Campsite reservations
We just made our reservations for Banff and Jasper for late May 2018. We usually do not make reservations in advance and just fly by the seat of our pants. But this trip seems different, especially th...
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On my trip to Alaska, the only reservations I made ahead of time were for Lake Louise and Denali NP Tek campground. Lake Louise was a few days ahead of time, and I was pretty fortunate to get it as it had rather obviously been a cancellation: it was the only site available anywhere near Banff for quite a span of time. Denali was maybe a week and a half in advance and was getting towards filling up when I made it.
The only places I had any hint of trouble finding a site besides these were Jasper (stayed in overflow camping, which has a great deal of space but limited privacy and amenities) and once in Fairbanks (wanted a place with an RV wash after going over the Dalton Highway), and Dawson City (happened to get there when a music festival was in town, sites were very nearly gone when I got one in town).
In general, you don't have to go a long time in advance, and rarely at all in advance if you're a little bit flexible. I'm not sure how many of the provincial or state parks accept reservations; it's certainly not all of them.
If you don't have a copy, I heartily recommend Churchs' book ("Traveller's Guide to Alaskan Camping") which I found very complete and well-organized and unusually good reading for a campground guidebook.
The only places I had any hint of trouble finding a site besides these were Jasper (stayed in overflow camping, which has a great deal of space but limited privacy and amenities) and once in Fairbanks (wanted a place with an RV wash after going over the Dalton Highway), and Dawson City (happened to get there when a music festival was in town, sites were very nearly gone when I got one in town).
In general, you don't have to go a long time in advance, and rarely at all in advance if you're a little bit flexible. I'm not sure how many of the provincial or state parks accept reservations; it's certainly not all of them.
If you don't have a copy, I heartily recommend Churchs' book ("Traveller's Guide to Alaskan Camping") which I found very complete and well-organized and unusually good reading for a campground guidebook.
