IPassGas

We would like to tour/camp the icefields parkway some time in July, banff/jasper and back. Seems like campgrounds are often full. Do we need to book campgrounds more a month ahead of time?

mev

Do you have any fixed dates, e.g. either arrival or departure days - or is your arrival/departure variable and you might have some late flexibility on when you arrive/depart?

I don't know the current situation but it was also quite busy when I cycled through in mid-August 2016 and may have gotten worse. I was coming from down the Cassier/Yellowhead highways and didn't know until shortly before exactly when I might arrive but I did have some flexibility to shift a day or two depending on what was available. In my case, I ended with a mixture of campground and hostels. I made my reservations a few days before entering the parks and did have to slide by a day from what I otherwise would have done. So I didn't have flexibility to change from day-to-day but did make my reservations a week before cycling through.

Again, I don't know how much of a zoo it will be this summer - but depending on the first question above, I would at least:
= If my arrival date is fixed, I would go ahead and make reservations pretty far in advance and be slightly conservative so I could still react to a day of inclement weather, etc.
= If my arrival date is unknown, I would at least anticipate waiting until the arrival date was more certain and also expect I might have to adjust my timing depending on campground availability and/or look at hostels as well as campgrounds.

What I wouldn't do is expect to wild camp in the park - both not allowed and also unwise.

Also not July but that first Canada Day weekend (June 29/30) and the Civic Holiday (August 3/4) I would anticipate even busier than an already busy July - https://www.canpay.com/payroll-infor...-holidays.html

gauvins

I was in Jasper a 3 years ago. Couldn't book in advance because not clear I would be on schedule. Campgrounds were full, overflows as well, there are no provisions for hike&bike and the overflow looked like a refugee camp. I ended up setting my tent in the bushes, in a corner of the overflow, and was very lucky to be able to secure a room at the Youth Hostel for the following night

So, not obvious what's the best course of action other than booking far in advance.

Kananaskis (south of Banff) is much quieter. Perhaps plan something other than the overwhelmingly popular Jasper Banff stretch -- rent a car for a day to see what's left of the glaciers, assuming that there are no major forest fires at that time...

IPassGas

Thank you for the information/feedback. We have backpacked the parks for weeks when younger, but our (now) older knees have a tough time with the weight. So hoping to bike tour/camp. Such a beautiful area to be in, but the campground hassle puts us off. 'Tis ok, many other beautiful areas to tour where we can camp without a firm schedule.

Yan 

We arrived in Jasper last year on Canada Day, camped two nights, then biked down to Banff. Every campground we showed up at had hiker/biker sites available. We never reserved ahead, just showed up each evening.

Norts

I contacted Parks Canada in January this year as I will be riding the Parkway in June,this was part of their reply
"Whistler’s campground does have a loop of sites that are specifically for visitors who are in the park with no vehicle. These sites are only available on a first-come first-serve basis, no reservations would be available."
"Additionally, Jasper National Park has several self-registration, first come first served campsites along the Icefields Parkway and one on Highway 16. These campgrounds can only be reserved on arrival, in-person, at their self-registration kiosk. Checkout time for guests leaving the campgrounds and earliest arrival is 11am."

Roger

northerntier

We were told by park rangers (2017) that they would never turn away touring cyclists, and that was our experience.