maddoigs

Hi all - I used this forum a few months ago to start planning family holiday in BC. I have followed many threads, many from Judy_in_Calgary and have perused her websites. I have come up with a rough itinerary and wonder if anyone might care to comment on it. We are a family of four (11 and almost 7yr old) and are renting a 25' campervan.
We arrive in Calgary late on Sunday 22nd July and have four weeks in Canada.
Our plans are as follows:
Monday 23rd Quick tour up Calgary Tower, pick up van, drive to Okotoks to see friends.
Tues 24th Leave Okotoks to drive to Banff ?pre-book Tunnel Mountain site. Maybe time for gondola in afternoon.
Wed 25th. Johnstone Canyon in morning ?Lake Louise in afternoon.
Thurs 26th Around Banff am -where to go?, head to Golden PM
Fri 27th. Gentle river rafting with Canadian Whitewater Adventures on Kicking Horse. Explore on way back towards Banff or north of Banff in afternoon.
Sat 28th Head for iceway early and stop off at glacier. Is it possible to stay overniht half way to Jasper or do we have to drive all the way there?
Sun 29th Explore round Jasper ?maybe Meitte hots springs
Mon 30th Jasper environs - any suggestions?
Tues 31st July - Thursday 2nd Aug heading for Whistler - any suggestions?
Friday 3rd - Sunday 5th in and around Whistler - zipwire appeals to us all. Nothing booked - should we book in advance?
Monday 6th Whistler to Horseshoe bay - ferry to Vancouver Island - do we need to reserve ferry in advance?
Tuesday 6th - Quadra Island - we have booked a site for three nights at Tsa-Kwa-Luten and have arranged kayaking and whale trips from Quadra Island
Saturday 11th Drive to Tofino - booked site for three nights at Crystal Cove - explore round Tofino and Pacific Rim Park
Monday 13th - head towards Victoria - where to stay half way?
Tuesday 14th - Thursday 16th booked site at Malahat Mountain to explore surroundinga area and day trips to Victoria
Friday 17th Ferry to Vancouver - booked in Burnaby Cariboo for three nights. Explore Vancouver and surrounds.
Monday 20th sadly leave for home (evening flight).

If anyone has had the patience to read through all that and can maybe fill in some of the gaps I would be really grateful. We are getting quite excited now at the prospect of visiting your wonderful country!

Thank you.
Ross Doig

NWWanderer

I can only comment on the BC portion as I don't know the Rockies. I'd stay the extra night (the 13th) in Tofino, hands down--it's about a 4-4.5 hour drive from there to Malahat so it's worth it IMO to stay longer in Tofino and not bother breaking the trip up.

Judy_in_Calgary

Hi Ross,

For the most part your itinerary looks great.

Some comments ......

>>>>>>Tues 24th Leave Okotoks to drive to Banff ? pre-book Tunnel Mountain site. Maybe time for gondola in afternoon.<<<<<<

I hope you plan to reach Banff via Longview, the Highwood Pass and Kananaskis Country. Okotoks would be a convenient starting point for that route.

>>>>>>Wed 25th. Johnstone Canyon in morning ?Lake Louise in afternoon.
Thurs 26th Around Banff am -where to go?, head to Golden PM<<<<<<

This is a slightly inefficient use of your time.

It would be better to do Johnston Canyon and other stuff in and near Banff on the 25th.

Then you could devote the 26th to wending your way slowly to Golden, taking in Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, the spiral railway tunnels, Takakkaw Falls (if you can drive your campervan on the winding road that leads to the Falls), the natural bridge over the Kicking Horse River and Emerald Lake on the way.

You say you have followed my threads. I'm hard pressed to believe that, since you have not included Moraine Lake in your initial draft itinerary. Just pulling your leg. Anyway, I highly recommend that you do visit Moraine Lake. It's good to make it the first stop of your day, as its parking lot fills up.

>>>>>>Fri 27th. Gentle river rafting with Canadian Whitewater Adventures on Kicking Horse. Explore on way back towards Banff or north of Banff in afternoon.<<<<<<

There is no need to return to Banff. I think there would be merit in spending a second night in Golden.

Alternatively, you could return to Lake Louise and then start up the Icefields Parkway. I've heard that the campground at Lake Louise gets lots of train noise at night. So you probably would be better off staying at Mosquito Creek, which is a primitive campground just off the Icefields Parkway, about 20 minutes north of Lake Louise. When I say primitive, I mean there are only drop toilets. Alternatively you could continue about another 20 minutes beyond that to Waterfowl Lakes Campground, where there are flush toilets and sani dump facilities.

>>>>>>Sat 28th Head for iceway early and stop off at glacier. Is it possible to stay overniht half way to Jasper or do we have to drive all the way there?<<<<<<

If you are in a campervan, there are about 9 campgrounds in which you can stay along the Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise (not counting the campgrounds at Lake Louise and the ones just outside of Jasper townsite).

