Abraham Lake

Just a quick question! i know alot of you are from this area! So Up by the dam there is equastrian and rec trails. Is this free to set up your r.v on for the weekend? Ive always seen people there i was just wondering if this is crown land or usuable to the gen public

Lots of crown land on the east (dam) end that's accessible.

But off the eastern end of Abraham Lake, much of the crown land is part of the Kootenay Ecological Reserve. No motorized access, no overnight camping, no hunting and no fishing permitted in the rivers. There's also some small Stoney Indian parcels in that area - abutting the Ecological Reserve.

Andrew

thanks! how i go about knowing which is crown?

Get good topo maps from MapTown, or do a google search on Kootenay Plains Ecological Reserve and see if you can find a map on the government sites.

Andrew

A good map you can probably get at any Forestry office is "The Forest Land Use Zones of the BIGHORN BACKCOUNTRY"

Here is a site related to it. (www.bighorn.gov.ab.ca)

Camping on just about any level spot on Crown Land is often called "random camping" That is, not in a campground. A lot of people do it and as long as they don't cut down live trees, litter, have unsafe fires or leave fires unattended (a big NO, NO) it is ok. If people drink and have loud music and cause trouble for others trying to enjoy the outdoors, then they will be dealt with by the authorities.

Robin in Rocky

If people drink and have loud music and cause trouble for others trying to enjoy the outdoors, then they will be dealt with by the authorities.

Duff I wouldn't be too sure about that. We had a similar problem 3 years ago in Waiperous and the authorities told us that's what designated campgrounds were for, 'privacy'. I find many young people do the random camping because they like to party all night and they don't have to deal with the 11 m curfews a designated campground brings.

Jerks are jerks and whether you go designated or random, I'm sure you'll always find a few!