The United States has a seemingly infinite number of incredible, unique, and special camping opportunities and locations. However, no camper or outdoor enthusiast should forget about the equally impressive scenery, terrain, and outdoor recreational opportunities that abound north of the border in Canada.
Our neighbors to the north enjoy some of the most amazing camping that can be done anywhere on earth. If you want to go camping north of the border this summer, consider some of these stand-out locations.
Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta
Waterton Lakes National Park is a very special place indeed. In fact, it is the only place in the world to hold these three distinctions: Waterton is a UNESCO World Heritage site, an International Peace Park, and a Biosphere reserve. It also happens to hold the deepest lake in Canada, and the first oil well in western Canada. Needless to say, it definitely needs to be considered when planning to go camping in the great up north.
Besides all of that, Waterton Lakes National Park is also a beautiful, quiet, and peaceful place to go camping. It’s fairly remote, which keeps the crowds small, has pleasant weather during the summer months, and offers visitors great wildlife viewing opportunities.
Yoho National Park, British Columbia
Yoho is the Cree Indian word meaning “awe,” as in “that view is awe-inspiring.” It goes without saying that the views you will enjoy at Yoho National Park in British Columbia will impress even the most difficult to please critics (ahem…the kids…ahem). Tall mountain peaks, gushing waterfalls, and stunning glaciers are just some of the things you can expect to see (and snap plenty of photos of) while you are camping here.
Yoho is a great park to visit year round and not just during the summer months, as is the case with some other parks. Several railroads run through the area and offer fun rides to visitors, Emerald Lake is the perfect place to relax in the summer, and, for the daring campers reading, world-famous waterfall ice climbing during the winter. (Don’t worry, there’s skiing too for the less extreme campers out there!)
Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick
The Bay of Fundy, and more specifically the Hole-in-the-Wall campground, is one of the most special places to camp in all of Canada. And there’s only one word that sums up why: whales. Yes, that’s right, the marine mammal type of whales. Now let me tell you why whales make this campground so special. The campsites here are located very close to the shore, and the part of the ocean that whales use as a feeding area.
Campers may actually be woken up from the sounds made by breaching, blowing, and singing (yes, whale singing!) whales while camping along the shore! How awesome is that? Another great perk of camping here is that Grand Manan Island (the island on which the campground is located) is free of animals that you don’t really want to run into. This includes bears, moose, porcupines, skunks, and venomous snakes. That means that, depending on the weather, you can simply sleep under the stars and listen to the crashing of ocean waves and the nighttime activities of whales and other marine life. I can’t think of a much cooler camping experience than that.
This list is just a tiny fraction of the different places for camping north of the border. Canada is a massive country and that means there are a ton of unique and special places for a memorable camping trip. So do some research, make sure your passport is up-to-date, and go camping north of the border sometime soon. You won’t be sorry that you did!
Visit KOA.com to find other great camping locations north of the border!
Brian Belko
Writer. For Roadtrippers. For KOA. For sanity. Catcher of fish. Baseball fanatic. Proud to call Ohio home.
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