We rented a 25 ft motorhome from Cruise Canada, about a metre longer than our “Lizzie” and picked it up from Delta, Vancouver. After quite a while sorting out the fridge that didn’t work, filling up with fuel and getting some groceries we set off for Hope – not far as we weren’t sure about driving on the wrong side of the road and the size of the van!
It took a while to get used to the “Beast’s” foibles and it wasn’t terribly comfortable, but we got used to it. We ended up driving just under 2500kms and our route took us from Vancouver to Hope to Lake Country (just outside Kelowna in the Okanagan valley, famous for its wineries and fruit growing), on to Revelstoke, then Banff and Jasper via the stunning Icefields Parkway, then down to Clearwater (gateway to Wells Gray Provincial Park). Then we should have gone to Kamloops but our site was flooded, so we went to Merritt, back to Hope, then finally Burnaby before handing the van back. We opted not to go to Whistler this time but it is somewhere a lot of people include in a motorhome trip of this sort. Thankfully we had decided to visit Vancouver Island as a separate trip as this really would have been a huge amount of travelling.
The journey is well worth doing for the stunning scenary, following ice blue glacial melt rivers through deep valleys with snow capped mountains soaring above, past massive (but sadly declining) glaciers, stopping at semi frozen lakes and roaring waterfalls and through valleys of vineyards and blossoming fruit trees. There is lots of wildlife to spot along the way – bears, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, beavers, bald headed eagles and foxes to name but a few. We never got to see a moose although we did pass several signs to say they were in the area. You’ll catch glimpses of numerous freight trains and hear their toots as they cross crossings, you may even see the Canadian train as it transverses the country from Vancouver to Toronto and back or even the privately owned Rocky Mountaineer in its blue and gold livery.
Particular stops along the way that we enjoyed are Mara Lake and the Last Spike on the way to Revelstoke, Revelstoke’s farmers market on Saturdays and its informative Railway Museum, Lake Louise outside of Banff and also the Cave & Basin Historical site and the Hoodoos at Banff. The Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper is a must – a stunning road with glaciers, frozen lakes and waterfalls along the way – particularly Athabasca Falls. At Jasper it is worth visiting the Maligne Canyon, an interesting hike and at Wells Gray Provincial Park please take the 60 kms tour up to Helmcken Falls (the 4th highest in Canada) as well as Dawson and Spahats Falls – lots of wildlife there too.
Sites we used. They all had electric hookups, and some had water/sewer too. Most had picnic benches and fire pits at the pitch, but we encountered several fire bans so never used them. Hope – Wild Rose RV site. Lake Country (near Kelowna) – Holiday Park RV resort. Revelstoke – Lamplighter RV site Banff – Tunnel Mountain 2 Jasper – Whistlers campground Clearwater – Dutch Lake resort Merritt – Moonshadows RV site Hope – Wild Rose again Burnaby – Burnaby Cariboo RV site
Recommendations: 1. Research your RV company, there are other options out there (Canadream and RV Fraserway among others). 2. Check EVERYTHING works on handover and that you have received everything you’ve ordered in extras (personal kit, bedding, pillows etc as we met several who didn’t have their pillows. Our fridge didn’t work and although they got it working, it wasn’t correct throughout our trip). Also note the vans only have microwave and hob – no grill or oven. 3. Don’t try to do too much – there are huge distances between usual areas of interest. We travelled for 3 weeks and didn’t do Vancouver Island – we chose to do that separately, but then we were lucky enough to have the luxury of time.