Western Canada Roadtrip in RV - From Calgary to Vancouver Island
- Philippe Rideau
- Jan 12
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 13
In this month of January, ideal for summer vacation plans, we are deciding on our next destination. It will be Western Canada. After booking our flight with the Westjet company for a direct Paris – Calgary route, our decision is made, we will do this roadtrip in a camper van – RV (recreational vehicle) in English and VR (recreational vehicle) in Quebec. For practical organization, RV rental and campsite reservations, we use the Authentik Canada agency. After having defined the desired vehicle and our route of interest with our contact Marie-Michèle, from Authentik Canada, she takes care of all the reservation procedures. 1 month before departure, Authentik Canada sends us by post an extremely well-made roadmap also including vouchers, which complements our two usual guides, the Routard and the Michelin Green Guide. We will make a loop of approximately 4000 km, starting from Calgary to Vancouver Island and we will travel in a Canadream DVC type RV.
After the flight, we spend a night's rest in a hotel near the Calgary airport. The following morning, we take a taxi to the Canadream agency to pick up our RV. The formalities are very quick, since all the forms have been managed in advance. Note that before our departure, as Canadream recommends, we viewed all the tutorials on the extensive use of the vehicle. We chose a “compact” RV (L=6.80; l=2.20; h=3.1) for maneuverability reasons. This vehicle was powered by a V6 with more than 5 liters of cylinder. We consumed on average 14l/100km. Given the width of the roads, we were never inconvenienced. The only downside to this vehicle is the average sleeping comfort.
After a stop at a supermarket near Calgary, to stock up, we head towards Banff, around 150km, for our first stop at the Tunnel Mountain Campground. This first campsite allows us to connect to the electricity network. The next day, we take the shuttle which allows us to reach Banff down town. Banff is an alpine village located at an altitude of 1380m and surrounded by mountains, streams, glaciers and waterfalls, we wander around the town and go to a rushing waterfall, along a path where we are observed by deer..
In the afternoon, we take the cable car to go to Sulfur Mountain which peaks at 2281m. The panorama of the valley is superb, despite the gloomy weather, but which gave us the joy of seeing snowflakes falling in summer...
On this Friday, we use sani damp (note that the black water system is different from that of vehicles used in France https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqOBYlKSfUg) and water filling required , we take the road to Jasper where we will stay 3 nights. The glacier road which leads us to Jasper and its national park is remarkable. Over these 300km, we admire lakes, waterfalls, numerous animals, all in this magnificent mountainous setting.
We arrive at the "Whistlers campground" in Jasper late in the afternoon. We are greeted by a curious neighbor, or rather a neighbor who is curious . Please note that there is no possible connection to electricity and water on our pitch. The sanitary facilities have recently been redone and are extremely functional. Also noted that in all the campsites where we stayed, each pitch was equipped with a brazier in which we could make our campfire.
Finally, this morning, the sun is out. Today we take the road towards Maligne Lake. We first stop at the “Maligne Canyon”, superb gorges where a torrent flows with an extremely high flow of water, not without having come across a deer on the side of the road. This morning we will walk to bridge n°2.
After visiting these gorges, we head towards Maligne Lake, we first pass along Medicine Lake. This shallow lake (around 20m) fills when the snow melts and serves as an overflow for Lake Maligne, while in winter it is partially empty, its waters joining an immense underground hydraulic network. Unfortunately, we note that on the banks of the lake, a major fire in 2015 ravaged the pine forests which plunged into the water. Despite everything, the wild animals returned there, since we were able to see brown bears as well as eagles.
At the very beginning of the afternoon, we leave for a 9km walk to the summit of Bald Hills, promising us a sumptuous view of the lake. This walk turned out to be more difficult than expected because we took a very steep shortcut, which very quickly became covered in fresh snow, up to a meter in places. Our equipment is not the most suitable, our walking shoes are designed for summer walks... Before starting the descent, a charming Quebec woman offers to lend us one of her walking sticks which makes us a great service. We go down together and have a great time chatting with cousins!
After a restorative night, and given the beauty of the site visited yesterday, we decide today to return to Maligne Lake. Today we will take a boat trip to the end of the lake. While waiting for departure time we walk along the banks of the lake where we once again meet the local wildlife.
On the way back to the campsite, we stop again at Maligne Canyon to hike to the fifth bridge. Few people, and the landscapes are magnificent including the profusion of Alpine flowers.
After these three nights in Jasper, we take the road towards Clearwater in British Columbia (BC). We are changing time zones and becoming 1 hour younger than in Alberta. During this journey, we stop at the foot of Mount Robson which peaks at 3554m. After about 320km, we arrive at the “Dutch Lake Resort & RV Park” campsite where we will spend 2 nights.
