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| This is how I camp in winter |
Winter Camping in Backcountry Huts and Cabins
I'll talk about a few different ways to winter camp in comfort through this story but this is by far my favourite option because you'll be in the backcountry, sleeping in total warmth and comfort, without breaking the bank!
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| The Elizabeth Parker Hut, Yoho National Park |
Winter Cabin Camping at Lake O'Hara, Yoho National Park
The Elizabeth Parker Hut (photo above) is the most popular of the Alpine Club of Canada huts. Summer users need to enter a lottery in order to get
prime spots in the cabin. Winter is
still a busy time at the hut, but it’s slightly easier to get spots. Go mid-week and you can usually find a few
beds in the colder months. If you’re
lucky, you might even snag spots on a weekend!
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| Winter at the Elizabeth Parker Hut, Lake O'Hara |
The hut is located in the beautiful Lake O’Hara region and
winter access is accomplished via an 11 km x-country ski on the summer road
(which is closed to vehicles in the winter months.)
The trailhead is located 12 km west of Lake Louise so this is an easy
weekend destination for Calgary families.
The hut sleeps 20 people in winter, and you can try to book the whole thing for yourself and a handful of other families.
Read about our previous trips here:
The hut sleeps 20 people in winter, and you can try to book the whole thing for yourself and a handful of other families.
Read about our previous trips here:
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| Elk Lakes Cabin, Elk Lakes Provincial Park |
Winter Cabin Camping in Elk Lakes Provincial Park, BC
The second cabin I recommend for families is the Elk Lakes Cabin, also maintained by the Alpine Club of Canada. The cabin is reached via Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in Kananaskis and can be accessed on x-country skis or snowshoes following the PLPP ski trail to Elk Pass.
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| Snowshoeing into the cabin with a sled and a ski bike |
This is
the only ACC hut that can be reached on a trail that is groomed and track-set
for the first half of the journey. The
total trip distance is 9 km with the final 4.5 kms heading across the BC border
and down a power line to the hut.
This hut sleeps 14 people and we usually try to book the entire thing for ourselves and a few other families.
This hut sleeps 14 people and we usually try to book the entire thing for ourselves and a few other families.
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| Lower Elk Lake, Elk Lakes Provincial Park |
Read about our previous trips here:
- Snowy Adventures in Elk Lakes Provincial Park
- Raising Tough Kids - Our Annual Winter Backpacking Trip
- Winter Glamping - Not for the Faint of Heart
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| Playing in the snow outside the Elk Lakes Cabin |
Winter Cabin Camping in Waterton Lakes National Park
The Alpine Club maintains an old warden cabin along the road to Cameron Lake in Waterton Lakes National Park. This small cabin has been converted into a sweet little backcountry hut for 8 people.
The Cameron Lake Cabin is reached via a short 2 km x-country ski or hike along the Cameron Lake Road (closed to traffic in the winter.)
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| Cameron Lake Cabin |
Note that the cabin is currently only accessible via a 15 km ski in for the 2019 season as a result of a road closure from a recent wildfire. More information here.
Read about our previous trips here:
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| Skiing the Cameron Lake Road to the Cabin |
Winter Cabin Camping at Rogers Pass, Glacier National Park, BC
The A.O. Wheeler Hut is an extremely easy backcountry hut to reach with a short 45 minute x-country ski or hike in. You'll follow a summer road (closed to traffic in the winter) that is completely flat once you climb up the first hill.
Once at the hut, we love playing in the snow, building a backcountry luge track for sleds, and we hike or ski a short distance up the valley until we reach avalanche terrain (which doesn't take long.)
And as with the others, this hut is maintained by the Alpine Club of Canada.
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| Winter at the A.O. Wheeler Hut in Rogers Pass |
This hut sleeps 24 people but we like booking the full thing with a group of other families. It's a fun place to visit early season as well (November is awesome) where it already feels very much like winter!
Read about our previous trips here:
- The Easiest Family Winter Backcountry Trip (Wheeler Hut, Rogers Pass)
- Launching a Winter of Adventure at Rogers Pass, Glacier National Park (Wheeler Hut)
- Easter at the Wheeler Hut, Rogers Pass
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| Winter wonderland at the Wheeler Hut in November |
Winter Cabin Camping in Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Southern Alberta
Cypress Hills Provincial Park has many backcountry huts and many are quite easy to access throughout the winter on either x-country skis or snowshoes as you follow summer roads closed to traffic in the winter.
Some of the camping cabins are also accessible by vehicle year round as well if you'd prefer to be located in a front country campground, not having to ski or hike in.