It is very feasible to drive the Icefields Parkway in a single day. Without stops, the drive takes about 3 hours. However, there are many scenic lookout points along the Icefield Parkway, and there also are many hikes that depart from it. You can really make that leg of your trip as long or as short as you like.

At a minimum, I recommend that you stop to see Peyto Lake, Sunwapta Falls and Athabasca Falls.

>>>>>>Mon 30th Jasper environs - any suggestions?<<<<<<<

Walk in Maligne Canyon, drive to Maligne Lake, and take the tram up Whistlers Mountain. I would suggest driving to Mount Edith Cavell, but the road that leads to it is very winding, and I'm not sure if your campervan could manage it.

>>>>>>Tues 31st July - Thursday 2nd Aug heading for Whistler - any suggestions?<<<<<<

Helmcken Falls and other waterfalls in Wells Gray Provincial Park (near Clearwater) and Nairn Falls (just beyond Pemberton, about half an hour before you reach Whistler).

>>>>>>Friday 3rd - Sunday 5th in and around Whistler - zipwire appeals to us all. Nothing booked - should we book in advance?<<<<<<

Sorry, I don't know if you need to book in advance.

>>>>>>Monday 6th Whistler to Horseshoe bay - ferry to Vancouver Island - do we need to reserve ferry in advance?<<<<<<

August 6th will be a public holiday. I think you would be well advised to book a ferry ( www.bcferries.ca ). Keep in mind that it will take you a good 2 hours to drive from Whistler to Horseshoe Bay. If I were you, I would build in an extra hour for contingencies. Keep in mind that you lose your ferry reservation if you are not at the terminal 30 minutes before sailing.

You also might want to build in another hour for a couple of pretty waterfalls along the way, Brandywine Falls just outside of Whistler (although you could see that waterfall during your time in Whistler) and Shannon Falls just past Squamish. I would allow half an hour for each of those falls.

NWWanderer has given you a good suggestion about spending the extra night in Tofino.

Camping_Girl has creeated a great website about RVing in Western Canada. I recommend not only her main page about RVing but also her subsidiary pages (about what equipment you need, etc.). I'm sure there is a link to her website on my website, but in case you haven't seen it here it is:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/adecc/

Hope that helps.

maddoigs

Thank you NWWanderer. I will look at staying in Tofino for the extra night if there are still sites available.

Judy - I am particularly pleased you have had a chance to have a quick look at our plans - I suspect a lot of holidays to Rockies and surrounds have been planned on the basis of your wonderful advice - thank you for that.

We had definitely planned on going to Morraine Lake - what I needed was an idea of the best order to do this in - as usual your suggestion for the 26th seems very sensible.

We don't want to be driving long distances every day with the children, so maybe having two nights in Golden is a good idea -we can relax on the afternoon after rafting.

I will look up the sites on the way up the iceway - I feel it would be sad to try and rush this in one day including the glacier trip. Ideally I suppose a site just past the glacier would be good so we can drive there am, do glacier, drive slightly further looking at waterfalls etc, and the rest of the way to jasper the next morning.

We can spend a couple of days in and around Jasper and will look at Maligne Canyon, Maligne Lake, and the tram up Whistlers Mountain as per your suggestion. As I mentioned we also hope to see the hot springs at Meitte aswell.

We have allowed a couple of days to get from jasper to Whistler via Clearwater and Wells Gray Provincial Park - do you know of anywhere good to stay there? Is there a particular route you might suggest to get to Whistler?

I note your comments re holiday weekend and will book a site near Whistler for that weekend. Also will book ferry crossing - are we missing much by going from Whistler to Horseshoe Bay in one day - it seemed to make sense to me to get to Vancouver Island rather than spending another night half way between.
I will book a ferry for mid-late afternoon and a site near

maddoigs

sorry pressed wrong button!

We will book a site near Nanaimo on the other side. Or if not, then a site at Horsehoe Bay and get an early ferry next morning.

I have had a look at Camping_Girl website pages about RVing iand found these really useful. Thank you for that link.

If anyone has any further thoughts on our plans - it's mainly how to best split the time between leaving Jasper, getting to Whistler and then onto Vancouver Island that is undecided now - the rest has come together quite well I think.

Thanks again for all your help.

Ross.

markrosy

Hi

Just come back from Vancouver - went to Whistler for the day - the journey there took 3 HOURS because the road system is absolutely upside down with road works due to the improvements for the 2010 Olympics. They were very badly planned. On the way back at 6pm all the workmen had gone home so the journey took 1 hour! Be aware if you have a ferry deadline to make.

Have fun!

weasel

Hi, in regards to camping near Nanaimo or Horseshoe bay I would recommend Nanaimo. There is a very nice provincial park in Parksville 45min. north of Nanaimo, called Rathtrevor, they take reservations and it is on the way to Tofino