Headed to Alberta - need help!

[Goo]

Hi all. Just getting into planning a July vacation in Alberta and feeling a little overwhelmed. We will only have a week and a half so I want to make the best of it without being rushed. What I'm really interested in are the "must see..." and the "must stay at..." comments. Here's what I have so far...
- We'll be driving from Ontario into Olds, Alberta (my daughter, the equestrian, will be competing there). Thinking of parking the trailer at Red Lodge Provincial Park and making that our home base for the competition.
- Now, here's where my head starts to hurt... option 1 - From Red Lodge, head to Banff / Lake Louise for 2 days before heading to Jasper, or Option 2 - From Red Lodge, take day trip(s) into Banff / Lake Louise, then head to Jasper
- in Jasper - where to stay?? Here in Ontario we prefer Provincial Park camping where we use just electricity. Water and sewer not needed. Trailer is 28' ball to bumper. I see some places have a 24' max restriction 😞 . I'm also thinking that we could spend a week in Jasper as we love trails and scenery. I'm thinking 3 days max if we spend 2 in Banff.
- The kids (12 and 14) want to see West Edmonton Mall, so I'm thinking 2 days at Devon Lions Park. Personally, I'd be OK with skipping WEM and spend more time in Jasper, but I might have a tough time convincing the family of this.
- Last stop will be Dinosaur Provincial Park. Probably 2 days here. The other option for this would be somewhere in Drumheller for similar experience.
So, that's where I'm at. I was also thinking we could do a trip to WEM from Red Lodge, then head to Jasper, Banff, Dinosour PP.

That's it! - other than the 4 day journey home.

Thanks in advance for any advice / opinions!

Pete

[Goo]

Thank you everyone for the tips / suggestions / advice. We will consider it all as we get deeper into our planning.

Pete

[Pipeman]

P Kennedy, we had a great spot in the Big Horn last summer. After we all left and the place was cleaned up, someone came in and decided to rip up a lot of aluminum foil and throw it all over the place. That and garbage was left also. My son in law went back to the same place where we camped for 3 weeks and found that site in the condition I just described. He and his buddies cleaned up the mess. There were a few idiots there who thought the road was a raceway for the quads and side by sides. Not concerned about the other campers there when they raised clouds of dust where you could hardly see. Where we're from, being in the mountains makes you see how very small we are in this world. Hope we can continue to camp out there for quite a while. Hope it's warm up at the Fort. 🙂

[P_Kennedy]

Pipeman people have been abusing the good cheap camping areas for years there are just more of them now to speed up the process. I was actually told by a person one day that it was his right to get drunk, be destructive and not care. Seriously how do you argue with that mentality. If I was coming all that way for a family event I would reduce the driving based on need to see tourist traps and enjoy what is readily available, relaxing and fun. Then I am kind of an idiot when it comes to vacations I believe they should be relaxing, we race around the rest of the year.

[Pipeman]

Like P Kennedy, we have stayed at the Bighorn dam many times. Spent 3 weeks there last summer with our family who live in Edmonton. Hwy 22 is a nice drive, good hwy and you're in the foothills. We stayed in Drumheller last summer for a couple of weeks . We understand that after we left, the big dinosaur in town blew down in a big storm but unconfirmed. We usually start off in the Waterton Park area and then make our way up to either the Big Horn dam area or in Saunders east of Nordegg. There is a small campground in Nordegg. Like P Kennedy we aren't interest in Banff(townsite) what so ever. Too many people for our liking. Waterton Park is much better IMHO. You can go up 93 right to Jasper and around to Edmonton from the Big Horn Dam via hwy 11. Oh by the way there aren't any hook ups of any kind at the Big Horn Dam. If people keep screwing the place up like some did last summer, Alberta Hydro will start charging people to stay there. Do your research on where you want to stay and you'll be fine. Just not a lot of time to do it in. When we were younger we used to drive out there in 3 long days of driving with 3 young kids. I had a month off when we did it so we could spend as much time there as we could. Good luck.

[P_Kennedy]

You don't say where in Ontario, there is a 1300 km difference between Toronto and Thunder Bay to Olds and based on a 80 kph average to accomplish a 1000km total for each day you will be traveling 12-14 hours with no diddling around. there are 3 campgrounds you can use Redwood Lodge, Didbury and Sundre. Sundre has the nicest one next to the river right in town and walking distance to the store. Didsbury is the closest to Olds 11 miles, Sundre 26 miles both on major paved highways. Redlodge is gravel road or pavement if you want to take the long way around. From Sundre you can head north on Hwy 22 to Rocky Mountain House and then west on Hwy 11 and stop at the Bighorn dam for cheap mountain camping next to the dam and lake. From there west to the corner and head north to the Columbia ice fields and camp that night in Jasper. from there you can go east or west depending what you want and time allotted. I like the others avoid Banff except in the off seasons, high prices, mega rude people and no place to park. If you head into BC expect higher prices and lots people July/August and slow traveling. If you really want to see Banff it is 2.25 hours from Sundre and you can be back late that night. Just west from Sundre is white water rafting and horse back riding in the mountains. All the places I told you about will accommodate 30+ trailers. Really depends what you want to see and do on your vacation besides drive.

