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Old 05-16-2022, 08:05 PM   #1
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Name: Randy
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Travil Tips for BC or Alberta

Now that Canada allows US citizens to enter, we are now thinking/planning a possible trip. Although this post is not about our FG Casita, I was hoping to obtain some first-hand information about a possible trip to Alberta or BC Canada.

We have been to BC a couple of times, but only once with a camper, the other just by car. It is amazing there. However, there seem to be limited opportunities for travel trailer camping because there are few parks, and few roads. We made it as far as Clearwater and Grey Wells Provincial Park. This time we would like to explore more.

Then looking at maps that show provincial and other camping parks, Alberta seems to have a lot of provincial parks, and many more roads to travel, so it looks very attractive.

Thus, I am wondering if any of the Forum readers have any experience and recommendations for Alberta or BC this summer. We are looking for late June or early July. I know that is the peak season, but any later might be too cold for us Floridians. Specifically, I wonder if it is not prohibitively difficult to find non-reserved sites that are obtained by driving into the park, instead of making reservations online (as they all now seem to have that option).. Also, if there are some very special parks to add to our itinerary, I would at least reserve three or four days here and there and try to fill out our trip by moving to parks without prior reservations.

Any help or suggestions will be so greatly appreciated.
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Old 05-16-2022, 09:41 PM   #2
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Most of ths roads in southern Alberta are flat and straight, then the sun comes up it gets windy.
BC has very little of the above.
If you want mountains they start at Alberta's western border and mostly stop at BC's western border.
What type of experiences are you looking for?
Oh, yah Im biased.
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Old 05-17-2022, 09:17 AM   #3
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Biased as well!

Come up through Coutts, Milk River Provincial Park, Cypress Hills, Drumheller and the Badlands.

Up to Edmonton, west to Jasper National Park, south along the Icefield Parkway to Lake Louise and Banff.

East to Canmore, south through Kananaskis Country

Follow the Cowboy Trail south to Waterton /Glacier International Peace Park, then back into the US.

You COULD stop in Calgary as well if you like, but yeah, I'm biased, too! 😉

I recommend making reservations if you can, particularly in Banff and Jasper. Some campgrounds are FCFS only.

There is apparently a new app out there to find campground cancellations, but I have not seen it yet.

Come on up, we're pretty friendly!
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Old 05-17-2022, 10:04 AM   #4
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I live in Calgary, but I avoid the Stampede (July 8 to 17). It’s probably fun the first ten times or so, but I have had my fill.

Contrary to what Capn.Curt.Wiebe seems to think Calgary is as nice a place as Edmonton is. But there is this rivalry between the two cities. Especially now that the NHL battle of Alberta is on. However, Edmonton runed most of their traffic circles. They put traffic lights on them. I like traffic circles instead of traffic lights. You probably don't need to stop. What Edmonton did makes you stop no matter how light the traffic is.

Full disclosure, I used to live in Morinville, a bedroom community of Edmonton.
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Old 05-17-2022, 12:04 PM   #5
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Ah, David!

Rivalry, or love/hate relationship?

4 games? Iffen I was a hockey fan, I would probably suggest that the Oilers will blow out the Flames, however I am more of a football person.

Correction, please. I do not think that Edmonton is any better than Calgary, even though I have lived here almost all of my 67 years. It just happens that Edmonton is on the road between Drumheller & the Badlands on the way to Jasper.

Edmonton does have a beautiful river valley, the longest ribbon of green in any city in North America. And we have West Edmonton Mall, not that that means anything.

On the other hand, besides having Mr. T there, Calgary is closer to the mountains, has both the Bow and Elbow rivers, which are more scenic, floatable, and fishable than our North Saskatchewan, and Calgary has far more craft breweries and distilleries than we do.

Calgary does have a lot going for it. And it probably is worth a stop.

BTW - does anyone know of someone who could use an original closet door and hardware from a 1978 Trillium 4500? I have one that I would like to rehome.
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Old 05-17-2022, 02:11 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Capn.Curt.Wiebe View Post
Come up through Coutts, Milk River Provincial Park, Cypress Hills, Drumheller and the Badlands.

Up to Edmonton, west to Jasper National Park, south along the Icefield Parkway to Lake Louise and Banff.

East to Canmore, south through Kananaskis Country

Follow the Cowboy Trail south to Waterton /Glacier International Peace Park, then back into the US.

You COULD stop in Calgary as well if you like, but yeah, I'm biased, too! 😉

I recommend making reservations if you can, particularly in Banff and Jasper. Some campgrounds are FCFS only.

