Visiting Canada 2017-150 year anniversary of national parks

[S-n-L]

Hello everyone,

We are thinking about a visit to Canada this coming spring and summer. My concern is with the anniversary of the National Park system and free entrance will the parks be crazy busy? We are thinking of visiting the Canadian Rocky area and western Canada.

We do not have to visit in 2017 and can put it off for another year. I would love to hear any thoughts on this. Do you think this coming season will be much busier than normal or no big deal?

Thanks for your input,

Stuart & Leslie

[FLY_4_FUN]

We mostly do Jasper, and to us its usually quite busy for booking campsites. Once your there its pretty busy in town, and at the popular falls/rivers/hot springs etc. Once you get off the beaten path to hikes/bikes/etc you can find yourself quite alone in the wilderness....so don't let the fact that it may be "busier" deter you.

enjoy...

Daryll

[Powder_pig]

Apparently this year in Banff/Lake Louise was the busiest year ever and that is with paid park passes. Next year with free entrance passes will be busier again but I suspect if you are willing to spend minimal time in the Lake Louise/Banff/Morraine lake area and the immediate Jasper area you would still find it a good experience. There are many smaller unserviced campgrounds, for example, along the Icefields Parkway and it is easier to get space in these since so many parks users are either looking to stay in Banff or Jasper or are looking for serviced sites.

There are no private RV parks in the Canadian National Parks though there are a few outside of the Park gates. As others have said, if you are willing to avoid July and August you should be okay. Having said that, we stayed at Lake Louise campground in September this year (we did not have reservations and did get in) and spent 45 minutes driving around the Lake Louise parking lot looking for a space so we could go hiking. Eventually we gave up and hiked at Bow lake instead so there will be crowds in September in the really popular places.

[SideHillSoup]

I was just going to add the point that iit is Canada's 150th Birthday, and like the above post said it's going to be busy everywhere in Canada especially on July 1, 2017, and that weekend, Which is Canada's Birthday (150)
I know the private campground we seasonal at already had bookings for next July 1st weekend made in July 2016....
it's going to be a busy year... and more so on July 1st.
Soup.

[Community Alumni]

It's not just the parks system, it's the country's 150 birthday. So there'll be a lot going on. Here in Ottawa they are adding six or seven "campgrounds" inside the city to help with the demand they expect for RV spaces.

It should be a great party!

[rwbradley]

Many of our best National Parks are not exactly on the beaten path. You will not see crowds like Yosemite or Mount Rushmore up here, Canada busy is no where near as busy as USA busy (no disrespect, we just have way less people). Ya some campgrounds will be full, and some trails will be busy. I went to PEI National Park during a county music festival (by mistake) and yes it was busy and wrist bands were in effect and it was full but well behaved. I would make reservations but I would not invest in riot gear 🙂

[S-n-L]

I am more concerned with the day use as I want to avoid very busy parks and trails. As far as rv parks I would make a reservation in advance. I would assume most rv parks in this area get full in any given year.

Stuart

[Jack_Diane_Free]

The free passes are for day use only.

[Byrogie]

If you don't like the crowds, then I would put it off, although July/August and long weekends are very busy any year.
May/June and even September are less crowded and still very nice...