[Uncle_Rj]

My suggestion would be to go to Red Lodge and do the Olds equestrian event. Day trip to Drumheller and Tyrell Museum from there (1 1/2 hr each way). Then head north for one day in Edmonton. Head to Jasper (Whistler's), then Banff. You'll end up in the south part of the province on the TransCanada for a straight shot home.

Banff can be very busy, but there is a lot to do there. The Tunnel Mountain Campground is right in town and is ok. No fires in most of it though. Your trailer is too long for some of the other campgrounds close to Banff and I wouldn't recommend Lake Louise for the reasons already mentioned.

Bow Valley PP is just outside of Canmore, right on the Bow River and it is nice too.

Keep in mind that the National Parks and Provincial Parks have different booking dates. Banff reservations start April 2, Jasper starts April 1. All provincial parks are usually 90 days before arrival.

[canadafan]

If you really HAVE to go to WEM and get late leaving, try the William A Switzer provincial park about 20km north of Hinton off the Yellowhead highway, the Gregg Lake CG there accepts reservations and there are hook-up's.

There are 3 NP CG's near Jasper that accept reservations and have hook-up's Whistlers (the largest) Wapiti and Wabasso (the smallest) and 16km south of Jasper
Do beware that in July these CG's fill up quickly and I would recommend reservations if you can.

I agree with the railway comments about Lake Louise, if you want to camp on the Bow Valley Parkway between Lake Louise and Banff, Castle Mountain is probably the quietest since it's the furthest from the railway track which runs parallel to the Parkway between these two places.
As an alternative stay at Kicking Horse CG in Yoho NP only about 25km west of Lake Louise on Hwy.1, no hook-up's here but there are showers you MUST get here early as it is very popular and no reservations. If you stay here be sure to visit Emerald Lake and Takakkaw Falls.

Trevor

[crabbin_cabin]

hedge wrote:
I would suggest you go straight west through Nordegg. You could camp there and then go on to Banff and Jasper. Can't stand Banff personally (too busy) but if you've never been you may like it.

I've camped a few times at Red Lodge, I think that's a good choice.

Confusing the Town with the real Park???

[profdant139]

I really agree about the Lake Louise campground -- that was one long night, with the horns waking us every 45 minutes or so. We left after the first night, something we almost never do. Yoho is not too far away (a half hour) and much quieter.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

We used to spend many a week/long weekend covering the areas you speak of in the 90's and typically doing it as a loop.

FWIW: You will likely find heading east from Jasper to Edmonton very laborious and feel long versus going from Edmonton west towards the mountains. That's how we prefer to do it now having done east to west once and hitting Edison and saying "this feels like it's taking forever".

It is not hard to do a loop of Hwy 2 to Edmonton (1.5hrs from Red Deer), West towards Jasper, then south towards Lake Louise, Banff etc. We never slept a minute the one time we stayed at Lake Louise, and left, with match sticks propping eyes open after the first night due to the train noise. You might prefer Canmore and it's surrounds moreso than Banff, but for sure all are worth a quick look see on the short trip you have here as you are passing by. You will come down the Icefields Parkway, worth a short stop/look see and read as it is receding more and more over the years.

We personally like Johnston Canyon area as well IIRC it's off Hwy 1A that kind of arcs from Transcanada and we find much prettier.

Enjoy, we are truly blessed to have such breathtaking scenery to our west.

[trigley]

Red Lodge is OK. Dud to time constraints I would bypass Banff town for Lake Louise. Yes the CG has train noise but IMO LL area is the jewel. Visit Moraine Lake, Takkakaw Falls and Emerald Lake in Yoho.
Take a day trip into Banff if you wish.
Jasper area is beautiful, I much prefer the town as it is smaller & quieter than Banff. whistler CG is a good choice.
I recommend Drumbeller over Dinosaur PP because of the Museum.

[romore]

I agree, I think your schedule is a little unrealistic. You are looking at a minimum of three days each way. From Red Deer I suggest Drumheller. Plan on two days at the Tyrrell museum and the badlands, too much to absorb in a day.
Edit: I just read your second post, you have ten days in the west. That makes a big difference. I suggest 11 to 93 then north to Jasper, the Icefields Parkway is spectacular. Hinton to Edmonton is uninspiring but if it has to be WEM so be it. From there take 21 south to 575 then east It is dead flat, you can see Saskatchewan from there. The road unexpectedly drops into the Red Deer river valley and the badlands. It's another world. Take the ferry the road goes past the museum.

[Goo]

Johnny G1 wrote:
First off that is 36 hrs of hard running just to get to Olds from sw Ontario, and that was running double in a truck that only stopped for fuel and grub. Hard trip for 10 days????

YUP! We're going for our daughter's competition, so we figured if we're going, we should take advantage as best possible. We were thinking we could fly and rent a class C for some, and hotel the rest, but the cost would be 2X that of driving out with the trailer - so we're driving. In total, the trip will be 24 days. Let's just say it'll be an adventure. 🙂 Besides... we have the trailer - may as well use it.

[Johnny_G1]

First off that is 36 hrs of hard running just to get to Olds from sw Ontario, and that was running double in a truck that only stopped for fuel and grub. Hard trip for 10 days????