Camping season is nearly upon us (yeah, right… still have a foot of snow outside my door) and I’m starting to get the itch to get planning my camping trips for the summer.
Okay, the facts:
I have a little 197-something 12-foot camper.
I’m hoping to have a pickup by then, but if I don’t, I’ll probably be limited to near Grande Prairie for yet another year ( we’re currently pulling the camper with a CX-7, which I find slightly inadequate.)
It would be myself, my fiancee, and our 3 1/2 year old son, as well as our small dogs.
A serviced lot would be nice, but not a necessity. We can run our fridge on propane, and we have battery-powered lanterns. As well, we should be getting a small generator by this summer.
I’d love to find some campgrounds with private lots, surrounded by large trees.
So far, we have trips planned to:
Gwillim Lake, BC (halfway between Tumbler Ridge and Chetwynd)
Pierre Greys Lakes, AB (a bit south of Grande Cache)
Possibly Moonshine Lake, AB, just west of Spirit River. This is probably the most disposable of the three, to make room for more epic trips and adventures.
So, do any of you have campgrounds in Alberta or northern BC, that you’ve absolutely fallen in love with? Share them, please!
How far are you from Muncho Lake? I was there 20 years back and camped at a lightly wooded, lakeside place called Strawberry Flats and the experience is indelibly etched in my mind. It was May and there was snow on the upper reaches of the mountains across the lake. The evening was quiet, no wind and you had a perfect mirror image of the mountains in the lake’s reflection. I had a tent and campfire and hadn’t seen nor heard any vehicle pass in many hours.
Some time around midnight I awoke to a strange sound. It was a light ‘tinkling’ coming from the lake but not just in one direction… it was as if it surrounded me. I realized that a very light wind had come up and it was gently pushing small little pieces of ice from the far side of the lake across and past me. The tinkles were stereophonic and I sat mesmerized looking out at the most beautiful moonlight alpine view and heavenly sound. It was an experience I’ll never, ever forget.
I haven’t been back there in all this time. I hope it’s still exactly as I remember it.
lieu, that sounds absolutely amazing, but unfortunately, it’s about 10 hours away, according to Google Maps.
For this year, at least, we’d like to keep our trips to within 4-5 hours away from GP, although perhaps farther heading south… maybe as far as Drumheller (our rugrat loves dinosaurs.)
Eventually, I’d love to check out places much farther away, such as Muncho Lake, and beyond, into the territories. I think it’d be awesome to celebrate the summer solstice in Yellowknife, for example.
This won’t help the OP at all, but speaking of that region, years back when I was a student with a summer job planting trees our crew was driving from Prince George to Grand Prairie. Because highways 97 & 43 describe a sort of broad arc around Tumbler Ridge, over the course of a few hours we passed 3 signs pointing to the right and announcing Tumbler Ridge, 96km. The rest of the summer we joked about Tumbler Ridge being a geographical constant - wherever you are, you’re 96km from Tumbler Ridge.
I’m not even sure you can get there, since even if you’re right in Tumbler Ridge, you’re 96km away.
I’ll definitely have to look into these two parks.
A couple others I’ve looked at and am interested in checking out this summer; Carson-Pegasus, near Whitecourt, as well as Musreau Lake, about 80km south of GP.
We’re also looking at a trip into BC this summer and will likely head over to the Parks area. While I’ve driven through BC several times, I’ve never really stopped to camp in public campgrounds, just RV stops along the Alcan Highway. I do know that (at least in the Yukon) public campgrounds are stocked with free firewood and are very well maintained.
Another option to look in to - BC Hydro maintains some minimal service free campgrounds in some areas of the province. They are usually near the dams, but they are usually treed, graveled, have a picnic table and campfire containment, and there is often somewhere closeby where you can buy firewood. First come, first serve though.
When we drove from Calgary to Yellowknife a couple of summers ago, we stopped for a while at Lesser Slave Lake, and while we didn’t camp there, it looked like a beautiful place that we would really like to get back to again some day. Maybe you can go camp there and let us know how it goes.
