TRAVEL: Camping at Silent Lake Provincial Park + VLOG

I survived my first camping trip! A few weeks ago I headed to Silent Lake Provincial Park for 3 days and 2 nights with Charles (my boyfriend), my friend Zubie, and her husband Zameer.

Silent Lake Provincial Park is a 24km south of Bancroft, Ontario. It's a fairly small park spanning 16.1 square kilometres featuring forest, 2 beaches and a system of small lakes. "Silent Lake" is a most fitting name because motor boats and electronic motors are prohibited on the lake.

Can't take credit for this photo! It's a Charles Cheung Photography extraordinaire - check him out @charcharb1nk on Instagram

Mazda Canada provided myself and Zubie with a new 2016 Mazda CX-9 7-seater Crossover Vehicle for 3 days. It's a good looking car with a ton of user-friendly features. The car was decked out with a push-to-start ignition, a navigation screen, Bose audio system, wood trimmed centre console, lane departure alerts, lane changing assistance, rear parking sensor and a whole lot more.

The Mazda CX-9 is a spacious, comfortable and luxurious car. As the driver, I looked a bit ridiculous standing next to it, given that I'm only 4'11'' and look like a 14 year old. Anyways, it fit all of our camping gear (including my too-large makeup bag... needless to say, I overpacked) and there was still lots of legroom, even for Zubie's 6 foot husband Zameer. Despite the SUV being much larger than what I'm used to (an Acura TSX and Honda Crosstour), the features of the Mazda CX-9 made it easy to use and both myself and my passengers felt beyond comfortable and safe inside it. The 3 hour drive to and from Silent Lake Provincial Park was smooth and I can without a doubt say that the CX-9 is ideal if you like to travel on road trips in style or have a large family. See the car in action in my vlog!

Pincer Bay Walk-in Campsite 75 at Silent Lake

THE CAMPSITE: The campsite (#75 - Pincer Bay Walk-In) was situated 6 minutes drive from the entrance of the park, a 2 minute walk from parking, a 5 minute walk to the beach and a 1 minute walk to canoe rentals. The area was clean when we arrived and included a fire pit with a metal grill and a picnic table. We purchased firewood ($7) from the gatehouse. I'd say the campsite could fit at a maximum 6 to 8 people, depending on the size of their tents.

THE GEAR: Charles provided the tent, while I brought 2 Coleman Sleeping Bags (one was a snazzy new Coleman Comfort Cloud 40 with memory foam - super comfy and warm!). Instead of a mattress, we brought two thick yoga mats courtesy of my Mom who does Thai Yoga massage.

ACTIVITIES: There was so much to take in that we never got bored. I brought a deck of Cards Against Humanity and we didn't even get the chance to play. Most of the time was spent walking around and getting a feel for the things around us. We went to the beach and took a quick swim.

Silent Lake Provincial Park also has three hiking trails (15km, 3km and 1km)... since we only had 1 full day, we opted out. Instead, Charles and I rented a canoe for 6 hours ($25 + $40 deposit) and explored some of the surrounding lake areas.

FOOD: Other than the classic marshmallows on a stick and s'mores, we had two dinners, two breakfasts, lots of snacks and one McDonald's drive thru meal during our trip. For the first breakfast, we ate chicken bacon and hashbrowns and for the second we had cereal and milk. For dinners, We roasted sweet potatoes and corn on the cob wrapped in tin foil and cooked hot dogs over our campfire. Zubie also made a chilli and rice, which we reheated over a butane stove.

Sorry there are no food photos - it was either too dark or not pretty enough!