After a good night's sleep, we leave for Wells Gray Provincial Park. This uncrowded park allows us to take beautiful walks and in particular to see very beautiful waterfalls. We start with Helmcken Falls with a height of 145m. We continue through Dawson Falls, lower but wider with a strong flow.
We spend two nights in Clearwater. Unfortunately, the bear safari that we had booked at Blue River (www.riversafari.com) was canceled at the last minute due to the weather, fog and rain severely limiting visibility on the lake. On our return to Clearwater, the weather is nicer, and we spend a night, invited by our camping neighbors, Canadians from Vancouver, near their campfire chatting and tasting a Canadian wine from the Valley of the Okanagan.
The next day, we take the road to Whistler, 420km, a ski resort located 2 hours from Vancouver. We stop for a walk at the “Joffre Lakes”, a succession of 3 lakes at different altitudes, we will discover two of them, given the gloomy weather.
This transfer day will take us to Vancouver Island. Our bivouac is at Qualicum beach located about fifty kilometers from Nanaimo, where our ferry should have arrived from Vancouver. Unfortunately, on June 30, no place available on the ferry for our RV despite a reservation 3 months in advance. We therefore have to take a ferry to Victoria, which extends the journey by 150km. We arrive at the campsite at almost 11:00 p.m.
The next day we start with a walk on our route which will take us to the Pacific Rim, in Ucluet. We walk through a beautiful forest: Cathedrale Cove.
We arrive at our campsite “Ucluelet Campground” at the end of the afternoon after walking on a beautiful road alongside lakes and waterfalls.
Today, a stroll along the Pacific, we go south of Ucluet on the Wild Pacific Trail, a network of three hiking trails whose maintenance is managed by a foundation. We wander through a lush forest on the edge of the Pacific where rocky coasts and pebble beaches alternate.
This afternoon we discover Tofino, a surfing village, a little boreal California according to Le Routard. Rainy weather requires imagination to make the parallel! On the way back, despite the rain, we stop to visit small waterfalls in the lush forest. The “rainforest” lives up to its name.
Our next stop will be the city of Victoria, located in the extreme south of Vancouver Island, equidistant from Vancouver and Seattle US. We are staying 2 nights at Oceanside Camping & RV resort.
We start with a visit to the Butchart Garden. Created at the beginning of the 20th century by Jenny Butchart, whose husband owned a cement factory, this garden was built on 2 hectares of a lime quarry. It is made up of five gardens with distinct themes, we loved strolling through these flowered avenues.
Our second visit is an ocean trip in search of Orcas or whales, unfortunately, after 3 hours of Zodiac, equipped like astronauts, and despite the promises, we will only see the tail of a whale, very far away, and a few birds and seals.
On this fifteenth day, we leave Vancouver Island by ferry, north of Victoria at Swartz Bay. A 7-hour drive awaits us to connect the city of Kelowna to the shores of Okanagan Lake. The landscapes crossed are very different from those discovered so far, in particular, we enter a vineyard area and we buy a bottle of Canadian Gewurtztraminer which we reserve for our last bivouac at Lake Louise.
Today the road will take us to Revelstoke. We find the mountain again. We will sleep in a pretty campsite located in the countryside near the national park. We arrive late in the morning and visit Revelstoke, a charming little provincial town. We also visit the very interesting “Railways Museum” which retraces the epic story of the construction of the Canadian railways. To get there, we had to wait a few dozen minutes at the rail crossing, because a freight train of almost 4 km was crossing Revelstoke at a low speed. After this visit we went to the “Meadows in the sky Parkway”. This route covers 25km in Mount Revelstoke National Park and offers splendid views of the valleys. With our RV, we traveled about 15km and were able to turn around in a large parking lot as the Ranger told us at the entrance to the park.
We leave Revelstoke early so we can enjoy our last stop in the great outdoors: Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. The road winds through the Rockies, and we happily find these mountainous landscapes, alternating forests, lakes, torrential rivers, snow and glaciers.
On arrival, we head towards Lake Louise, but given the large crowds, we have to turn around, access by private vehicle is prohibited. We return to the bottom of the station and take our passes to take the shuttle leading to the lakes. We decide on Moraine Lake. We are not disappointed, the landscapes are sumptuous. We walk to the end of the lake to see the variety of landscapes offered in this sumptuous setting.
On July 8, we are heading to Calgary where our flight to Paris is scheduled for the end of the day. After returning our RV to Canadream and dropping off our luggage at the airport, we take the bus to the city center. It’s the start of “the Stampede”, the largest rodeo event on the North American continent!
Our 17-day trip ends in a joyous and festive tumult after these days of calm in a varied nature, sometimes chaotic or exuberant. We chose the “Passionate Nature” theme from Authentic Canada and we were not disappointed.
We of course come back with lots of images and memories in our heads. In particular the numerous meetings with Quebecers in English-speaking countries which allowed us to better understand their feelings about their place within Canada and the reasons motivating the defense of the French language.
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