2020 Camping thread

[dirtsniffer]

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If you keep traveling on the road sandy mcnabb is on you will get to bluerock campground. No power but a very nice campground which i prefer over sandy as i can fill water and dump in sandy anyways. It is always my sandy backup plan.

Personally I think Sandy has to change their policies sooner than later, every time I head out there its packed with lawn chairs or kids tents holding sites until Friday or Saturday. It has completely turned me off of that site, last year i had to move twice because someone paid for the site but put nothing on it (not even the paid tag) and then boom Saturday morning I'm in an argument with Karen about how she paid for the site Thursday but had "a family emergency" that prevented her from coming out until Saturday.

Ya no doubt it's bullshit. One day im going to snap and steal 20 shity little tents. We haven't made it to blue rock yet. Maybe tomorrow will be the first time

[Kavy]

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Ya no doubt it's bullshit. One day im going to snap and steal 20 shity little tents. We haven't made it to blue rock yet. Maybe tomorrow will be the first time

Im in on that, I have thought about driving around that site on a Thursday and take all the single chairs and tarps hung over tables and pile them at the entrance. FCFS should always be sleeping quarters like a tent, trailer or vehicle. An iron man $4 kids lawn chair should not act as an impenetrable barrier in the reservation process.

[Brent.ff]

Good reason to go full booking on all these sites..? Though its been a bit nuts how many sites are empty while fully booked. I'd say every weekend ive been out that is 'fully booked', has probably 10-20% sites open.

Was talking to my wife about it, and i think people are just fine with losing ~$70-80. It's pretty much the equivalent cost of going out wednesday and leaving a iron man chair for 2 nights, but without having to go out. Be nice to have a bit of a blacklist on booking if you dont cancel or provide notice you wont show. It's nuts to have that many sites empty when people are getting turned around as 'campground full'

[FraserB]

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Good reason to go full booking on all these sites..? Though its been a bit nuts how many sites are empty while fully booked. I'd say every weekend ive been out that is 'fully booked', has probably 10-20% sites open.

Was talking to my wife about it, and i think people are just fine with losing ~$70-80. It's pretty much the equivalent cost of going out wednesday and leaving a iron man chair for 2 nights, but without having to go out. Be nice to have a bit of a blacklist on booking if you dont cancel or provide notice you wont show. It's nuts to have that many sites empty when people are getting turned around as 'campground full'

In theory, the booking system should be re-opening the sites once the check in window is missed, but I put this more on the campground attendants not doing the updates. Combine that with people not wanting to try and find a spot online on a Friday afternoon, get their trailer and go out for two nights at the last minute.

[nzwasp]

How accurate do you think Alberta Parks are with their campsite measurements?
I just booked a crimson lake 21-30ft spot and from the pictures the spot looks way bigger than the Bow valley 31-40 ft spot I had a couple of weeks ago where I only just could barely fit my trailer and car (backing into it was almost impossible due to how tight the spaces were, I needed to manuever in my across neighbors driveway just to get into the spot.

This one looks wide enough that I can just park my car next to the trailer instead of infront of the trailer. My trailer is 23ft - SUV is prob 10ft

[Tik-Tok]

They are terrible with their guesstimates. My last spot was for "21 to 30 feet including tow vehicle". My truck and trailer together are 42', and I still had well over 10' to spare.

[ExtraSlow]

Those are minimums, and not accurate measurements. Different parks measure differently.

[black300]

We rented an RV from Canadream and are heading to Vancouver through Fernie etc.

Anything that is a must bring with these rental RVs? Any recommended places to visit while on the way. We are thinking to spend 4 nights before we reach Vancouver.

[finboy]

Lower lake was a bit locked down due to bears in the area, honestly inter lakes has better location in proximity to the lake imo. Next up is sibbald on sept 11, looking forward to getting out of town again.

[FraserB]

Headed out tomorrow for a week. Decided to work from the trailer while WFH is still a thing

[Brent.ff]

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Lower lake was a bit locked down due to bears in the area, honestly inter lakes has better location in proximity to the lake imo. Next up is sibbald on sept 11, looking forward to getting out of town again.

Interlakes is the best campground in K country, but good luck getting a spot unless you wanna head out on a Wednesday, or are retired

[finboy]

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Interlakes is the best campground in K country, but good luck getting a spot unless you wanna head out on a Wednesday, or are retired

My biggest annoyance this year is that a lot of the first come first serve sites have been moved to reservation.

[ExtraSlow]

Just got back from Dutch Creek. Had. Incredible good weather. Didn't get one of the 5 best spots along the river, but still got a really nice huge spot. It was no less than 80 feet deep.
Kids spent all day every day playing in the creek.

[prae]

We headed out to hwy 66 expecting to snag a FCFS spot on Thursday afternoon only to find all non-reserved spots full. Lucked out with a last minute cancellation at Little Elbow.

Great area with lots to do. Forget me not pond was absolutely mobbed on Saturday.

[Kloubek]

Headed to Caresland this weekend. It is a fcfs campground but it was full so the manager opened C group camping area for us. We had a while group camping spot to ourselves. Other parties came, but they were so far away it was awesome. We even kept the dog off leash so he was pretty happy.

Took this shot even before we set up. Barely had time to open the awning before the skies opened up.

[prae]

Great shot! Looks like a nice spot.

[The Cosworth]

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Headed to Caresland this weekend. It is a fcfs campground but it was full so the manager opened C group camping area for us. We had a while group camping spot to ourselves. Other parties came, but they were so far away it was awesome. We even kept the dog off leash so he was pretty happy.

Took this shot even before we set up. Barely had time to open the awning before the skies opened up.

How does that jeep tow the trailer? My trailer is a bit bigger, not by much, and I tow it with a heavy half.

[ExtraSlow]

Was down at Dutch Creek for the weekend and here's my area-wide report.
1) there are vastly more people random camping this year compared to last. Easily 2x at the more accessible places close to the main road.
2) paid fcfs campsites seemed only slightly busier than usual. Still good spots open until at least noon Friday, and a couple smaller or less desirable sites that didn't fill up at Dutch. Racehorse had open sites all weekend.

Those of you complaining about the fcfs shitshow near Calgary might enjoy life a little more of you drove an extra 60 minutes down the road.

Weather was awesome. Kids played in the creek for hours each day. I had a great trip.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Mildly applicable to this thread...
Look at the size of this fucking bug that I murdered while somewhat camping-ish!!¡!¡!



That's a clover flower for size comparison. I think it was either a horse fly or a deer fly? Imagine the bite that slut would've given!

[FraserB]

FCFS out at Carseland is starting to get more and more people out this morning. Even last night had a decent amount of people already here