Originally Posted by
gauvins
So... Restrooms were functional in national/provincial parks? That's good news.
Booking for car camping (I.e an official site) was extremely difficult in our experience this summer. Do you know if there are hike and bike sites available?
Ah.. you bring up a good point I forgot about.
The online booking system for the NP's is a serious cluster ***k. We had nothing but problems with it and I confess to a couple of swearing fits as a result. Even the park employees in the booth couldn't work it for us to book in advance.
With a lot of trial and error we managed to book two notes out of 14 in advance and just winged it for the rest, checking for cancelations each morning. On a bike they will almost always find room for you though. Banff has no hiker biker sites perse, just normal sites. Whistlers campground in Jasper had one but that campground was closed this year for major renovations. Wapiti had normal sites but a designated bike/hike loop close to the entrance.
If that fails, and one is only passing through and not staying multiple nights, there are overflow camp site parking lots in each NP where you can stay for free. No running water or fires but an outhouse and you can pitch a tent. I used them for a couple of nights on my last trip as they put me closer to next day activities.
You can Google maps Snaring Overflow for Jasper NP and Lake Louise Overflow for Banff. Yoho and Kootenay NPs had more space available as it was.