Jasper

Jasper

I don’t get as lonely on the road as many would expect—in fact, I really enjoy being alone and there are some serious upsides to solo travel, but I also love making lifelong memories with great people. Which is why I was so excited to meet up with my friend on the outskirts of Jasper. 

Because he arrived in the area before me, he was tasked with finding a dispersed campsite big enough for both of our vans, which is not an easy task in Canada. There are established campgrounds all over Canada (at least the parts I visited), but dispersed campsites (random sites out in the wild) are much fewer and far between. But sure enough, as I was driving his direction, I received a text with Google Maps coordinates—he’d found a spot!

I had no idea what to expect, but the site he found far surpassed whatever expectations I did have. Not only was the site plenty large for both vans, but it was on a tall bluff looking down upon the massive forest and river below, with high mountains in the background, a large fire pit and hardly anyone else around. What a spot!

I initially assumed we'd camp together for a day or two and then get back on the road, as we’re both drifters and are liable to hit the road on a whim, but one day led to the next and, before we knew it, nearly a week had passed. Some places just grab ya and don’t let go easily (as I’ll soon be reminded of). 

To be honest, by normal van life standards we didn’t do a whole lot that week. We went on a couple hikes, swam in our local river, got some work done writing, editing photos and videos, sat around the campfire playing music, sampled various Canadian beers and had an all-around great time.

Neither of us are accustomed to staying in one place this long, but I think I can speak for both of us when I say that it was a perfect way to relax and recharge before getting back on the road. And we would have likely continued traveling together if we were heading in the same direction, but alas, he was heading west and I was heading south, so we eventually said our goodbyes and pointed our vans in different directions. 

Once back on the road I took my time driving south, stopping to take photos at practically every overlook I came across—this place is insanely gorgeous. Banff was my next destination, but I knew there weren’t any dispersed campsites in the national park or near the town, so that evening I turned east and drove thirty minutes to an area that I knew literally nothing about apart from the fact that it had multiple dispersed camping options. I figured I’d stay the night and then head into Banff the following morning.

Nope. 

What I found was one of the most special campsites I’ve ever encountered in all my travels and an area that, to this day, stands out as one of my favorite parts of the Canadian Rockies. What I assumed would be nothing more than a campsite for the night ended up becoming my home for the next five days.

It was unplanned, unexpected and absolutely perfect. 

Stay tuned for more! 

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” ― Robert Louis Stevenson

P.S. I don't want to accidentally mislead anyone, as my description of our campsite coincidentally matches this photo: this photo is not from our campsite, it was taken inside of Jasper National Park.