You can read all about the different options here for backcountry or front country winter camping on the Cypress Hills Provincial Park website.
Know that these huts are not maintained by the Alpine Club of Canada, and are a bit more "simple" in nature than an ACC hut. You'll likely have to bring your own water in with you (or plan to boil snow,) and you'll usually have to bring your own stove in as well. The huts have dishes, but do not have an actual stove. Other than that they are pretty similar to an ACC hut.
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| Backcountry cabin in Cypress Hills Provincial Park |
These huts tend to be quite small so the good news is that you won't have to share them with anybody other than your own family or the friends you choose to invite with you.
Read about our previous trips here:
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| Hiking in to our backcountry hut on closed summer roads |
Winter Camping in Wilderness Hostels
This is one of our other favourite ways to camp in winter. Hostelling International maintains several wilderness hostels across Alberta and BC that have private rooms or cabins for families. We have stayed at many of them, and have even found one that's easy to rent as a private booking (renting out the entire hostel for only 6 people!)
Wilderness hostels usually have drive-up access but you'll appreciate a sled to haul your gear down the snowy path to your cabin at several of them. Bathrooms are usually outside in the form of outhouses and you won't find WiFi at too many hostels (or cell coverage for that matter.)
Most hostels do have kitchens though (with refrigerators and stoves,) and there's always some form of heat.
Rooms usually come with bunk beds and you'll be sharing kitchen/living space at most hostels.
Wilderness hostels usually have drive-up access but you'll appreciate a sled to haul your gear down the snowy path to your cabin at several of them. Bathrooms are usually outside in the form of outhouses and you won't find WiFi at too many hostels (or cell coverage for that matter.)
Most hostels do have kitchens though (with refrigerators and stoves,) and there's always some form of heat.
Rooms usually come with bunk beds and you'll be sharing kitchen/living space at most hostels.
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| Hilda Creek Wilderness Hostel in winter |
Below are the wilderness hostels I recommend for families in winter. Links are provided for each hostel and the links go to the Hostelling International website for more information. I've also listed stories below that I've written on each hostel so that you can see more photos and get an idea of what your trip would be like.
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| Paradise at the Hilda Creek Wilderness Hostel |
Winter Hostelling in Kananaskis
The HI Kananaskis Wilderness hostel is located below Kananaskis Village within close proximity to the Nakiska Ski Hill, x-country trails, skating at the Village, and snowshoe trails. The hostel has four private rooms for families and then two larger dorm rooms separated by gender.
This is a pretty comfortable hostel and is the only wilderness hostel to have indoor plumbing! (and a microwave)
This is a pretty comfortable hostel and is the only wilderness hostel to have indoor plumbing! (and a microwave)
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| Winter Camping at HI Kananaskis |
Read about our previous trips here:
- Winter Camping in Kananaskis
- Affordable Family Ski Vacations in the Canadian Rockies
- Christmas in Kananaskis
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| HI Kananaskis Hostel |
Winter Hostelling in Banff National Park
The HI Castle Mountain wilderness hostel is conveniently located halfway between the Town of Banff and the Village of Lake Louise. It's honestly about 20 minutes from either destination. Plan a trip here for a few days and you'll have no shortage of places to explore. There are also great cross country ski trails right outside the door of the hostel, and you're less than a 10 minute drive away from the Johnston Canyon hiking trail.
This hostel has no private rooms but it has separate dorm rooms for men and women so you should feel safe staying here with children (as long as you have a parent matching the gender of each of your children.) For me, this means I could never stay here solo with my son. As a family trip though, it works when my husband joins us for a weekend.
Note children must be 6 years of age or older to share the communal dorm rooms. Alternately, book the whole hostel for six families and age doesn't matter. We've done this before and it was a lot of fun.
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| HI Castle Mountain Hostel |
Read about our previous trips here:
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| Skiing out the door of the Castle Mountain Hostel |
Winter Hostelling on the Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park
The HI Mosquito Creek Wilderness Hostel is located on the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park, approximately 20 min. from Lake Louise. It is close to downhill and x-country skiing, snowshoeing, and skating at Lake Louise. Families can also snowshoe along Mosquito Creek and through the campground next door. The private cabin sleeps a total of 10 people with two bedrooms, its own kitchen and living area.
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| HI Mosquito Creek |
Read about our previous trips here:
- 5 Reasons to Take your Family to Mosquito Creek this Winter
- Spring Adventures on the Icefields Parkway
- Winter Camping in Style
- Winter Paradise at Mosquito Creek
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| Spring at the Mosquito Creek Hostel, Banff National Park |
The HI Rampart Creek Wilderness Hostel is located on the Icefields Parkway near Saskatchewan River Crossing. It is roughly an hour north of Lake Louise (so maybe plan for a long weekend.) The hostel has no private rooms but each dorm room only sleeps 6 people so just ask to book an entire dorm room if you don't want to share. Otherwise, children must be over the age of six in order to share dorm rooms.
