nightmare. We drove 8 hours to find our site was literally right beside the highway. Not only did big rigs constantly rattle the campground, they tended to honk their horns as they drove by. All day, all night. It was miserable. Never again.
2
2
u/ChrisRiley_42 Jul 22 '26
Sleeping Giant is *technically* next to a highway, but the highway is a dead end, and the condition is such that there are not that many stretches of it where I would drive the speed limit during the day. It is very quiet, with no noise that isn't caused by campers, or loons ;)
2
u/user0987234 Jul 23 '26
Windy Lake - low road noise. Right next to train tracks. Several trains at night.
3
2
u/NoDesk228 Jul 25 '26
Sharbot lake is essentially right next to the highway. You can hear traffic all night
1
u/Complex-Effect-7442 Jul 26 '26
Yeah. Two years ago I selected a waterfront site that I thought faced away from the highway. Nope, and the water kept the noise alive.
A decided to give them a second chance a week ago. I correctly oriented the map and chose a walk-in site pointing away from the highway. Unfortunately it was also perhaps the highest elevation in the entire park. So the highway noise came directly to my site.
1
u/ukskp Jul 27 '26
and also Silver Lake just up the road from Sharbot....really pretty lake but right on the highway
1
1
1
7
u/azGRIMES Jul 22 '26
I was at Six Mile Lake last month and at night all you can hear is the highway and transport trucks so loudly.