'The costs are just extreme': Campers staying closer to home amid soaring fuel costs
'The costs are just extreme': Campers staying closer to home amid soaring fuel costs
Using a trailer or an RV is an easy way for people to get out of the city and into the outdoors, but with soaring gas prices, the cost of driving with one has gone up drastically.
Wanting to enjoy a nice summer weekend, Slawec Gusniowski decided to take his trailer to Birds Hill Park.
It's only about a 15-minute drive from his home, a lot closer than his usual campsites in the Whiteshell.
"That'd probably be now about $200 where it used to be about $100 to pull the trailer there and back, so you could definitely see it," said Gusniowski. "Even Birds Hill Park, I mean, by the time I come back, the costs are just extreme."
With gas prices above two dollars a litre, it's a common theme for campers inside the park.
"Absolutely, I mean pulling the camper, you get less fuel mileage, and now with the prices of gas, it just costs that much more," explained Dwayne Ammeter, who also brought his trailer to Birds Hill Park.
According to GNR Camping World, RV sales are not down, but consumer trends are shifting.
"People are downsizing out of big full-size trucks going into smaller mid-size SUVs to pull, if they are still going to pull around, and there's a ton of trailers that have really tailored themselves to that niche market as well," said Trevor Olynyk, a sales manager at GNR Camping World.
Another rising RV trend is seasonal spots where trailers stay year-round.
Olynyk said many customers are now buying campers and getting the company to haul them to a permanent spot.
At Poplar Forrest Lodge and Campground near Selkirk, the rise in seasonal camping has changed their business model.
"We used to have tenting sites there and transient sites, and those are becoming seasonal now. We've got three in there, and there's only three left," said Peter Tomko, the owner of the campground.
Tomko said with seasonal camping, people can build patios for their trailers and also enjoy a tight-knit community.
As for those still hauling their trailers, there's no getting around the extra price of gas.
"Lot of adjustments, but we still want to make sure we have fun during the summer," said Gusniowski. "So probably less trips than last summer, so that's, you know, that's one thing that we do."
Privacy and civil liberties experts are sharing their concerns Tuesday with MPs studying the RCMP's yearslong use of spyware in major investigations, calling the previously undisclosed tools 'extremely intrusive' and criticizing the RCMP's belated disclosure of its use of these tools.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says through his throne speech that more can be done to ease health system pressures, but is not yet offering up any new solutions.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday tried to turn the news of an FBI search of his Florida estate to his benefit, citing the investigation in text messages and emails soliciting political donations from his supporters.
The detention and alleged beating by Quebec police of a Senegalese diplomat last week came as a bailiff was attempting to seize property at her residence to pay for a judgment against her.
The serious shortage of nurses and doctors has put the spotlight on a long overdue reform to the rules governing entrance requirements for foreign-trained professionals, says former NDP leader Tom Mulcair in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
For the first time in eight years, Canadian warships are not involved in either of two NATO naval task forces charged with patrolling European waters and defending against Russian threats.
The search for a man who went missing while swimming near Pelican Pointe on Last Mountain Lake, Sask. will continue on Tuesday, according to a release from Southey RCMP.
The Government of Canada has negotiated a settlement with Beardy’s and Okemasis’ Cree Nation for lost salaries and annuities promised to chiefs and headmen under Treaty 6.
An 84-year-old Timmins man is facing a list of firearms-related charges following an incident at an undeveloped lot involved in an ongoing dispute with city bylaw officials, police said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says through his throne speech that more can be done to ease health system pressures, but is not yet offering up any new solutions.
A prominent American ballerina and her husband have withdrawn a claim that Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz paid for sex with an underage dancer several years ago, saying they have since learned she was 18 at the time.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says through his throne speech that more can be done to ease health system pressures, but is not yet offering up any new solutions.
Calgary police are warning citizens about an extortion scam that sees victims sent graphic and violent photos to intimidate them into handing over their hard-earned money.
Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante says the city will redirect the remaining funds contracted to Fierte Montreal toward an independent investigation into why the flagship Pride parade was cancelled just hours before it was set to start.
Francois Legault has reiterated his confidence in his MNA and candidate in Cote-du-Sud, Marie-Eve Proulx, despite a new psychological harassment complaint filed against her.
For more than two years, federal public servants have been doing their jobs from home. Now, amid pressure to return to the office, they’re asking why that needs to change.
The reopening of a Newfoundland highway that had been closed for days because of raging wildfires provided hope Tuesday that much-needed supplies would finally arrive in stranded communities along the island's south coast.
As the doctor wait list hits 74,000 in New Brunswick, one woman is turning to social media with her pitch to try to find a replacement after losing her own doctor.
A number of people are living in tents in a small park just off Sackville Drive in Lower Sackville, N.S., as they struggle to cope with inflation and find affordable housing.
An ambitious plan aimed at ending homelessness in Waterloo region went before regional council on Tuesday, giving members the chance to hear the latest plans for interim housing solutions.
Tents and other structures are being removed from a stretch of East Hastings Street on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside starting Tuesday, the city confirmed.
The search is still on for a missing Port Alberni woman, and friends and family are hoping that a new podcast revolving around the 40-year-old's disappearance will help keep the investigation in people's minds.
