October 14, 2009 | Tips from Travellers >
Squamish, Camping
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When I think Thanksgiving, I think turkey (or rather, tofurkey) not tents. Well, this weekend I learned that a lot of people think tents, RVs and warm campfires on the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend.
Our plan was to take our new/old ’88 Westfalia campervan on a maiden voyage over the long weekend. We had a few campsite requirements: within cellphone range of Vancouver in case something falls off the Westy; no crazy unpaved roads; campfire. Bonus points for electric plug-in so we could make smoothies in the morning (hey – I didn’t say this was rustic).
Alice Lake Provincial Park in Squamish sounded good to us. We rolled in around 6pm, and were blown away by the number of people who had the same idea, albeit with more functional vehicles. Our smoothie dream was crushed when we found all 55 electric plug-in campsites were already taken. Nonetheless, we were able to find a nice spot tucked in the trees.
All that was left to do was to sit around the crackling fire, cook dinner on our campstove, and eat what seemed like a zillion marshmallows (they were the mini-kind, which made for some eclectic roasting methods). It was a clear night, so we had a nice view of stars peeking between the silhouettes of tree branches above. In the morning, we checked out Alice Lake and watched a fellow camper take his dog paddleboarding.
Before we left, the campground operator told us that more than ¾ of the 108 Alice Lake campsites were full, and that ALL of the 60 campsites in nearby Porteau Cove Provincial Park had been full since the Wednesday before the long weekend. Wow! I had no idea so many people went camping and RVing for Thanksgiving.
Overall, I had a relaxing, bug-free, quiet camping trip at Alice Lake Provincial Park. I’d definitely consider camping as a future Thanksgiving activity. Now all I need to figure out is how to roast a tofurkey over an open campfire