Trip to Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper: advice?

As mentioned, the Canadian Rockies are just awesome, though IMO they need to offer FREE bus rides to Lake Louise which would go a long way toward easing the awful congestion there. We really enjoyed Banff area and the spectacular Icefields parkway. We ended up parking our 28 ft. trailer in the Icefield center parking lot (boondocking) for two nites while we enjoyed the hikes and the bus (?) tour onto the icefield. It was two weeks well spent!

Rolin wrote:
Just returned from our Canadian Rockies trip. Thanks for all the advice.

Had a great time...stayed longer that we had planned because there was so much to see.

Good to hear you enjoyed the trip. Hope you come back some year.

The icefields parkway is close to us (4hours) and we always love going there. We drove through last Monday. We thought there would be more traffic but it was light. We stopped in Whistlers to visit friends and were surprised to see the amount of units camped because the traffic was so light. There's more rental units coming every year and yes lots of them European with almost as many oriental people.

Glad you enjoyed my home area!
john

Just returned from our Canadian Rockies trip. Thanks for all the advice.

Had a great time...stayed longer that we had planned because there was so much to see.

We did stay at Tunnel Mt in Banff and rode the bus. Meet some great fellow travelers.

Stayed at the Trailer campground at Lake Louise and yes the train is quite noisy, but we still slept pretty good.

Stayed at Wilcox in the Ice Fields with our 26ft MH. A little tight on some of the corners but plenty of sites that our rig would fit into. Did get a little cold at night.

Enjoyed whistler CG at Jasper but they only have one shower and it was a long walk.

Yoho and Glacier were great as well.

We thought it was off season but was much more crowded than I expected. There were a LOT of rental Motorhomes. Some 19ft to 22ft and a lot of 25ft/26ft with some as long as 30ft. Lot of people from Europe were also enjoying the Canadian Rookies. Had some great conversations.

We really enjoyed the vistas, the people, the geology, and the history.

Thanks again for your help.

Just my two cents on Canadian campground fees -- they are high and they are worth it. The campgrounds are very well maintained and well run, and they are located in amazing places.

Several years ago we stayed, with or 26 ft fiver in the Waterfowl lakes cg. Don't believe it has been changed since then.
John

Hi Still Searchin,
Fellow Oregonian here....we are going to buy the annual pass for the two of us.

We found that you can't reserve 2 Jack Lakeside so we are planning to stay at Tunnel Mt near Banff and at the Lake Louise trailer park near Lake Louise. There are some CGs between Lake Louise and Jasper, but we plan to stay near Jasper.

On MS Streets and Trips I found the following campgrounds listed between Lake Louise and Jasper. Starting closer to LL and proceeding toward Jasper.

Mosquito Creek CG near Bow River
Waterfowl Lake CG near Mistaya Lake
Ramport Creek CG near N Saskatchewan River
Wilcox Creek CG in Jasper NP <27ft RV
Columbia Icefield CG TENT ONLY
Jonas Creek CG <27ft RV
Honeymoon Lake CG <25ft RV
Mt Kerkeslin CG
Wabasso CG <27ft RV
Wapiti CG
Whistlers CG Large RVs ok

Check the Jasper NP website as it lists the campgrounds and what size RV is recommended. You may be able to fit a 28ft trailer the the < 27ft locations. This is our first trip so we don't have any first hand knowledge to pass on.

Hope you have a great trip.

Still creating our itinerary.

Still Searchin' wrote:
Thanks Paulj, those sites were very helpful! Anybody else get their 28Ft.+ trailer into Wilcox Creek?? (site recomends under 27ft).
Natl. Info. Services did verify that both Banff & Jasper charge a daily service fee of $8.30/person/day. The Natl. Discovery Pass cost $57.90/senior and is good for one year to all Natl. parks and waives those daily entry fees.

I drove through Wilcox creek last year to see if I could get my 5vr in there. It would be tight, more problem with trees close to the road.
Best bet is to unhitch at the Icefields center a couple of KM from Wilcox and drive through to see if you can make it. If not you can camp at the icefields center campground. It is a big parking lot and they charge for you to stay but at least a big rig can get in there.

As to the fees you will pay $ 19.60 per day for a family group in one vehicle. If you are staying more than 7 days the yearly pass is a better deal. $ 136.40. Both passes give you access to any national park in Canada. Camping fees range from $ 10.80 to $ 38.20 per day.

Here's the link to park fees in Jasper. I'm pretty sure they are the same in Banff. Jasper Fees

Even with the high fees the trip is worth every penny. We go at least four times a year. Some year we are going to go and take at least two weeks to do the Icefields parkway and go on as many hikes as we can.
Have a good trip.
Cheers
Chris

I think we saw folks with rigs of maybe 24 feet at Wilcox -- but it was very darn tight. The roads in the campground are laid out in a series of hairpin turns as it ascends the side of the hill. We camped there in our 14 footer, but even that took some careful jockeying.

You might be better off at the Icefields itself -- we saw many big rigs in the lot there. It is not pretty -- just a parking lot -- but the views are amazing. The views at Wilcox are not panoramic and are mostly obscured by trees, as you can see:

Thanks Paulj, those sites were very helpful! Anybody else get their 28Ft.+ trailer into Wilcox Creek?? (site recomends under 27ft).
Natl. Info. Services did verify that both Banff & Jasper charge a daily service fee of $8.30/person/day. The Natl. Discovery Pass cost $57.90/senior and is good for one year to all Natl. parks and waives those daily entry fees.