Backcountry camping

[kasper_17]

I was wondering if someone can tell me areas that you can go backcountry camping for free? Without having to go through booking permits and everything? Thanks


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[kasper_17]

Or help with putting me on some information for it? Everything I seem to have found is all about in the parks and that requires permits.


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[jdwilson]

Public Land Use Zones(ie: Provincial Crown Land designated for multi-use)

http://aep.alberta.ca/recreation-pub...d/camping.aspx

[GENINC]

How far are you willing a to travel and for what activities? We usually go out camping when riding our UTVs and fishing sometimes. There are millions of spots depending on distance and activities.

[kasper_17]

Originally Posted by GENINC

How far are you willing a to travel and for what activities? We usually go out camping when riding our UTVs and fishing sometimes. There are millions of spots depending on distance and activities.

It would just be for hiking in and camping in the backcountry


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[GENINC]

Give Cadomin mountains a shot, beautiful scenery if mountain ranges are your thing. Lots of trails to waterfalls etc... I do have gps maps from riding that I can provide you with if you like.

But do bring a high caliber bear deterrent with you on your hikes. That pretty much applies to all back country camping with the abundance of black bears, but foothills is grizzly territory.

[kasper_17]

Originally Posted by GENINC

Give Cadomin mountains a shot, beautyful scenery if mountaincranges are your thing. Lots of trails to waterfalls etc... I do have gps maps from riding that I can provide you with if you like.

Love mountains. Would prefer to be hiking and camping there. I would love if I could get some of those maps. Do I need anything special like a gps unit for the maps to work?


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[Don Andersen]

Briefly,

Approximately 60 percent of Alberta is provincial public land, Private land covers 28.5 percent of Alberta and federal public land covers approximately 10 percent of the province. Since 1948, the province has been divided into two broad land use areas: Green Area and White Area. National Parks are federally managed and are not part of either the Green or White Areas. The Green Area (forested portion) includes most of northern Alberta as well as the mountains and foothills along Banff, Jasper, and the British Columbia border. In the Green Area, public lands are managed for their natural resources, ecological significance and services, and recreation values. Agriculture is excluded from land uses in Green Areas, with the exception of grazing.

Or near 145000 square miles available for camping.

You should be able to find some ground that suits.


Don

[GENINC]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

Briefly,

Approximately 60 percent of Alberta is provincial public land, Private land covers 28.5 percent of Alberta and federal public land covers approximately 10 percent of the province. Since 1948, the province has been divided into two broad land use areas: Green Area and White Area. National Parks are federally managed and are not part of either the Green or White Areas. The Green Area (forested portion) includes most of northern Alberta as well as the mountains and foothills along Banff, Jasper, and the British Columbia border. In the Green Area, public lands are managed for their natural resources, ecological significance and services, and recreation values. Agriculture is excluded from land uses in Green Areas, with the exception of grazing.

Or near 145000 square miles available for camping.

You should be able to find some ground that suits.


Don

What he said.

[GENINC]

Originally Posted by kasper_17

Love mountains. Would prefer to be hiking and camping there. I would love if I could get some of those maps. Do I need anything special like a gps unit for the maps to work?


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I'll see how I can export my Cadomin maps.

[subcultural heritage]

Most Wildland Provincial Parks (WPP) allow for RANDOM backcountry camping via a hike in. When searching for places to go, you want to look at the rules for RANDOM Backcountry Camping. Whitehorse WPPs a good place near cadomin. Also Sheep River WPP in Kananaskis.

Basically, go to the alberta parks site, look at all of the WPPs. Figure out which ones sound good. Look at any maps and info they give you. Then, search in Google for the park name+backcountry camping. Look at trailpeaks, here and other places for trip reports. Then take the name of the trail from the trip report and search it and you should find a map somewhere. For the more popular hikes, this isn't necessary, as trails and maps will show up either Ron the Parks website or in your first search. For lesser known or lesser used places, it can take a bit to find the info online.

[Jeron Kahyar]

If you are looking to head out near Cadomin have a look here: https://www.alltrails.com/explore?b_...80742645263672

Otherwise you can browse around on that site and find trails all over Alberta (and other places). Some are in parks some are not.

Lots of good places in the David Thompson region as well. https://davidthompsoncountry.ca

In the PLUZ you can just wander around to your heart's content and find yourself a nice secluded spot you like.

All kinds of options out there and Google will be your best resource really. I own many trail guide books and find I still use Google more than the books.

[DoePolicyAnalyst]

Originally Posted by kasper_17

It would just be for hiking in and camping in the backcountry


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There are some great places in the West Country off Highway 11 - suggestions include Landslide Lake, Lake of the Falls, and Pinto Lake. They all have areas that you could consider "campsites" which make setting up a tent much nicer, but you don't need to pay anything to stay. If you search them, trail sites with maps should come up for you but you can also find a pretty handy book (https://www.amazon.ca/Hiking-Alberta.../dp/1550563246) that gives you all the details. Of the three, Lake of the Falls is probably my favorite but also the more difficult trail. If you want to get into Pinto Lake, I'd suggest going through Banff (you'll need a park pass, but you can park at the trailhead for free) beginning at Sunset Pass and dropping down to the lake.

You could also check out the Willmore - it's quite remote and horseback is more popular, but there is some pretty nice remote camping if you prefer to have a quiet (but possible muddy) trail. Some very nice ridge walks and a good chance to see some wildlife.

If you are in Southern Alberta, the Castle does have some nice hiking but I haven't been there since the new parks came in. My suggested hike there is Victoria Peak, which is a bit of a climb but offers a great view. I believe it is in the Wildland Provincial Park, so you should be able to set up a tent without needing a permit, but you may need to look into that a bit further.

[sunnyvalesmostwanted]

Originally Posted by GENINC

How far are you willing a to travel and for what activities? We usually go out camping when riding our UTVs and fishing sometimes. There are millions of spots depending on distance and activities.

I am looking for exactly THIS. Places to take our holiday trailer and quads and camp & be able to ride the quads right from our trailer to the quad trails/areas

I plan on doing some spring exploring, but areas I am really interested in finding some good LEGAL spots to do this are around entwistle, whitecourt, and thorhild/smoky lake areas.

We like the thorhild rodeo/demo derby so we always camp that region for july long....we also love river floating so entwistle and whitecourt have good spots for this so we would love to find a spot or two on crown land where we could camp/float/quad

Any suggested spots would be GREATLY appreciated. We have never camped anywhere but at campgrounds before

[GENINC]

The best bar none is six lakes area north of Ft. McMurray but it's far and we only go there once a year for a week. Though you can't take your RV there.

Second would be the Goodwin lake area if you like fishing as well. Quite a few lakes and lots of trails there.

I really enjoyed the Cadomin area as well, there is no fishing there but it's breathtakingly beautiful with its mountain ranges and creeks.

There is also random camping spots by the Outwest campground area.

Let me know if you want to know specifics.

[GENINC]

Oh and I know we camped and rode in the Whitecourt area a few times, lots of trails there as well as random camping. I would have to look up the staging area we used. We don't go there too much anymore since I have a wide machine and prefer something more dry. On an ATV it's pretty fun though.

[beltburner]

do some research before you go to big horn area. Government is pushing through lots of changes that will limit random camping.
and areas that are still open will be much busier now.