Site Details
Closest Access Point: Shall Lake Access Point (#17)
Distance to Access Point: 12.7 KM
Difficulty of Travel From Access Point: Easy
Maintenance Level: Regular
Date Visited: August, 2022
This is the one and and only campsite on Tattler Lake. It’s not the only place you can stay, the Tattler Ranger Cabin is just across the water, but if you’re looking for a backcountry campsite, this is it. As far as sites go, it’s fine. Not spectacular, not terrible. Basically, it’s the Weezer Green Album of campsites (my favourite part of this Pitchfork review is where they call it “Average from beginning to end”, but you came here for an Algonquin campsite review, not to relive 20 years ago Drew’s crushing disappointment with his favourite band).
Terrain: This is a flat site. It occupies a good chunk of real estate along the narrows between Tattler and Booth. The campsite area is mostly free of obstacles, although as you can see from this picture there are more than a few trees scattered throughout. It’s a big site, with room for a bigger group if you wanted.
Canoe Landing: The shoreline is fronted by a thick layer of Pickeral Weed. However, someone has carved a channel through them which makes it easy to access the site. The loading/unloading zone is wide enough for a single canoe, two if you want to get real cozy. I don’t recall any significant underwater obstacles, but it does get shallow quickly.
Fire Pit: The site has a good sized fire pit about 30-40 feet back from the shore. The pit was in good shape, and there are a couple of grills on the site, including the short standup one pictured that would double as prep table in a pinch.
Tent Sites: There’s room for two or three tents on this site, probably more. The tent pads are all relatively flat. That said, the site seemed to have its share of root popping up out of the ground here and there like those worms from Tremors. It might take some work with a larger tent to find a spot that doesn’t leave something digging into your back.
Swimmability: Tattler seemed like a pretty shallow lake to me. I suppose that makes sense. All Tattler is is a widening of the Opeongo River. And, like most rivers, there’s a lot of plant life to deal with if you want to take a swim. I’m not saying you can’t swim here, but it wasn’t the most appealing spot I’ve found. (For example, the swimming on multiple sites on nearby Booth is way, way better).
Thunderbox: The thunderbox is out the back of the site. It actually took me a couple of minutes to track it down, which is unusual for Park boxes. Usually the path back to them is very clear, and it’s not much of a hike. While this one isn’t much of a hike, I don’t recall the path being obvious.
Accessories: Somebody has lashed together whatever this is, and there’s a nice bench setup around the fire pit, but that’s about it.
Views: This is a fairly enclosed site. There’s a decent amount of tree cover in between the site proper and the lake, meaning you’ve got semi-obstructed views from most parts of the site. From down by the water the view is southwest across Tattler. It’s pretty enough down there, but nothing spectacular. The site would get decent afternoon sun.
Notes: Like I said off the top, this is an average site. Honestly, if I’m staying on Tattler I’m probably booking the ranger cabin. If that’s full, there are better options available on nearby Booth.
Related Trip Report: Booth Lake 2022