This hostel is very similar to Mosquito Creek except that the main cabin is much smaller. There is a decent sized communal kitchen, but the living room is very small (so plan a spring trip here and hope it's warm enough to play outside a lot!)
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| HI Rampart Creek Hostel |
Read about our previous trips here:
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| Dorm room cabin at the Rampart Creek Hostel |
The HI Hilda Creek Wilderness Hostel is located on the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park within a 10 min. drive from the Columbia Icefields Centre. This hostel requires full winter camping knowledge and you will likely be boiling snow for water if the creek is frozen over. The experience is much the same as staying at a backcountry Alpine Club hut except that you are within 500 metres from the highway. (Make sure you know where the hostel is because you'll never see it from the road in winter.) There are two cabins on site and the sleeping cabin sleeps 6, so rent the full hostel.
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| HI Hilda Creek |
Read about our previous trips here:
- Raising Tough Kids - Hilda Creek Wilderness Trip
- Easter at the Best Wilderness Hostel in the Canadian Rockies
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| Glorious snow above the Hilda Creek Wilderness Hostel |
Winter Hostelling in Jasper National Park
The HI Athabasca Falls Wilderness Hostel is located in Jasper National Park across the road from Athabasca Falls, approximately half an hour outside the town of Jasper. X-country ski trails are located across the road and the Marmot Basin Ski Resort is nearby. Snowshoe trails are plentiful and skating can be found on several lakes close to town. There is a sleeping cabin with two private rooms (duplex style) and each room sleeps 6.
Read about our previous trips here:
- Winter Escape to Jasper National Park
- Marmot Basin - a Ski Resort the Whole Family will Love in Jasper National Park
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| HI Athabasca Falls |
The HI Maligne Canyon Wilderness Hostel is also located near the Town of Jasper, but is on the other side of the town off the Maligne Lake Road. The hostel is located across the road from the popular Maligne Canyon trailhead and is a 15 minute drive from town.
This hostel doesn't have private rooms, but similar to Rampart Creek, sleeps up to 6 people per dorm room. Book an entire dorm room if you have young children.
I also suggest staying here closer to spring when temperatures are warm outside because the main communal cabin is very small. There is no separate living area, just a small kitchen area with a couple of small tables. If it's cold outside, you'll be sharing this cabin with all of the other hostel guests or you'll be stuck hanging out inside your sleeping cabin.
Read about our previous trips here:
This hostel doesn't have private rooms, but similar to Rampart Creek, sleeps up to 6 people per dorm room. Book an entire dorm room if you have young children.
I also suggest staying here closer to spring when temperatures are warm outside because the main communal cabin is very small. There is no separate living area, just a small kitchen area with a couple of small tables. If it's cold outside, you'll be sharing this cabin with all of the other hostel guests or you'll be stuck hanging out inside your sleeping cabin.
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| HI Maligne Canyon Wilderness Hostel |
Read about our previous trips here:
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| Maligne Canyon frozen ice walk |
Winter Camping in Yurts and Glamping Tents
One of my favourite resorts in the Canadian Rockies has a cute little yurt that you can book year round, and it makes staying here much more affordable. They've also built a glamping tent (with more to be built soon.)
Mount Engadine Lodge in Kananaskis is located in beautiful Spray Valley Provincial Park, and is a very short distance away from fabulous snowshoeing, x-country skiing, or winter hiking. You can pretty much hike or ski right out the front door of the lodge in fact!
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| Yurt camping at Mount Engadine Lodge |
Options for accommodations include staying in the main lodge (which won't feel much like camping,) or staying in either their yurt or newly built glamping tent.
The yurt sleeps 4 people in bunk beds and has a small heater in it so you won't freeze on a cold winter night. All meals are included with your stay including afternoon tea for an all inclusive price of $150 per person per night. Stay on a Saturday night and you can still spend two full days playing in the mountains as well!
Learn more about staying in the yurt here. (link to the Mount Engadine website)
And for that romantic weekend away without the kids, check out their new glamping tents for a more "elevated" camping experience. And heck, bring the kids if you want. Each tent comfortably sleeps two people, but there is a pull out couch if you want to bring the children.
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| Snowshoeing across the meadow below Mount Engadine Lodge |
Read about our previous trips here:
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| Gorgeous scenery near Mount Engadine Lodge |
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