Turn off the Ferry Road, roll down a one-mile lane flanked by potato fields through a gate and past a calvacade of RVs and you have arrived at the KOA Cornwall/Charlottetown campground.
If you're tenting, this privately-run campground offers a number of spots under trees on a grassy area, or, more preferable some 10 spots or so overlooking the West River. But be warned: not all these spots actually have a view of the river.
When we arrived, trees blocked in the spot we were given, the ground was uneven, and the space was small with neighbours on either side. A quick look around showed an empty spot bordering one of the potato fields on one side and screened with trees from the neighbours on the other. It also opened onto the river below.
The young desk staff made the switch without complaint.
The site proved to be great for birding. At one point a blue heron landed on the dead tree just beyond our camp site, and a couple of kingfishers regularly flew over during our two-night stay.
It was also relatively quiet at night, although one evening a budding lumberjack, along with his son and wife, went down to the river directly below our site and while we tried to eat dinner thrashed around chopping at all the dead wood they could find. While this fatherly display of manly prowess to his son was touching, it also disrupted our peaceful dinner.
The bathroom facilities were so-so, not the worst we'd see, not the best either.
But at $6 a bundle, the green wood was a rip-off. While other neighbors happily sat around their crackling fires, ours hissed and emitted a ton of smoke.
That, coupled with the fact, that a tenting spot at this site was almost $40 a night, justifies the two-star rating.
Would I stay there again? Probably, but I'd bring a bundle of wood in for the fire next time. read more