Camping in one of Canada’s provincial and national parks means you will be sharing the area with a wide variety of wildlife, including bugs and bears. Storing food in well-secured caches and leaving your pets home will help ensure less dramatic bear encounters. All parks require you to pack out everything you brought in and many strongly suggest drinking only purified water. Fires are often allowed in designated areas but do not allow firewood brought from off site. Many parks allow fishing so long as you have the proper permits and licenses. Be aware of the backcountry rules for each park.
Canada’s Pacific Coast
Strathcona Park and Forbidden Plateau is the oldest provincial park in British Columbia and offers some of the most challenging backpacking trails in Canada. This park was created in 1911 with adventurers in mind. Bush and marine campgrounds can be found here along the rugged hiking trails. Hidden in the Cariboo region of British Columbia you will find the Bowron Lakes Provincial Park. This park provides a secluded circuit of lakes accessible only to canoes and kayaks.
The Prairies
Jasper National Park is nestled in the Canadian Rockies and offers a chance to hike or horseback ride on one of the extensive backcountry trails. Enjoy a campsite far from the rest of civilization. In Saskatchewan, the Prince Albert National Park provides campsites off the designated trails, increasing your chances of finding a secret fishing hole. You can visit Manitoba’s highest waterfall, Kwasitchewan Falls, if you opt to visit Pisew Falls Provincial Park.
Central Canada
Algonquin Park offers rugged and rough backcountry to hike or canoe and designated camping spots. Choose paths that are easy or challenging to weave through bogs or past a hidden lake. Parc national du Mont-Tremblant has the distinction of being the oldest and largest of the parks in Quebec. You can stay in your tent or in one of the little huts on site after spending the day swimming, canoeing or hiking.
Atlantic Canada
New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are home to the incredible 1,000,000-acre Fundy National Park. The New Brunswick side of the park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Backpacking on the 28-mile Fundy Circuit can take up to five days while the more challenging 37-mile Dobson Trail can take even longer. Enjoy a gorgeous sunset or watch the whales at Fishing Cove in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
Northern Canada
If you have ever wanted to canoe in the sunshine at midnight and view polar bears and herds of musk-oxen, this is your spot. Bears are so prominent in Tombstone Park in the Yukon that they have provided bear-proof lockers on the sites. The arctic tundra environment of Aulavik National Park in the Northwest Territories offers a chance to set up camp anywhere on this flat and often frozen landscape, except on archeological sites. Most of the Quttinirpaaq National Park in the Nunavut Territory is an arctic desert covered mostly by snow and ice, offering countless ski mountaineering opportunities.
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