There is apparently a new app out there to find campground cancellations, but I have not seen it yet.

Come on up, we're pretty friendly!
Geez, that sounds like a cool trip!
Add the Kootenays,,, GREAT TRIP!
To the OP, if you gave us an idea of your likes and rather nots we could give better feed back.
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Old 05-17-2022, 04:12 PM   #7
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Be aware that long weekends are always busy July first and August first. I generally never stay in federal campground nor provincial, there are plenty of private grounds as an option. Gas prices may have an impact this year on people current price in Vancouver 2.34 per liter interior not much better.

I've stopped and chatted with many from the USA on their trips through BC and all are very impressed with the scenery no matter which path they take. People will go out of their way to make you feel welcome.
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Old 05-17-2022, 05:12 PM   #8
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The friendliness of Canadians shows clearly in the replies so far. We are not interested in cities or big tourist spots...we saw Banff and Jasper on our earlier trip up to BC -- nice, but very touristy and busy. We are more iterestes in smaller natural places. Nice lakes with some good fishing would be a plus. I will look into all those places mentioned. I still wonder about how busy the parks are once you get more than a days drive away from Calgary or Edmonton. A few years ago we took our Casita up to Algonquin Provincial Park that I had heard about many years earlier. We were shocked at how busy the park was with people driving from Ottawa and Toronto for a few days. Plus, the park did not open all the campgrounds in the park until the open ones were completely full. Than insured that we were always surrounded by many other campers in a campground that was very open except for tall trees, so you never felt like you were really camping. That is what I would hope to avoid in Alberta, if possible.

Thanks and any more thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
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Old 05-17-2022, 07:13 PM   #9
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Mabel lake provincial park is definitely one of our favourites. Close to Vernon BC.

Welcome to Canada.
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Old 05-17-2022, 07:25 PM   #10
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The camping season is short up here so campgrounds tend to be fullish.
That 1950s lost in the woods no one around feel is hard to find these days. Are you prepared to go wander up gravel roads?
The Arrow Lakes and Kootenay Lake in the Kootenays of BC are my favorite.
Population is very low, 5 hrs min from Calgary though not enough at times. Hot springs, a few wineries Creston has a lot of orchards. I dont fish dont know.
The Slocan valley is a unique experience for the people as well as the environment. If you do check out the Kootenays I believe you'll enjoy.

I retired to the mountains in 06 from the prairies so the prairies have no appeal to me.
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Old 05-18-2022, 08:55 AM   #11
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Please don't avoid Alberta. Come as far as Drumheller (there are very nice private campgrounds there) and then head to the mountains if you don't want to go farther north. Alberta does not have many big lakes (come to Manitoba for lakes) but the badlands are wonderful and not like the ones in SD.
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Old 05-18-2022, 01:45 PM   #12
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If you come up through Coutts, you should turn east and stop by Dinosaur Provincial Park.
https://albertaparks.ca/parks/south/dinosaur-pp/

I love this place! We brought some canoes and put them in the water several miles upstream of the park. It was an all-day trip. We stopped at several places on the river. One spot almost made me cry. There was a large dinosaur falling out of an eroding cliff face. The bone fragments were just piling up at the bottom of the cliff, at the edge of the water. I found a large piece of petrified wood that still sits on my bookshelf. Sadly, when we drifted back into the park, the kids that were with us showed the bone fragments that they had collected to the park ranger, who promptly confiscated them. This is even though they were not collected in the park, (I don’t think the park ranger believed that). Technically, we were guilty of stealing rocks from the landowner. The guy that suggested the canoe trip had done this before. In a previous trip, he found two intact dinosaur vertebra, which he now uses as book ends.

