Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield
The Parkway runs 230 km with no town on it. Campgrounds and hostels are strung along its length, roughly an hour apart, and most are basic — no services, and several are first-come, first-served.
Banff National Park (southern half) — camping & booking
- Reservable — Rampart Creek, Silverhorn Creek
- First-come, first-served — Mosquito Creek, Waterfowl Lakes
Jasper National Park (northern half) — camping & booking
- First-come, first-served — Wilcox, Columbia Icefield (tents) and the Icefields Centre RV lot, Jonas Creek, Honeymoon Lake, Mount Kerkeslin
Hostels — four wilderness hostels, spaced along the highway and mostly off-grid
- HI Mosquito Creek — 24 km north of Lake Louise
- HI Rampart Creek — near Saskatchewan River Crossing
- HI Hilda Creek — group rental only, 8 km south of the Icefields Centre
- HI Beauty Creek — north of the Icefield, on the Jasper side
Alpine Club of Canada huts
Huts book through the Alpine Club of Canada on a rolling window — six months ahead for members, three for everyone else. The first five below are the Wapta Icefield chain, the classic multi-day ski traverse; all are glacier travel, not hikes.
- Bow Hut — from Bow Lake, and the usual first night on the Wapta
- Peyto Hut (Peter and Catharine Whyte) — from Bow Lake
- Balfour Hut (Rob Ritchie) — from Bow Lake
- Mt. Daly Hut (Scott Duncan) — the last hut on the traverse, above Sherbrooke Lake
- Yoho Peak Hut (Louise and Richard Guy) — on the Wapta's Yoho side
- Mt. Alberta Hut (Lloyd MacKay) — from the Stutfield Glacier viewpoint; a serious mountaineering approach
Either end has more choice: Banff National Park to the south, Jasper and Mount Robson to the north. Saskatchewan River Crossing, the one fuel stop on the highway, is also the gateway to David Thompson Country on Highway 11.