Welcome to Rampart Creek, a little piece of heaven nestled in the heart of Banff National Park. To get there you must travel 262km from Calgary taking the Hwy 1 (Trans Canada) to just beyond Lake Louise, then taking the 93 Icefields Parkway exit. You will then travel the parkway 93km, past Saskatchewan Crossing to the Rampart creek Turn off. As this campground is in a National Park you will require either a park pass or park permit on top of your campground fee. Permits or passes can be purchased at the Banff East Gate along Hwy 1 or online.
We have been so lucky as to have been at Rampart 6 times, with two of those times on this particular trip. Rampart is a beautiful Campground with some wonderful sites down along the North Saskatchewan river, Rampart has four loops and a walk in campsite section. There a total of 46 sites, with some being big rig friendly. Three of the loops will allow for large RV’s to safely navigate and search to find a spot that will fit there rig. One of the loops, the one directly west of the common area and firewood pit, will only allow RV’s that are 26’ft or under to safely navigate the circle back at the end of the loop.
The roads around Rampart could use some repair, especially as you get into the loops down by the river; watch out for potholes. Overall for a national park campground, this one is tops!
Rampart is a self-registration Campground, so a nice kiosk greets you instead of a park attendant. A night here will cost you $17.60 and a fire permit an extra $8.80 per night. Find your site put your money in the envelope fill in your info and pop it in the repository. Your Done!
Here’s Lorraine, Who couldn’t resist playing game show host with the kiosk.
Neither could I!
As I mentioned earlier we visited Rampart twice this year. The first visit which was the shortest time there, we managed to get a nice pull through site by the river, so we planted our flag!
Shortly after planting the flag Lorraine returned from paying for our site. As you can see from this picture this particular site had good access for big rig’s. Our toad through the trees, tops our length out at 53″ft.
There was also minimal leveling on this site, but their not all like this, but there are some real gems at this campground and though this is not the best spot it is one of the nicer ones.
Once we got all tucked in our spot we were able to kick back and enjoy our view from the picnic table; but it seemed lack luster from what we remembered. Notice the milky colour of the river?
Lorraine noticed the off colour of the river too and decided to take her own pictures.
Well I guess i must confess and explain why the river looks so off. Well British Columbia had been under fire this year, and the smoke from their out of control wild fires had blown into the area and changed not only the colour of the sky, but that of the water too.
As you can see in this picture the sky is thick with smoke, and this changes the appearance of the water.
Well after our long travel day and our explorations of Rampart, it was time to kick back in the loungers and chill. Our day had started at 5am and due to some difficulties we did not get on the road till 8am. then the next four hours were spent on the road driving to Rampart. Lorraine was done!
And so was I!
Besides, it was fire time! Banff had a fire ban on during the time of our visit so we got to test out our Propane fire pit on the new rig. Ha! all of my plumbing worked!
On our return trip to Rampart the skies had cleared and the smoke drifted away, the views of the mountains become much more clearer. All of a sudden the beauty of Rampart shone through.
We found our site, and struck our claim, and planted our flag.
This site was not a pull though, instead I had to unhook the dolly and toad from the RV and pack us all in nice and neat on our site. Not a bad job, if do say so my self.
Once all was said and done, we had ourselves a beautiful site right on the river. A beautiful place in which to glamp ourselves until we could glamp no more.
The views from this campsite were just spectacular! and the sound of the rushing river before us memorizing. Surely we had found the best site in the campground!
One of our views was of this spectacular mountain that looks like the conning tower of a submarine. we called it submarine mountain.
Sunset at Rampart over Submarine mountain.
Remember the first pictures of the river and how milky it was? Now look at it since the smoke cleared. It is now a beautiful emerald green.
There is not a lot of wildlife at Rampart at least I have never seen anything significant over the times I have been there. On this trip though I came upon this seemingly tame ptarmigan who was quite happy to allow me to take his picture. The only other wild animal I came across was…
Fussa, our 15yr old camping cat.
It never ceases to amaze me no matter where you go, if you look for it, you will always find something beautiful and amazing, just like this picture of this flowering plant.
And finally, it just goes to show even when you upgrade your RV and get more space, there is never enough space.
Happy Trails
The Glampurs
Nuts & Bolts:
Rampart creek is a an amazing campground within the Banff National park and on the Icefields parkway. Rampart is one of only a couple of campgrounds that are big rig friendly in the area and I believe the last one before Jasper.
The road system in Rampart is ok. There are a few tight turns and one loop that only 26’ft RV”s should traverse. Watch out for potholes near the river. There are no services at Rampart, and there is also no water. Generators are allowed to operate between 9am and 10:30am and 5pm to 7pm. There is firewood for free with a permit. There is no cell service at the campground or within the Icefields parkway. Camping here is self registration so make sure you have cash on hand. a night of camping will set you back $17.60/night and a fire permit will further cost you an additional $8.80/night. Beware that this is a rustic campground.