I took the family there a couple of years ago. The kids loved the bad lands. While we were there, they had the heaviest rain fall in 37 years. It turned out that our campsite was in a drainage feature. The fire pit was just rapids. The night before, I put the Coleman stove under the trailer, in case it rained. As the water was licking the bottom of the door frame, I figured that was not the best idea. That stove never worked again. There was a guy in a tent down stream from us. Luckily, he was sleeping on a tall air mattress. He said that he woke up when he started to float.
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Old 05-18-2022, 01:59 PM   #13
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Love that story, David T. That won't happen to many people in that area. It is usually hot and dry. Neither of us mentioned the world class Tyrell Museum. It is worth the time, too.
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Old 05-20-2022, 02:46 PM   #14
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Cap n Kurt - That sounds like a great route. Everyone should experience the Badlands, Kananaskis is awesome, as is Cypress Hills. There are some wonderful quiet spots north of Calgary.
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Old 05-20-2022, 03:56 PM   #15
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I second the itinerary from Capt. Curt Wiebe. Excellent route to see the highlights of Alberta. A suggestion after stopping in Waterton is to backtrack north to highway 3 and head west through the Crowsnest pass into B.C. and Kootenay country. Lots of camping in the Crowsnest area and great coal mining history. From there continue west on highway 3 into the south Okanagan wine country. You can then drop south into Washington state
Calgary is a great city to visit with lots to see and do, but I agree with Dave T, avoid it during Stampede.
Most federal and provincial campgrounds recommend reservations, especially on weekends, but you may have more luck with a drop in midweek.
Google camping Alberta and lots of private campgrounds will pop up. Another suggestion is HipCamp Alberta. It is private land owners who have set up a few sites on their farm, ranch or acreage, some serviced, some not but generally fairly cheap and quiet.
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Old 05-20-2022, 08:13 PM   #16
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Thanks again for the suggestions. It will take me awhile to explore them, but I will do that in detail.

Somehow a previous reply that I sent did not get posted. The main thing I wanted to say is that I want to avoid a situarion like we experienced a number of years ago, where we drove from Florida to Algonquin Park in Ontario. The park was packed, mainly because they only opened other
campground until the open ones were absolutely full. That meant that we were always in a campground with all surrounding sites occupied. There was no separation between the sited in terms of trees or shrubs. The campground had only many very tall trees with the first branches starting about 10 ft above the ground. It seemed that almost half or more of the sites were occupied by groups from Toronto or Montreal that occupied several adjacent sites. They were having a great, party time together...but it was not really fun camping for us who thought we were traveling to the north woods from Florida.

So my question is whether that is what we would have to expect in Alberta? If so, I am not sure it would be worth the long trip.

Finally, I do appreciate the comments and suggestions. I know that a lot of Canadians come here to Florida, so in return, I will always be availale to offer suggestions as to where you can enjoy qualitiy campig experience if you want to come to FL.











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Old 05-21-2022, 07:42 AM   #17
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I think the weekends are party time everywhere.
Same as I as a kid, 2is too many 12 isnt enough.
Im beginning to think your expectations wont be met.
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Old 05-25-2022, 12:28 PM   #18
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I've lived in both BC and Alberta and have camped in both provinces.

While Alberta has some great places -- notably the Rockies and the Badlands -- I think BC has better options.

The trick is to avoid the major parks, both national and provincial. Both BC and AB have extensive networks of forest service campsites that are more rustic and will involve boondocking, but many of them can accommodate trailers. They tend to be in more isolated places, avoiding the crowds, but the scenery can be spectacular.

Go to Recreation Sites and Trails BC and look at the map. You'll need to read descriptions for sites you have in mind to ensure that it will be accessible with your rig. Some are better for a 4X4 and tent.

The north of BC is best for escaping crowds, enjoying wildlife, and seeing spectacular scenery. It can be cooler and rainier than southern BC and Alberta.

Many of the smaller provincial parks do not accept reservations, and especially if you arrive in the middle of the week and not too late in the day, you can usually get a spot.
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Old 05-25-2022, 03:49 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GatorCasita View Post
Now that Canada allows US citizens to enter, we are now thinking/planning a possible trip. Although this post is not about our FG Casita, I was hoping to obtain some first-hand information about a possible trip to Alberta or BC Canada.

We have been to BC a couple of times, but only once with a camper, the other just by car. It is amazing there. However, there seem to be limited opportunities for travel trailer camping because there are few parks, and few roads. We made it as far as Clearwater and Grey Wells Provincial Park. This time we would like to explore more.

Then looking at maps that show provincial and other camping parks, Alberta seems to have a lot of provincial parks, and many more roads to travel, so it looks very attractive.

Thus, I am wondering if any of the Forum readers have any experience and recommendations for Alberta or BC this summer. We are looking for late June or early July. I know that is the peak season, but any later might be too cold for us Floridians. Specifically, I wonder if it is not prohibitively difficult to find non-reserved sites that are obtained by driving into the park, instead of making reservations online (as they all now seem to have that option).. Also, if there are some very special parks to add to our itinerary, I would at least reserve three or four days here and there and try to fill out our trip by moving to parks without prior reservations.

Any help or suggestions will be so greatly appreciated.
There are many campgrounds in Southern BC, both private and provincial.
We have spent many a happy night out in the country beside a gravel road.
You can pull into many wooded areas & be private. Just drove 150 km along hwy 3 and never went more that 50K between campgrounds.
For gods sake do not bring a gun, you will be quite safe no matter where you park.
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