Camping west of Calgary

[snoop101]

Hey all.
Looking for a nice area to camp maybe 2 hours (normal driving) from Calgary going west.

Dont want to camp in a camp ground and prefer somewhere away from others, like a creek or something. The shitty part is, is that we have a car, so its going to be tough to find something like that. Were from BC so there you can go down a dirt road and find small areas along side creeks everywhere. Anyways if anyone has some ideas please share and i'll look it up on google maps.

[ExtraSlow]

Places within two hours of calgary that are car accessible and "not a campground" are going to be tough.

You aren't permitted to do random camping in many areas. You could try the forest reserve around waiprous, but there aren't many spots that are near the main road and decent. Most of those places are beat to shit.

I know what you mean about BC though. I do most of my camping near invermere just to get away from the idiots.

[rinny]

Highway 22 south to Highway 532 west. Camp in the permitted zones on the side of the road, many of which are near creeks etc.

Keep going on the 532 and meet up with the south leg of the forestry trunk road. Follow this south, many places along the trunk road for both pay and non pay. Google maps it. Livingstone falls, other areas down there for fishing and other outdoor activities.

[snoop101]

Originally posted by rinny
Highway 22 south to Highway 532 west. Camp in the permitted zones on the side of the road, many of which are near creeks etc.

Keep going on the 532 and meet up with the south leg of the forestry trunk road. Follow this south, many places along the trunk road for both pay and non pay. Google maps it. Livingstone falls, other areas down there for fishing and other outdoor activities.

I see 532 on the map and it runs into the #40/range rd 41a. I assume anywhere along there. Unfortunately google maps only zooms in so far.

[ExtraSlow]

Buy the backroad mapbook from MEC or maptown. That will help you a lot. Google maps sucks for rural Canada.

[Kloubek]

Crap I wish I remembered the name of the place. It's not that far out; before Banff, and past the gas station on your right some 20 minutes out of town. There is an off ramp to the right, it goes down a bit almost parallel to the highway, then heads left (south) under the #1. Then some 20-30 minutes down that direction it is on the right hand side.

It was a decent place I was at a few years ago; made more decent by the fact it is fairly close. The name of the campsite(I believe) was the same name on the sign as you turn off from the highway. Anyone know what it is called?

[GQBalla]

2 jack????

[Kloubek]

Nope. I'm planning a trip to Kamloops soon - so I'll take a look then. (Not that will help the OP, but it will ease my curiosity)

[a social dsease]

Fallen Timber/Burnt Timber Rec Area. Take Hwy 22 north of Cochrane for about 45 mins until you go past the town of Cremona. The turnoff is a couple kms after the town. Follow the road for about 20kms, until you go past the gas plant. You can go as far as you want and camp pretty much anywhere for free. Should be fine in a car, I took my Integra there several times.

[B_Tran]

Cataract Creek is my favorite. if you go a bit further you'll hit Livingstone Falls.

The layout of Cataract Creek is nice and it doesn't get too busy. Nice creek and there's a hike to Cataract Falls you can do.

[Quiet10]

Originally posted by Kloubek
Crap I wish I remembered the name of the place. It's not that far out; before Banff, and past the gas station on your right some 20 minutes out of town. There is an off ramp to the right, it goes down a bit almost parallel to the highway, then heads left (south) under the #1. Then some 20-30 minutes down that direction it is on the right hand side.

It was a decent place I was at a few years ago; made more decent by the fact it is fairly close. The name of the campsite(I believe) was the same name on the sign as you turn off from the highway. Anyone know what it is called?

Does it have a gravel road some ways down south?
I think the one I went to a few summers ago was called Sibbald Lake and it sounds exactly as you describe the directions... :dunno:

[Ben]

Great places in here that are fine for cars.

http://www.campingalberta.com/highcountry/hwood.html