Sandy McNabb is the night, a powered loop in Sheep River Provincial Park west of Turner Valley, with showers, tap water, and a dump on site. Book it before you book the van. Alberta Parks opens sites 90 days out, and Highway 546 dead-ends, so there is no drifting farther west to find something else when the loop is full.
Buy the Kananaskis Conservation Pass and register the plate before you leave town. Cell service is not typically available on 546, and the pass is not something you can sort out from a campsite. If you land late and want a night before the drive, Okotoks Lions Campground is in town on the Sheep River.
The route out is Highway 7 west, then 546. Farther up that road, Bluerock is first come and unserviced with a hand pump that is not potable, so carry water if that is where you end up.
Sheep Falls is the walk-in to the cascade in the gorge, and the Bighorn Interpretive Trail is the short one out to the lookout over the meadow. Both are days from the same pad.
Big Rock sits on the prairie just west of town on Highway 7, a split quartzite block the size of a three-storey building. Stay off it.
A campervan is the right size of vehicle for this road. If you need more beds or more length than one gives you, RVs for rent in Okotoks is the other page.
Highwood Pass from the south
Highwood Pass from the south is the other trip, and Etherington Creek is the night that goes with it. From Okotoks that is the Cowboy Trail to Longview, Highway 541 west to Highwood House, then Highway 40 north once the gate is open.
Etherington Creek sits 45 km southwest of Longview on Highway 541 and the Forestry Trunk Road, unserviced. Dump at Highwood House, and bring water.
With the pass open, the short trail at Highwood Meadows is worth the stop, just over 2,200 m. As of August 2026 that day use runs June 15 to November 30.
Chain Lakes, southwest of Nanton on Highway 533, is the Cowboy Trail reservoir night if a powered loop suits you better, with communal firepits only.
Carrying on south on Highway 2 toward Waterton makes that night a Lethbridge plan.