short RV holiday
We, family of 7, are planning a round trip from Calgary to jasper and back. We pick up the RV ,a 7 birth, so we all fit, on jul 6 and have 6,7,8th before heading to jasper 9,10. Then back to bow valley 11, 12 . And leave Calgary13th. Having read lots of posts it would seem tunnel mountain and lake Louise are places not to camp, two jack main and Two jack lakeside look great but say they will only take rv's to 27 feet. Ours is 28, will that mean we won't be able to camp there? How strict is the measuring? Also eldest son is 18, will that change things?Given we head to jasper 10 th and want to have sometime for stopping on that trip, is there anywhere else we should go before heading north?
Also looking at the Calgary stampede on the 12th, is ther somewhere in Calgary for RV's ,
Any suggestions gratefully received...
2
The best campground near Jasper is Wapiti, and you should be able to reserve. It has some serviced sites, but I strongly recommend you ask for section W, which is unserviced but right beside a lovely creek. IIRC numbers like W26 to W35 or something like that are on the creek. They won't guarantee a spot but if you ask nice they will often make it happen. You are likely to have elk wandering right through your site, and you really don't need power as the days will be long hours of daylight.The serviced(intended for RVs) sites in both Wapiti and Whistler campgrounds are much less enjoyable.
Get a fire permit and have a fire every night, free firewood with permit. If you buy a large cheap plastic tarp and some nylon rope, you can make your site pleasant in any weather.
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Calgary will be insane this year! Its the stampedes 100th anniversary. Everything will be full. Without wasting anymore time, Id really make sure you have somewhere to camp. Walmarts and Airdrie Big Box stores might be your only options.5
Thanks, was thinking we might stay at Bow Valley Campground and drive in to Calgary for the day, is this too far a trip?7
There is an RV park just north of the city limits called Whipering Pines. It lacks any ambiemce or charm but is close to the city for exploring. There is also a park on Symons Valley Road which is within city limits and would be a good spot to explore Calgary from.8
I'll chime in to say some good things about camping at Lake Louise in an RV. We (family of four, with two kids) stayed there two nights last summer (August 1 and 2) in our RV, and it was great. The campsite is by the river, with some nice hiking trails, and there is a ranger talk in the evenings that you can attend. You can drive the RV up to Lake Louise in the morning if you want to hike the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail--we arrived about 8:30 a.m. and found the parking lot practically empty, and the trail was not crowded at that time of day; the hike to the tea house was really special--lovely scenery, and good food if you want a snack or early lunch.9
There are limited campground with full RV hook-ups in Banff and Jasper National parks (one in each park), so the first question is: do you need/want hook-ups (power, water, sewer). If so, then Tunnel Mountain CG in Banff NP is your only choice. In Jasper, the only CG with full hook-ups is Whistler, although Wapiti has some sites with power.Banff NP camping page (list of cg's and amenities at bottom of page):
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/visit/visit9b.aspx
Jasper NP camping page: http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/jasper/visit/visit19.aspx
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we are going to be independent of power and water at Banff and surrounds, ( might even invest in a generator), so really keen to be at a campground that is close to nature. We have aimed for Wapiti, and was wondering about Two Jack Main and Lakeside but the specs for the RV are max 27 ft, ours is 28 ft, do you think we will be able to camp there? Wondering too if we spend more time at Banff or Jasper, or is there somewhere else on the way worth staying at? Thnx11
Regarding your question about RV length, we were 5 feet over the 27-foot limit for Two Jack, so we didn't even consider it. However, since you are only 1 foot over, you may want to try and slide through. We have stayed in U.S. campgrounds where we were 2 feet over, and no one got out a tape measure when we checked in. But we have never tried that in Canada, so I don't know what the consequences might be. Often there are good reasons for the limit--sharp turns in the campground road, or culverts that might make backing into a site very difficult if you exceeded the limit. You might want to call the campground and ask why there is a limit. Good luck, and have a wonderful time!
