Elkwood and Boulton Creek are the two reservable campgrounds between Upper and Lower Kananaskis Lakes, and one of them is the night to hold before anything else moves. Get the site, then get the van. Alberta Parks releases individual sites on a rolling 90-day window, so the campground calendar is the one carrying the deadline. When Highway 40 is open south of Peter Lougheed you can add Highwood Pass, the highest paved road in Canada, and walk the short boardwalk into the meadow. Sleep at the lakes either way, not on the pass.
The way in is Trans-Canada Highway 1 west, then Highway 40 south on the Kananaskis Trail. Elkwood sits 50 km south of Highway 1, down Kananaskis Lakes Trail and into the trees between the two lakes. An early-June trip stops there, because the alpine stretch of Highway 40 is still gated. Buy a Kananaskis Conservation Pass and register the plate while you still have signal, which means in Calgary, not on Highway 40.
Van season runs late May through September. Food goes in the van or a locker every night, because bears use the valley bottoms and the campground loops as readily as anything else does. If you need more bunks than a van pad holds, RV rentals in Calgary covers the longer rigs.
A closer first night is Paddy's Flat on the Elbow River, 13.2 km west of Bragg Creek on Highway 66. Sites are unserviced, $31 as of August 2026, and the pump water is not for drinking, so carry your own. Highway 8 and Highway 22 run southwest to Bragg Creek, then 66 goes west from there. If Elkwood or Boulton is already yours, skip the Elbow and stay on Highway 1 to Highway 40.
What does not work is rolling in after dark with nothing booked and hunting first-come loops on the Elbow. Reserve Paddy's Flat or reserve a Peter Lougheed site. Do it well before Stampede week in early July, when the city and the parks fill at the same time.
Carry on west on that same Highway 1 and Canmore is the last Bow Valley town before the Parks Canada East Gate. Stopping in Banff means a park pass at the gate, about 100 km west of Calgary. Nights inside the park are on the Banff campervan page, and Canmore has its own. Jasper is 404 km northwest of Calgary, which makes it a longer rental and not night one.
Drumheller and the Alberta Badlands
Highway 9 runs northeast to Drumheller for the hoodoos and a day at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. The museum is 6 km northwest of town on Highway 838, inside Midland Provincial Park, which is day-use only with RV parking and no overnight. Adult admission is $25 as of August 2026, on timed tickets.
Dinosaur Provincial Park is the other badlands night, a cottonwood campground on the Red Deer River under a prairie rim of Cretaceous sand and mud. It is not in Drumheller and it is not a detour off it. The park sits near Brooks, far enough out to be its own night, and the fuel stop is Brooks or Duchess before you drop into the valley.
