I spent the last eight nights sleeping in Parks Canada campgrounds, so I figured I’d share a bit about my experiences booking and staying there.
Unlike the US National Parks where we book sites about six months out, Parks Canada releases all of their campsites for the coming year on a specific date. This year, it was earlier than usual, in early January at precisely 10am.
I researched with google maps and campground diagrams what my preferred campgrounds and sites were, and was ready to go when the reservation window opened. I knew that Two Jake Lakeside was the hot ticket campground, so focused on it, and was able to reserve one of only three lakeside sites within a minute of the reservation opening. After reserving Two Jack, I secured Lake Louise and Jasper sites, but both were in huge, relatively non-descript campgrounds, so specific location wasn’t that important.
At the Canadian campgrounds I stayed at, there were sites with and without fire rings. If you had a fire pit, you were required to purchase a “fire permit” for about $9 CAD that allowed you to have a campfire, and in return, all the firewood you needed. I think this is one of the most brilliant things Parks Canada does. First of all, it divides the fire users from the non-fire users. You could go to campground loops with no fires, I you knew you didn’t want one, and could therefore avoid getting smokey. But if you wanted a fire (and I wanted one!) you paid a nominal fee and got all the wood you wanted. $9 for campfire wood is cheap, if you ask me! It was $8.50 a bundle at the Grand Canyon… and in Parks Canada, that $9 bought me all the wood I wanted, and there was no risk of people bringing in wood with all of those awful wood pests and beetles that attack and kill forests. And of the eight nights I camped in Canada, I know there were two of three I didn’t build a fire but paid for one, and Parks Canada profited (something I’m okay with, mostly because I’m one of those leftie types that is happy to share what I have with others to preserve our amazing environment!)
Jasper National Park
I decided to stay at Whistlers Campground in Jasper. It was listed as right next to the townsite, and while in theory that’s probably true, it wasn’t as close as I’d hoped. Instead of a 5 to 10 minute walk (like I imagined) it would have been a much longer hike, and therefore we always drove into town. We had decent cell phone reception here, which was nice. Even though I’m camping, it’s nice to be able to check in, especially since I’ve been on the road for so long already.
Whistlers campground is huge. HUGE. There were almost 30 loops, and each one had 20-30 sites. The loops all had bathrooms (aka washrooms, in Canada) with dishwashing sinks. There was one showerhouse, that would have been a 10 minute walk from our site, and one woodpile that was stocked, that we drove to because carrying a bundle of wood 20+ minutes didn’t sound like fun! The washrooms were clean, but the traffic on a busy summer weekend meant I had to wait more often than not, and the sinks were usually clogged with girls doing their hair and makeup. (Seriously ladies, you are camping….)
Even though there were possibly 1000 sites in the campground, and almost every one was full, it was still pretty “wild” by my big city standards. A mama elk (she was huge!) walked through our campsite and ate a bunch of the wildflowers before moving on, and all five of us just stood by in awe. There were lots of magpies (a quite beautiful bird despite their sometimes pesky behavior), ravens (that weren’t nearly as pesky as the ones at the Grand Canyon and squirrels and chipmunks.
Whistlers had the heaviest “law enforcement” ranger presence, probably because it was one of the last weekends of the summer and packed with people. They were VERY strict about the “three units per site” rule and made us find a place for the second car, because one car, Louise the Teardrop and a tent were all we were allowed.
Lake Louise
Lake Louise is between Jasper and Banff, just off Highway 1, and has only two campgrounds – the Lake Louise Tent campground and the hard-sided RV campground. We stayed in the tent campground, where everyone with a soft sided camper (pop-up) or tent must stay. Because of the bear population in Lake Louise, this campground is gated with an electric fence and electrified cattle gates. Just like at Whistlers, we had a fire permit and fire ring. We were VERY grateful for the fire ring, because it was COLD and rainy during our two nights at Lake Louise. I have never been colder in my life than one of those nights in a tent, with temps reaching close to freezing.
The Lake Louise campground is much smaller than Whistlers, with more space between the campgrounds. The forest is thick with trees (mostly spruce and fir). We had three washrooms nearby, and a shower house as well.
The Lake Louise village was walkable from the campground, and Lake Louise and Moraine Lake were each about a 15 minute drive. There was a train track very near the campground that had trains all through the day and night, but the noise didn’t bother me.
The Lake Louise Village has a few small shops, a tiny market (they didn’t sell canned beans, and we really wanted chili, but they had great produce and the fixings for pasta, so we were covered!) One night we had dinner at the Post Hotel Pub, and during the rainiest, cold, day, we enjoyed coctails at the Lake Louise hotel tavern with amazing service and a fantastic selection of craft beer (my favorite of which was Jerkface 9000, a white IPA from Parallel 49 Brewing out of Surrey, B.C.
Lake Louise was about a 45 minute drive via Hwy 1 from Banff (I know the drive well… since I visited Moraine Lake two more times after leaving the Lake Louise campground!). If you want to take the scenic route, the Bow Valley Parkway, it’s about an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half.
Two Jack Lakeside
If you want the camping experience of a lifetime, stay at Two Jack Lakeside. There are only about 70 sites, and only a handful of those (literally, two or three) that were on the lake and accessible to a tiny teardrop trailer. I was super lucky to be able to secure one of these, and boy oh boy was it amazing. Picture a magnificent, crystal clear lake at the base of Mount Rundle, and only 70 campsites nestled on its shores. That’s what Two Jack has to offer. The sites were literally sold out in MINUTES back in January, so I know I was lucky to get the one I did.
The campground is located about a 10 minute drive from the Banff townsite. It had hot showers and running water, which is always a bonus when camping for a month. My tent sat about 5 meters from the shore of the lake.
The people in this particular campground were some of the best I’ve met of the trip. Lots of families and locals, which is understandable. Why travel far away when you have something like Two Jack Lake and Banff in your backyard!
I met amazing people – a couple who have traveled all over the US and Canada and encouraged me to move forward with my 2017 trip plans to visit New England and the maritime provinces (and even Newfoundland!). They did a couple of months around the Gulf of Mexico (with their six month old daughter!) and have camped all across Canada, but said the one place they want to go back is Newfoundland, so I am going to do some budget figures to see how much time (and money) I would need to make this camping dream come true. When we were packing up to head for Montana, they offered us breakfast for the road, and let me tell you, blueberry bacon pancakes are pretty delicious. I love Canadian hospitality!!!!!
Teardrops & Ales 