- IMPORTANT: Create an account and get acquainted with the reservation system in preparation for your reservations. It is highly recommended that you login to the system prior to reservations opening and practice using the system.
- Create your GDT itinerary with a complete list of all National Park (NP) campgrounds to be used on your trip. Build some flexibility into your itinerary in case any campgrounds are not available.
- Thru-hikers planning a long-distance trek through multiple National Parks are recommended to reserve campgrounds online where available and then if necessary, call each applicable National Park Visitor Centre to complete other required campground reservations, including random camping locations, and request reimbursement for any duplicate reservation fees if necessary.
- Note the opening dates and times for National Park online reservations and be prepared to make reservations for the most popular campgrounds in your itinerary as soon as they open. See the chart below for campground popularity ratings.
- For 2024, Waterton Lakes National Park’s backcountry camping reservations open on Wednesday, January 24, 2024 at 8:00am MT; Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks’ backcountry camping reservations open on Monday, January 29, 2024 at 8:00am MT; and Jasper National Park’s backcountry camping reservations open on Thursday, February 1, 2024 at 8:00am MT.
- On opening day, login to the reservation service webpage beginning at 7:30am MT. All users waiting will be randomly assigned a place in the online “waiting room” queue. Your place in the queue is not influenced by how early you logged in or how long you’ve been waiting. Any users logging into the website after 8:00am MT will be placed at the back of the line. When it’s your turn, you will be alerted via an on-screen message and you have 30 minutes to proceed to the reservation website.
Follow these steps to reserve National Park campgrounds and create your National Park Backcountry Permit:
- Click on the ‘Backcountry’ tab and select ‘Backcountry Zone’. A backcountry zone reservation holds a spot in the selected campground, but not a specific tent pad. Tent pad selection is available on a first-come, first-served basis when campers arrive at the campground.
- Select the National Park: Waterton Lakes; Jasper; or Banff, Kootenay and Yoho Backcountry. See park-specific instructions below.
- Select your arrival date (i.e. the start date of your National Park permit).
- Choose your Party Size (number of people) and number of Tent Pads.
- Select your Access Point and click Search to bring up the list of applicable backcountry zones and corresponding map.
- Build Your Stay: Select your Entry Point, select the number of nights at the site, select your desired campground from the ‘Available Zones’ dropdown list, and click Save. Repeat this step, adding campgrounds to your itinerary one at a time, to continue “building your stay”.
- Once your trip itinerary from the current Entry Point is complete (or you’ve received an unavoidable “too far away” error), click Reserve. Note you might need to Add Another Reservation for campgrounds from other zones, e.g. Brazeau, Maligne Pass, or Skyline in Jasper.
- Review your Reservation Details, check the 2 required acknowledgements, and click Confirm Reservation Details.
- Your Shopping Cart will be displayed and held for 20 minutes or until your reservation is paid for, allowing you to Add Another Reservation. Proceed to Checkout if you’re ready to pay.
If a campground isn’t available on your preferred date, you may need to backtrack and modify your itinerary to correspond to campground availability. Use the reservation Map, availability List, and availability Calendar to create or modify your itinerary.
- The reservation Map is probably the most useful as it shows campground locations, colour-coded to indicate availability, as well as Access Points/ Trailheads.
- The availability List shows all available campgrounds on a specific date. Dropdown menus provide detailed information on each campground.
- The availability Calendar allows you to see a full list campground availability over a range of dates. Dropdown menus provide detailed information on each campground.
Jasper Reservations:
- You should plan to book any “High” or “Very High” popularity campgrounds as soon as reservations open on Day 1, in particular Skyline and Maligne Pass campgrounds.
- For the Skyline, select “Maligne Lake Trailhead” (NOBO) or “Signal Trailhead” (SOBO) as your Access/Entry Point. Click Search to bring up the map of Jasper, and select “Skyline” on the map. Proceed with selection all of your Skyline Trail campgrounds and then click Reserve and check out. This will cost an extra reservation fee, but it gives you the best chance to secure sites on the Skyline Trail.
- After booking your Skyline campgrounds, create a second trip to reserve your Brazeau and Maligne Pass campgrounds. Select “Nigel Pass Trailhead” (NOBO) or “Maligne Lake Trailhead” (SOBO) as your Access/Entry Point. Click Search to bring up the map of Jasper, and select “Brazeau” (NOBO) or “Maligne Pass” (SOBO) on the map. Once your trip itinerary from the current Entry Point is complete, click Reserve. You will need to Add Another Reservation for campgrounds from other zones, i.e. Brazeau, Maligne Pass, or Skyline.
- If you only plan to only use medium popularity campgrounds on the Skyline, you might be able to book Brazeau, Maligne Pass and Skyline Trail campgrounds in a single reservation transaction.
- Note the Six-Passes Alternate Route is closed to all overnight camping, so no random camping permits will be issued again this year.
- For campgrounds north of Jasper townsite and any random camping permits, call the Jasper Visitor Centre (780-852-6177; ext 2). Have your permit number ready and request these additional campground reservations be added to your existing permit.
Banff, Kootenay and Yoho Reservations:
- If you plan to use any “High” or “Very High” popularity campgrounds, online reservations are recommended as soon as they open on Day 1.
