Alaska, Banff and Jasper?

[richm]

Originally Posted by skiman

... I am struggling with wether to include Banff and Jasper in the route. I don’t have any reservations there currently and it strikes me as a busy place. ...?

I was researching this area today, and ran across information that looks very different from what I found last fall.

The USA has free camping on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. Similarly, Canada has free camping for Canadian residents on Crown Lands. However, it is not free for non-residents. Previously, as far as I am aware, non-residents required a $10 per night per person permit.

It looks like Alberta has started offering an annual pass for camping on Alberta Crown Lands. Their web site now shows an annual fee of 30 CAD per calendar year per person for both residents and non-residents. It was $41.21 CAD after fees and taxes when I got one online today.

Crown Lands Annual Camping Pass: https://www.alberta.ca/public-lands-...-pass.aspx#buy

Alberta Crown Lands map: https://www.alberta.ca/assets/docume...-pass-area.pdf

[Ron in BC]

This is a non-issue in BC. We have thousands of miles of what are called Forest Service Roads. If you want to find a place to pull over and camp no one is ever going to come by and ask for money etc.

The main alternative to Provincial Parks is what's called BC Recreation Sites. There are over 600 of them ranging from extreme boondocking to walks like a duck but looks just like a provincial park. Fees range from free to less than $20.

They're our first choice for camping in BC.

Ron

[AnJ]

I didn’t have time to read all of the responses, but we were just there last week. The Icefields Parkway drive between Lake Louise and Jasper is considered one of the best drives in the world! Everything is more snow covered than normal this year. Peyto Lake was very much covered in ice and snow, as was Bow Lake. Still many great things to see even the scenery with the drive or accessing the pullouts on the side of the road. The Wapiti Campground in Jasper has unlevel sites but was mostly empty. Whistler looked like a nicer campground if you can get in. There are some campgrounds along the Parkway that are first come first served I believe. There’s also a paved parking lot at the Icefields Centre at the halfway point that I believe you can camp at- but it’s literally an RV parking lot. It is better to do it Jasper to Lake Louise as most of the stops are on that side of the highway, but it will be busier as summer arrives. Some areas have flood warnings right now. It was well worth it to go. Some of the less popular stops, such as Goats and Glaciers, Herbert Lake, etc. were much less busy and a nice place to pause. Allow a full day. Try to camp on the Parkway or close to Lake Louise to get an early start ahead of the crowds. Banff is a good 45-60 minutes away. You will need a Parks Pass from Parks Canada to access any of the national parks. Enjoy your trip!!

[Akfishman]

We droveup to Alaska late May early June this year. Will be here until mid sept. We drove up the Cassiar
with little to no traffic. We will return via the Alaska highway in sept and hope Jasper and Banf will have seen the worst of the tourist crush. As a side note, there were plenty of places to camp along the way and the provincial campgrounds are a first come first serve for the most part and are some of the nicest campgrounds we have ever seen. A tip, get there by 3pm to find a spot, a lot of folks show up late in the afternoon as they don’t want to quit driving too early. With the exchange rate our gas in Canada averaged 6.01/gal which was only 50 cents more than Alaska and 2$ less than L.A.! Teslin lake and Kluane Lake in the Yukon had great provincial campgrounds on the cassiar. If you head to the Kenai penninsul in Alaska
Check out the Beachcomber motel and RV park in Ninilchik. It’s on the beach and we were the only ones there. We stayed there and took our TV down to Homer a 30 min jaunt and we’re happy we did, as the Homer spit was so crowded there was no place to park,

[rajenkins]

You will likely get a different answer for every response you receive. The amount of time you need will be dependent on what you want to do and how you like to do it. Our first time driving down the Cassiar Hwy, the weather sucked. That was a 37 day trip (https://twohikers.smugmug.com/Alaska...htoAlaska2012/ ) So the next time we were driving from Alaska to Bozeman, we repeated the Cassiar and the weather was way more cooperative ( https://twohikers.smugmug.com/Alaska...aldez-to-Home/ ) We found Banff to be a bit crazy. You can always go back in a less popular time of year.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by AnJ

I didn’t have time to read all of the responses, but we were just there last week. The Icefields Parkway drive between Lake Louise and Jasper is considered one of the best drives in the world!

It sure is.

[AKCamper]

Originally Posted by G.D.S.

Another beautiful spot to camp along the Cassiar highway is called Sawmill Point recreation site. It is a free site a little way north of the town of Dease Lake. Watch for the small sign and then a narrow winding road in, but so worth it! We camped right on the shore and ended up staying an extra 2 days because it was such a beautiful spot. A delicious meal of fresh caught Lake trout was a bonus!

I love that little campground too. I’ve spent many nights camped twenty feet from the water I think there are an ten spots and at least one outhouse

[skiman]

Spent the last 5 Days at Banff and Jasper. Many animals and beautiful. Way too crowded for my taste. We are now sitting in the Northern Lights campground at Dawson Creek. Mile zero launch in the morning! This lady elk greeted myself and Annie the Lab at our trailer the other morning at Whistler Campground. There was a whole herd near the amphitheater the next day.

[skiman]

How do I fix orientation?

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by skiman

How do I fix orientation?

You can't change the orientation within this software. You need to change it before you upload it here. BTW IF you take your photos in landscape mode, they'll be the correct orientation.