Motorhoming in Canada

[territhe2ts]

Hi,

My partner and I are planning to hire a motorhome for a road trip from Calgary to Vancouver via Kootenay National Park in September 2019. Ideally we would like to have flexibility, i.e. not having to book up sites in advance, and to be able to use some of the free recreation/wilderness sites. We would like some advice/tips on:

which hire company to use

ease of wild camping, and access to water and dump stations

anything else that might be relevant!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Will86]

Welcome to the forum, two strangers.

 

My first thought was the weather, second your interest in free camping. Some areas might be restricted due to bears, if like the US there may be primitive sites with earth toilets which can be of a higher altitude where its very much colder at night.

 

Your chosen route is a well traveled one where organised overnight stops may be an essential part of the route. If you choose a well known camping brand on your first night then they can usually book ahead.

 

Renting is big business, we used Cruise America and documented all the vehicle errors resulting in forward discounts by acting business like.

 

There's plenty of info on line, do your research.

[colin]

Don't think there will be any problem with not booking sites, iirc we used west coast campers.

[weldted]

Join the campgrounds of Canada KOA. Travel the ice fields parkway, visit the Abathsa Glacier. Basic sites around 12/15 dollars. We had a 23 ft V10 petrol avg 9 mpg.

[territhe2ts]

Thanks for your helpful comments Will86. It's not necessarily free camping we're after, but "off the beaten track" campsites. I have discovered that some of these recreation sites are usually down gravel tracks, and maybe not the place to take a hire vehicle! Ah well, think again.

[territhe2ts]

Thanks Colin, will take a look at west coast campers.

[yeti]

We rented from Canadream and picked up a free KOA sites guide at our first site also Walmart let you freecamp on their carparks-but ask in customer service first and buy fro them.

[Will86]

We used KOA sites in the US very helpful staff. They were usually beside water where Midges thrive, not sure about further north but give it some thought for repellent sprays. We found that if unbooked when arriving at a site they never turned us away but there were no electrics.

 

[alan k]

We went to British Columbia in early June 2014 as part of a longer trip, which was organised for us by Trailfinders, hotels, flights, motorhome hire etc.

We picked up our motorhome in Vancouver, Cruise Canada a big lazy V8 automatic, very wide, and uprated free from a smaller one because we were early in the season. We set off along the USA border and found campsites along the way. The very first just outside Vancouver was immense, drive in one way pitches, hook up everything and it cost a fortune but we'd just picked up the camper , filled it with food and needed an easy afternoon.

WE continued along the border more or less visiting old towns and picking the brains of the local shopkeepers for places to stay and what to see. We were heading generally for Banff but not sure what route to take. We travelled through the Okanagan Valley, famous for wine and food and stopped at a couple of recommended (for food and wine) places We passed through Revelstoke a major train town and then over the Rogers Pass. Alot of our overnight stops were by the river and the railway, marked out gravel areas with elec hookup. water was plentiful, we had large black and grey tanks and managed a week or so before dumping at a large campsite.

WE used the Forest park campsites as well, we were unable to use the fire pits, you could buy a fir e license and the rough wood, but we needed an axe to chop it up, and thought that was pushing things a bit far! The areas around Banff was great, and then we travelled up the Bow Valley parkway and then went up "the narrow and twisty alpine road" to Lake Louise. A bit like going over a major route through the Alps, wide enough for two lanes each way. But then the Americans and Canadians don't seem to like roads with bends.

Lake Louise was still frozen and the mountains were stunning. The early time of year meant that the snow restricted alot of the walking trails from the ski centres. The Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Glacier were stunning.

Jasper still looked a frontier town, lots to see in 2 full days there and then we headed west past Canada's highest peak and then south west along the Fraser and Thompson rivers, along the rivers that were used to explore this vast area. Kamloops has an interesting history and is still a major transport hub.

Whistler, site of winter Olympics past and where all the tours go ( for cheap summer hotels it seems and mountain biking) was abit of a disappointment, very Disney Like which is not out thing

Further on to Squamish and an old copper mine for the first 50 years of its life access was by sea up the inlet, until a road was built in 1958, and the ore was dug several thousand feet above in the mountains and the copper produced down by the coast.

On again and back to Vancouver, 2 weeks later and after handing back the camper we headed over to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island to meet Family and continue our trip.

We were traveling outside peak season, but the Park Campsite was nearly full at the weekend in Jasper, its worth asking the advice of Hire Companies about booking campsites and which ones they think should be booked. We added 3 nights to the itinerary suggested for our trip, otherwise there's an awful lot of driving and not much time to get out of the camper. WE saw all the major wildlife at least once, mainly from the camper

Have a brill trip, they all speak our lingo, are fascinated by our accents and are only to willing to give help and advice along the way, cheers

[gdf]

Not seen this posted yet BUT the bears can move much much faster than you expect. We were on a guided tour and saw one start to move - wow - it took off! Also beware the ones with humps between the shoulder blades - they are the grizzlies and they do come down to the road and tourists don't treat then with respect.

[monique.hubrechtsgm]

And i think that their motor homes are a size bigger than ours.

[Curly]

Hi we have toured Canada through to Alaska, wanted to travel the Alaska Highway did every inch of 1422 miles but we actually did over 6000 miles.

We hired the 5th time Cruise America, why because they were so helpful for what we wanted in the RV, we flew into Seattle and dropped of in Anchorage Alaska the reason being we wanted to do a one way trip and you can only pickup and drop off in America states which absolutely perfect for us, never had to book a single site and the wilderness sites are amazing, dump stations are every where but completely different from Europe, this will be explained when picking up the RV.

JUST GO FOR IT

CURLY