Banff National Park Travel Forum

We are arriving in Calgary late July and are going to set off up the Icefields Parkway to Jaspar. We have travelled in an R.V in this area before but stayed only at the Lake Louise Campground where you can reserve a site, where there are full hook-ups but which is very busy. I would love to hear some recommendations for picturesque sites to head for along this route. We would like not to travel too far on the day we pick up the r.v and have found Bow Valley Campground. Does anyone know this place? is it a nice ,quite "Provincial Park" type campground or is it a private site?? Any other recommendations very much appreciated. We wont nneed hook ups for the first 2 days.
Thanks Helen (Stephen and 12yr old Stephanie)

If the campground you are referring to is Bow Valley campground located in Kananaskis country then it is a provincial park campground.
Heres the site map.
http://www.bowvalleycampgrounds.com/b-valley/bovalley.pdf
Here's the link to the reservation page.
I highly recommend you make a reservation.
http://gateway.cd.gov.ab.ca/reservationinfo.aspx
You say you don't need hookups for the first few days. All the parks have dump stations, limiting yourself to ones with hookups may limit your options quite a bit. Is there a particular reason you can't dry camp with your RV?
The reason I ask is that I think you would like Columbia icefields campground but there are no hookups. No reservations either so get there early if you want to stay there.
Here is the link to Jasper park campgrounds
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/jasper/visit/visit2_e.asp
And here is the link for Banff campgrounds.
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/visit/visit9b_E.asp

I used to stay at Tunnel mtn in Banff in the winter, but recommend twojacks for a quieter time. If you can get into Columbia Icefields campground, then stay there a couple of days. The hikeing is really spectacular there.

The trick to traveling in this area during the tourist season is to travel a few hours early in the day and find your campsite in the earlier part of the afternoon. It is very busy in July. That having been said you will have a great time I'm sure. Make sure you visit the national park visitor's station in downtown Banff for more up to date info.

We really enjoy camping at Bow Valley Prov Park. It is nicely treed, and quiet. It would be a little less than a 2 hour drive from Calgary in your RV.