The dream of a private island paradise vacation seems impossibly remote, a whim reserved for the annoyingly wealthy blessed with too much leisure time.

But it turns out the dream can be yours for $22 a night, just a two-and-a-half-hour drive and a short paddle from Montreal.

Early last summer, my wife, sons Matthew, 6, and Owen, 4, paddled to a small island we had all to ourselves for the weekend at the Saranac Lake Islands Public Campground in New York state. It’s one of the few camping sites in this part of the continent that is water access only – you need a boat to get to its 87 camping spots, New York Department of Conservation park ranger Bill Ulinski tells me. About half of the sites are on islands in either Lower Saranac Lake or the slightly farther removed Middle Saranac Lake, and the rest are spread out along the shoreline, tucked in amid the trees, invisible from the water.

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