Trout Opener Camping at Sauble Falls Provincial Park

Sitting on the gabion basket-lined bank of the Sauble River, listening to the roar of water coming down the Sauble Falls and watching a Bald Eagle get pestered by a couple of crows, I thought about how much I had enjoyed our first camping trip of the season, and how glad I was to be there.

The three dogs lay scattered around my feet and Darrell retied the float rod once more. Those darn rocks were good for snags!

We had used trout opener as an excuse to come to Sauble Falls Provincial Park. In reality, I didn’t care where we went for our first trip, and I didn’t really even care if I fished the opener. I just desperately needed to get away for a few days after a couple of crazy months.

Only an hour-and-a-half-ish from home, the park was ideal for being close, meaning we could easily turn around if we’d forgotten something, or forgotten to do something at home. When it’s been several months since your last trip, there’s always some rust to shake off. At least we had our Gnome Homes teardrop trailer instead of tenting it for the first trip. It’s harder to forget stuff with the trailer.

I blocked all my social media apps and turned off email notifications on my phone, hoping that would help me to relax and let my brain settle over the three-day trip. In the end, I only picked up my phone to use the camera, check the weather forecast, and change an upcoming campground reservation.

Sauble Falls is a beautiful park, with a campground on either side of the highway. We stayed in the east campground, upstream of the falls. Our site backed on to the river, with trees lining the banks and a well-worn path along the shoreline. The sites beside us had fewer trees and more open views of the water. Like any other park with water, the sites near the water fill up first.

When the leaves are in I’m sure the sites are more private, but even without, there was enough of a break on the one side to feel a little private. The other side of our site was wide open to look a few sites over. I loved that the park didn’t have a ton of sites. It was nice.

There’s a hiking trail with a brochure available to guide you through the hike. If you like some stairs on a hike, you’ll love this trail!

We spent some time on the other side of the road, downstream of the falls where all the other anglers were trying their luck to land a rainbow trout. It had been years since we had done any river fishing and I’ll admit, the anglers lining the banks and float after float drifting down in a procession line reminded me of why I don’t do it very often. I’m not a people person. I’d rather be on the boat, away from everybody.

That said, it was kind of nice to see the process again and take a few casts. Darrell ended up fishing more than I did. I was too busy taking pictures, relaxing to the sounds of the water, and trying to keep Erza from barking at the very scary anglers. I don’t think she’s ever seen us in waders and carrying float rods. Every angler fully decked out earned a bark from her.

One of the things I love most about fishing is watching the fish. I had a great time watching fish surface, and even jump out of the water, right before or after a float was drifting by. I’ll give the other anglers credit, most didn’t aim for those fish on their next cast. I always do.

Between hanging out at camp, going for walks, and fishing, we also went for drives to do some exploring. On one of these drives we came across a boardwalk through the Oliphant Fen. So cool! The boardwalk was nice and wide, making it very accessible, and there were some excellent information signs along the way. Both of us love coming across pitcher plants and were thrilled to see many in this spot. We’re hoping to return in a month or two when more of the plants have grown.

We attempted to take pictures of some of the birds we saw along the way, and I tried to ID as many as I could. My ID skills are certainly lacking since my Fleming days. The one thing we were both pretty sure of is that we heard an osprey calling. We decided long ago that their call does not match the beauty and strength of these incredible birds, and it always sticks out to us.

Honestly, there’s so much I could say about this trip, which I didn’t even realize until I started typing this out. Hopefully I’ll get around to editing the video footage. At one point Darrell even managed to help out our campsite neighbours by troubleshooting what was wrong with their car that wouldn’t start. It wasn’t long before his advice got the car going so they were able to return home. That’s just one of the things I’ll remember from this outing.

This trip was exactly what I needed. Sauble Falls was exactly the right place to go. I look forward to returning to the park in the future! I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t been, and make sure to check out the surrounding area.