Other Tools and Resources

Municipal/County GIS applications.

All(most) counties will have a GIS site that has tons of great mapping info. I use it to check ownership of roads, aerial photography, more detailed topographic maps, some even have a crown land layer.

To find them search the nearest town name or county that you are looking at followed by GIS.

Ex. Muskoka, Haliburton, Hastings, Parry Sound

Natural Resources Canada - National Topographic System

The NTS offer great topographic maps, although at first they can be difficult to locate.

Topographic maps - Natural Resources Canada

PDF Index of Ontario Maps - For the Tea Pot Lake example that this page uses the map ID would be 031E02

Toporama | Natural Resources Canada - Can be used to get the NTS Map Name and create smaller maps of areas.

Once you have the name of the map I find it is easiest to google the name of the map followed by "Canadian topographic maps", ex. 031E02 Canadian topographic maps

Example of map that shows potential additional trails:

Ontario - Make a Topographic Map

Similar to National Topographic System and the CLUPA allows you to zoom into an area to make a topographic map. this limits you to smaller areas, but you can zoom in quite a bt to view contour lines upto 5m. To print the map select the "I want to.." menu and choose Print, the red square will be the printed map area, change this to Current Extent to print your viewable area.

Make A Topographic Map

Open Street Maps

As Open Street Maps in community contributed I find that there can be many different things added to it that are not on Google Maps. Hidden trails, hidden camp sites, I will always scan over the area in Open Street Maps to see if there is more to be found that is missing on the CLUPA or Google Maps.

Example of TeaPot lake shows trails not visible on Google Maps or the Ontario Topographical maps.

OpenStreetMap

AllTrails

A handy tool to locate trails that may not show on other sources. I usually do this in parallel with Open Street Maps. I don’t like that a lot of features are behind a pay wall though.

Ex. Evergreen Trail, Ontario, Canada - 9 Reviews, Map | AllTrails

iOverlander

iOverlander is a free, community-driven app and website that helps travelers find and share camping spots, services, and travel tips. It includes user-submitted locations like campsites, water sources, fuel stops, and more, often with reviews and GPS coordinates.

The TeaPot lake shows many different sites and offer reviews for them from others who have visited.

You can also use this app as a caution to sharing sites and to know if you will find the serenity you are looking for.

Ex. iOverlander | Tea PoT Lake

My Canadian Canoe Routes

Mostly canoe camping related trip reports but I use it to research an area and get details on parking and hidden trails.

Ex. https://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=16054

Lantern Search

A more user friendly free 3rd-party Crown Land Atlas - Again it is not autoratiative just like the CLUPA, you would still need to contact the MNR to ensure camping is allowed in areas.

About Lantern | Ontario Crown land map resource

Recreational activities on Crown land - Ontario.ca

What you need to know about camping and other recreational activities that are allowed on Ontario’s Crown land.

Recreational activities on Crown land | ontario.ca

GPS Essentials Android App

Allows you to cache offline maps from Open Street Maps. has a very robust Dashboard that allows you to customize multiple widgets, set markers, measure distances. Allows you to import Google Earth files with image overlays. GPS Essentials - Apps on Google Play

Reddit subreddits

Facebook Groups

Crown Land Camping Ontario - Private group - 83.2K members - request to join the group

Crown Land Campers - Private group - 46.0K members - request to join the group

Sharing Ontario crown land camping spots - Private group - 31.5K members - request to join the group

Ontario crown land camping uncensored. - Private group - 27.8K members - request to join the group

Ontario Backcountry Camping - Private group 23.7K members - request to join the group

Google Sites

Report abuse

Other Links

Quick Links