- To increase your chances of getting sites on the popular Rockwall Trail, you should reserve these campgrounds first by making a separate reservation as soon as they open on Day 1 (the “too far away” error between Floe Lake and Ball Pass campgrounds will likely necessitate two separate reservations anyway). Select “Floe Lake Trailhead” (NOBO) or “Ottertail River Trailhead” (SOBO) as your Access Point. Select all of your campgrounds between Floe Lake Trailhead and Ottertail River Trailhead, and click Reserve and check out. This will cost an extra reservation fee, but it gives you the best chance to secure sites on the Rockwall Trail.
- After booking your Rockwall campgrounds, create a second trip to reserve your other campgrounds in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay. Select “Palliser Pass Access Point” (NOBO) or “Hawk Creek Trailhead” (SOBO) as your Access Point. Proceed with selection of all of your campgrounds one at a time, noting that flexibility may be required subject to campground availability.
- In Banff/Kootenay/Yoho, you can use the “Out of Park” feature to indicate a night outside of the park without having to create a separate reservation. This feature is most commonly used for itineraries that include an overnight stay in Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park or in Banff townsite.
- NOTE: Parks Canada suggests it might be easiest to call the Banff (403-762-1556) or Lake Louise Visitor Centres (403-522-1264) and book all Banff, Kootenay and Yoho campgrounds by phone, but you can expect very busy phone lines on Day 1 and you might miss your ideal dates at the most popular campgrounds. In previous years, Parks Canada has been good about returning calls when messages are left.
Waterton Lakes Reservations:
- If you plan to use any “High” or “Very High” popularity campgrounds, online reservations are recommended as soon as they open on Day 1.
- Select the closest Entry/Access Point to the desired campground to avoid an error or warning.
Errors and Warnings:
- If you receive an error indicating that your campground is “too far away. Select a different site” you will either have to select a closer campground or complete your current reservation and begin a new online reservation using the nearest trailhead/access point where you left off. Sometimes there will be no way to avoid this error and the only solution is to call a National Park Visitor Centre directly to reserve your preferred campground. Currently, this error appears to be unavoidable when trying to book campgrounds between Banff and Kootenay National Parks, e.g. Ball Pass Junction to Floe Lake (a quite reasonable distance of 20.8 km).
- When adding campgrounds more than 20 km from an Access Point or previous campground, you might receive a ‘Difficult Trip’ warning asking you to confirm your choice due to the long distance.
Random Camping:
- For Random Camping Permits or reservations at campgrounds not available in the online system (see chart below), you must call a National Park Visitor Centre directly. Parks Canada asks that you call a day to two after opening day when staff are slightly less busy. Have your permit number ready and ask the Parks Canada employee to add additional reservations to your existing permit and reimburse any duplicate reservation fees (if possible).
- Random camping is allowed on the following sections of the GDT within National Parks but a Random Camping Permit is still required: Amiskwi valley in Yoho; Howse Pass Trail in Banff; Miette River Trail, Colonel Pass, and Calumet in Jasper.
Important Information:
- Maximum tents per tent pad is 1.
- Maximum campers per tent pad is 4.
- Maximum nights at the same campground is 3, with the exception of the campgrounds on the Maligne Pass Trail where the maximum stay is 1 night.
- Maximum group size travelling together in the backcountry is 10 campers or 5 tents pads.
- For changes en-route, call or visit a National Park Visitor Centre to revise your Backcountry Permit.
- Flexibility in your itinerary may be required subject to campground availability.
| National Park Campgrounds | Popularity |
| WATERTON LAKES: | |
| Townsite | High |
| Alderson Lake, Bertha Bay, Boundary Bay, Lone Lake, Twin Lakes | Medium |
| Snowshoe | Low |
| BANFF: | |
| Egypt Lake Campground | Very High |
| Ball Pass Junction, Howard Douglas Lake. (Egypt Lake Shelter is currently closed) | High |
| Healy Creek, Marvel Lake. (Bryant Creek Shelter is currently closed) | Medium |
| Big Springs, Birdwood, Burstall, McBride’s Camp | Low |
| Random Camping: Howse floodplain | Very Low* – not available online, call Lake Louise Visitor Centre |
| KOOTENAY: | |
| Floe Lake | Very High (will likely fill within 30 minutes on opening day) |
| Helmet Falls, Numa Creek, Tumbling Creek | High |
| YOHO: | |
| Little Yoho | High |
| Yoho Lake | Medium |
| McArthur Creek | Low |
| Random Camping: Amiskwi valley | Very Low* – not available online, call Yoho or Lake Louise Visitor Centre |
| JASPER: | |
| Curator, Tekarra | Very High (will likely fill within 30 minutes on opening day) |
| Four Point, Signal, Snowbowl | High |
| Avalanche, Mary Schäffer, Mary Vaux, Trapper Creek | High – limited use, only 1 permit available per day per site |
| Boulder Creek, Evelyn Creek, Jonas Cutoff, Little Shovel, Watchtower, Waterfalls | Medium |
| Adolphus, Minnow Lake, Poboktan | Low |
| Chown Creek, Wolverine North | Low* – not available online, call Jasper Visitor Centre |
| Cline, McCready, Timothy Slides – horse campgrounds, but GDT hikers are allowed to camp | Low* – not available online, call Jasper Visitor Centre |
| Random Camping: Miette River & Lake, Colonel Pass, and Calumet | Very Low* – not available online, call Jasper Visitor Centre |
| Six-Passes Route is closed to overnight random camping in 2024 | Not available |
