We are planning a trip with our 5th wheel trailer and Freightliner medium sized truck(FL60). We have reservations at Jasper and Lake Louise campgrounds in September 2018. We wanted to drive our rig from Jasper to Lake Louise on Hwlighway 93 (Icefield Parkway). Our truck weighs 6 tons and then weight of 35’ 5th wheel. We routed our trip on Good Sam Tripplanner and it routed us 400 plus miles into Alberta. So started to wonder why it didn’t route us down Highway 93. Is our truck and trailer too big to go down this road? Is it legal to drive this highway with a large truck/trailer? We don’t want to drive 400 plus miles to get to Lake Louise but also don’t want to be on highway that is not acceptable for our rig. Please advise.

You can take your rig down the Icefields Parkway - only commercial traffic is banned.

Hi,I've driven that road with a 27 foot RV weighing 7 tons. No problems. Be sure to make time to do the ice field tour.

You will have more trouble maneuvering around the roads in Jasper and especially Lake Louise and Banff during September. We found the parking lots at Lake Louise had ample parking areas allocated for RVs but they were all filled with automobiles! Your rig should have no problems on the Ice Fields Parkway as all the animal crossing overpasses have 15' of road clearance.

I had to "persuade" our mapping software to allow us to travel down Highway 93 with our 5er.

Sometimes it depends on the time of year that you are doing your route search.When we went to Alaska and Yukon, we did our planning in January and February. No matter what we tried Google wouldn't allow us to route through the Top of the World and Taylor highways. Why? The road was closed at that time of the year. Before we left we checked once again in early May and Google suddenly found the road! Good feature for your drive tomorrow, not so good when you are planning 8 months ahead.I don't think this should be what is happening to your planning, but as others have said it is okay, I say go for it.Brian

5th wheel access on Icefields Parkway | Good Sam Community

pianotuna
Nomad III
Jan 22, 2018
Best place for fueling up would be Lake Louise Petrocan. The Husky charges more.
Rover_Bill
Explorer II
Jan 22, 2018
Be sure you have a full tank of fuel before you start on the parkway. There is only ONE gas station on that road and they charge 50% more for fuel. It's located at the Saskatchewan River Crossing (route 11 and 93) about half way through the parkway.
wilber1
Explorer
Jan 21, 2018
pianotuna wrote:
Hi explorenorth,

Thanks for the correction.

I was confused. It is possible to drive from Calgary to Golden and not pay the park pass fee. But if you go north on 93 then you need to stop and get the pass.

Hwy 1 is the Trans Canada, you don't pay as long as you are in transit and not staying in the park. Same goes for Hwy 16 through Jasper.
wilber1
Explorer
Jan 21, 2018
pianotuna wrote:
Hi explorenorth,

Thanks for the correction.

I was confused. It is possible to drive from Calgary to Golden and not pay the park pass fee. But if you go north on 93 then you need to stop and get the pass.

HWY1 is the Trans Canada, you don't pay as long as you are in transit and not staying in the park.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Jan 21, 2018
Hi explorenorth,

Thanks for the correction.

I was confused. It is possible to drive from Calgary to Golden and not pay the park pass fee. But if you go north on 93 then you need to stop and get the pass.
explorenorth
Explorer
Jan 21, 2018
pianotuna wrote:
Be aware it is a toll road (low priced).

It's not a toll road - you just need a Parks Canada pass, as you do to use any part of the parks.
folivier
Explorer
Jan 21, 2018
We traveled about 4 years ago in our 45' Newell pulling an extended cab Z71 Silverado, about 72' long and had no problems. IIRC there was 1 steep section but was no worse than any place else in the Rockies.
One of the prettiest places we've seen.
The Columbia Icefields visitor center has overnight parking for $15/night (4 years ago price) and is a large asphalt parking lot with no hookups. Well worth a night or 2 to see the glacier across the road. We stayed 2 nights to see the glacier then drive to Jasper in the truck for a day trip. Lots of nice spots along the way.
joelc
Explorer III
Jan 21, 2018
Get a Rand McNally truckers atlas. It will be a big help. We did the trip with a 40 foot 5er, but took the truck only to the places you mentioned and based camp elsewhere.
Yeti_plus
Explorer
Jan 21, 2018
Sometimes it depends on the time of year that you are doing your route search.
When we went to Alaska and Yukon, we did our planning in January and February. No matter what we tried Google wouldn't allow us to route through the Top of the World and Taylor highways. Why? The road was closed at that time of the year. Before we left we checked once again in early May and Google suddenly found the road!
Good feature for your drive tomorrow, not so good when you are planning 8 months ahead.
I don't think this should be what is happening to your planning, but as others have said it is okay, I say go for it.
Brian
JesLookin
Explorer
Jan 21, 2018
I had to "persuade" our mapping software to allow us to travel down Highway 93 with our 5er.

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