Last updated on April 23rd, 2024 at 10:52 pm
If you are looking for an incredible campground on Salt Spring Island, look no further than camping at Ruckle Provincial Park. This gorgeous camping spot offers mostly walk-in sites which all have incredible views over Swanson Channel. Grab your camping chair, take a seat and watch the ferries and boats go past.
We spotted the Ruckle Park campground from our ferry between Vancouver and Victoria and had no idea where it was but it certainly looked like fun, a few weeks later we found ourselves there, enjoying the view from the opposite direction! It really is an absolute gem of a campground but that also makes it exceptionally popular, especially on weekends, so you’ll want to plan ahead if you want to visit.
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Camping At Ruckle Provincial Park
There are 78 walk-in sites spread across the grassy meadow looking out at the channel for camping at Ruckle Provincial Park. In the forest just around the drive from the parking for the walk-in sites, you’ll find 8 unserviced drive-in RV sites and then a short walk from the parking area will bring you to three ground sites.
We were camping at Ruckle Provincial Park during a long weekend and since the group sites were not reserved the parks staff allowed overflow camping in the group site areas.
A very limited number of sites for camping at Ruckle Provincial Park are reservable through the BC Parks online reservation system. 10 of the walk-in sites, 4 of the RV drive-in sites and the group sites are reservable but since they are very popular it can be hard to get a reservation. We showed up on the Thursday morning before the long weekend and had our pick of walk-in sites, however by the evening the whole site was full and it remained that way for the whole weekend until it rained on Sunday afternoon.
Some of the walk-in sites while camping at Ruckle Provincial Park are in the tree line and have wooden platforms but for the most part the walk-in sites are spread across the open grass. When you arrive, pick your site and the parks staff come around in the evening and take payment. There aren’t many defined sites, find a numbered picnic bench and set up your tent nice and close to it. This is the way it works, which is slightly different to in the mountains.
There are no fire pits at any of the sites when camping at Ruckle Provincial Park, just a picnic bench. There are a number of outhouses around the camping area, on the September long weekend, I have to admit, these were all mostly quite full! But there is toilet paper and sanitizer provided in each.
There is potable water from taps which you can find along the main trails in the campground, along with garbage and recycling bins which are emptied regularly by the parks staff.
Due to the open nature of the campground there isn’t a massive amount of privacy between sites while camping at Ruckle Provincial Park but since the view over Swanson Channel is so pretty, it really doesn’t matter. You can sit and watch the ferries and other boats go through all day!
What To Do At Ruckle Provincial Park
A short walk from the far end of the Ruckle Park campground is a trail which will take you to Grandma’s Bay, it goes through the forest with little to no elevation before coming out at an opening, a small set of stairs takes you down to Grandma’s Bay, which is a perfect spot to sit and watch the waves roll gently into the cove, we also went form a swim here since the water stayed relatively shallow for a ways out and there are no showers while camping at Ruckle Provincial Park.
Ruckle Provincial Park still has a working farm on site and the free range turkeys prove to be a highlight for many. Watch out for these birds, they walk across the road into the park and many people stop on the road to watch them. A short distance after the turkeys is a parking area. This is the ideal spot to park and check out the informative signs in and around the buildings as well as seeing the turkeys.
There is also a day use area in Ruckle Provincial Park, park up in the day use parking area and a short walk will take you to a number of picnic benches dotted along the shoreline.
All of these areas, including the Ruckle Park campground, are all connected by a series of trails, so you can walk for as long as you like in the park, with the highlight of the trail system being the farm and the path along the shoreline, which is rugged and rocky with the odd sandy cove to descend to.
We spent a few days on Salt Spring Island, camping at Ruckle Provincial Park and exploring the Island and came up with a great four day itinerary for anyone looking to spend a similar amount of time exploring the area.
Where Is Ruckle Provincial Park
To go camping at Ruckle Provincial Park, you’ll first need to take a ferry to Salt Spring Island. If you are coming from Victoria, you’ll get a ferry into Fulford Harbour. From there it is around a 10 kilometer drive to the park via the Beaver Point Road.
If you are coming from Vancouver you’ll get off the ferry at Long Harbour near the main town on Salt Spring Island, Ganges. From the harbour it is approximately a 24 kilometer drive via Long Harbour Road, Fulford Ganges Road and Beaver Point Road.
The ferry from Victoria runs very frequently during the summer months and isn’t reservable, while the ferry from Vancouver only runs directly a few times a day, reservations for this route are highly recommended.
What You Might Need To Camp At Ruckle Campground
Since the vast majority of campsites at Ruckle Provincial Park are walk in sites, you’ll definitely need a tent if you want to try camping at Ruckle Provincial Park! We just upgraded our front country tent to a larger version of our backpacking tent, the Marmot Tungsten 4 person tent is easy to set up and gives us plenty of solace for front country camping.
Because the majority of sites are walk in, if you want to use a regular inflatable air mattress, you’ll also want to consider a battery powered air pump, typically we run a plug in one off an inverter but for this trip we needed a battery operated one.
It rained a lot one day when we were camping at Ruckle Provincial Park and while many packed up fast and left, we set up two tarps and rode out the storm without issue. So make sure to take a tarp….or two and plenty of cord. I will say, if there is rain in the forecast, pick a site which has some trees around it, many don’t have trees and this can be an issue to set up a tarp, so a dinner tent may be more suitable although considerably more bulky to get to your site.
We enjoyed having comfortable camp chairs when we were camping at Ruckle Provincial Park, this allowed us to sit out, facing the ocean when we wanted to relax at camp. Perfect to read your book, watch the sun set and the moon rise.