Jasper and Banff in three weeks without reservations

luckyd wrote:
Be aware that there is NO LEGAL BOONDOCKING IN
NATIONAL PARKS. (unless posted)

Yep, but Hinton has legal dry camping in the parking lot of the Walmart-Safeway shopping center. We did it on our way from Grand Cache to Jasper when we arrived a day earlier than our reservations for Whistler's began. Hinton is a great place to do laundry, get some groceries, eat some restaurant food, and fuel up before going into the national park--all which we did during our one-day stopover.

holstein13 wrote:

We will be sure to make reservations well in advance if we decide to go up.

Well in advance is early January when the booking site opens up. I was a week late this year and had to re-jig my plans as the sites I wanted were full.

Thanks for the details on Snaring overflow.
Highway 16 goes east rather than north of Jasper and you turn left, north, to get to the campsite.

jdocter7 wrote:
IF you can dry camp, the Lake Louise overflow lot is an option for you, but it did fill up the night we used it a few nights ago. We arrived early in the day, parked and drove around in our tow car. Lake Louise is inundated with visitors these days...

Here's an overflow camping spot north of Jasper that might work for you:
Snaring Campground Overflow
Dry camping
$15.70 CAD
Vault toilet/trash bins/iron ranger
Large rock area that can hold a couple hundred rigs of all sizes-may have to wiggle to avoid a bush or two. Easy to level, shade available. Fabulous mountain views, near Snaring River. We also saw tents pitched here. Off of Hwy 16 about 11 miles north of town of Jasper on west side. Good signs-easy off and on, good side roads. Go for a drive and look for wildlife--we spotted black bear, elk, bighorn sheep, bald eagle and golden eagle all in one evening!

No reservations needed! Good luck!

Thanks for the great Snaring tip. Been looking for a spot at about that point. About the last week in May 2017 we will be going from Golden BC up over to Lake Louise then up through Jasper then over to Hinton to take the 40 through Grande Cache and on to Grande Prairie. Question: That early in the season should we expect the possibility of to much snow on the ground or bad icy road conditions on any part of the described route? --- Our first RV trip to Alaska for 3 months.

IF you can dry camp, the Lake Louise overflow lot is an option for you, but it did fill up the night we used it a few nights ago. We arrived early in the day, parked and drove around in our tow car. Lake Louise is inundated with visitors these days...

Here's an overflow camping spot north of Jasper that might work for you:
Snaring Campground Overflow
Dry camping
$15.70 CAD
Vault toilet/trash bins/iron ranger
Large rock area that can hold a couple hundred rigs of all sizes-may have to wiggle to avoid a bush or two. Easy to level, shade available. Fabulous mountain views, near Snaring River. We also saw tents pitched here. Off of Hwy 16 about 11 miles north of town of Jasper on west side. Good signs-easy off and on, good side roads. Go for a drive and look for wildlife--we spotted black bear, elk, bighorn sheep, bald eagle and golden eagle all in one evening!

No reservations needed! Good luck!

Just Posted......
Banff has found many people "boondocking" on
the streets, day use only areas, parks, etc.
Fines of up to $5000.00 for this type of camping.

Be aware that there is NO LEGAL BOONDOCKING IN
NATIONAL PARKS. (unless posted)

Don't want to derail the thread, but if you want to camp, Parks Canada has some equipped camping options available.

This time I'm wimping out and using luxury accommodations! I'll definitely keep these in mind for the future, though. Thanks!

Crowe wrote:
The Parks are very busy this year given the exchange rate.

That's one of the reasons why we are going there at the end of August and why we went to BC last year. We camped in both Banff & Jasper a loooong time ago in a tent. This year we are staying at Patricia Lake Bungalows in Jasper and in a condo in Canmore (just outside Banff). My hunch is I just might miss the tent as we shared the campground with a small herd of female elk and their babies (was the first week of September) during our previous visit. Of course, we woke up to snow-yup snow, just after Labor Day-so NOT being in a tent might be a good thing.

Don't want to derail the thread, but if you want to camp, Parks Canada has some equipped camping options available.

Parks Canada Link

The Parks are very busy this year given the exchange rate.

That's one of the reasons why we are going there at the end of August and why we went to BC last year. We camped in both Banff & Jasper a loooong time ago in a tent. This year we are staying at Patricia Lake Bungalows in Jasper and in a condo in Canmore (just outside Banff). My hunch is I just might miss the tent as we shared the campground with a small herd of female elk and their babies (was the first week of September) during our previous visit. Of course, we woke up to snow-yup snow, just after Labor Day-so NOT being in a tent might be a good thing.

I just drove through Banff National Park on Monday night. There was LOTS of space in the Lake Louise overflow. Keep in mind that it is just a gravel parking lot with no services. Even though it is close to the highway, it is probably quieter than the main Lake Louise campground as it is right beside the railway tracks.

Also, you can get spots in some of the other campgrounds during the week as long as you don't mind moving every night or two.

The Parks are very busy this year given the exchange rate. There are more Americans coming to Canada and us Canadians are staying here!