The van sleeps at Alice Lake, 13 km north of town off Highway 99. Sites go up on camping.bcparks.ca in a rolling three-month window, with each new day of inventory released at 7 am Pacific, so book the site first and the van second. July through September fills even midweek. If Alice is gone by the time you look, the first-come loop at the foot of the Chief is the fallback.
Then the Chief in the morning, back down the highway toward town. The trail climbs steep granite stairs and chain sections from the day-use lot to First Peak, 1.5 km up with 540 metres of gain, where the 700-metre wall drops straight into Howe Sound and Squamish sits under your boots. The same trail splits to three summits, and the Grand Wall on the face draws climbers from all over. If the stairs are more than you want, the Sea to Sky Gondola runs up to the same view next door with no scramble.
Shannon Falls shares the same Highway 99 pullout, a 335-metre cascade a short forest walk from the parking lot and third-highest in the province. It's a quick stop on the way in.
Alice Lake, the reservable base and the swim
Two sandy beaches and a floating dock at South Beach are a short walk from the sites, and the lake is warm enough to swim through the summer. Walk the Four Lakes circuit or climb DeBeck's Hill for the Tantalus Range if you want to earn the dip.
The campground has 55 sites with electrical hookups and hot showers. The Chief's drive-in loop is small-vehicle only, so a bigger rig or a group that wants full hookups is better matched to an RV rental in Squamish, which opens up Alice Lake's electrical sites and the waterfront hookups at Porteau Cove.
Garibaldi Park, the alpine day out of Squamish
Garibaldi is the alpine day trip from town, reached from trailheads off Highway 99 instead of a campground you park at. Diamond Head is the Squamish-side start, 16 km up a gravel road to the lot at 914 metres, with Elfin Lakes 11 km in over Paul Ridge. Rubble Creek climbs 9 km to Garibaldi Lake, turquoise under volcanic rock, 37 km north on the highway.
The trailheads take a free summer day-use pass, and there's no overnight at or near the Garibaldi Lake parking lot, so the van comes back to Alice Lake either way.
Renting in Vancouver and driving up
Plenty of these vans start in the city and run up the Sea to Sky Highway. On the way, Porteau Cove is a waterfront stop, the most southerly fjord in North America, 20 km south of Squamish with campsites over Howe Sound and a train line at the back; it caps at seven nights per person a year. The Vancouver and North Vancouver landers cover the pickup end, and it's worth a DriveBC check for Highway 99 rockfall before you roll.