Brazeau Dam and Provincial Recreation Area is a far off campground in central area of Alberta. The campground is approximately 394km from Calgary due north on the Cowboy trail Hwy 22, and about 4.5hrs of your time to drive there.
Once there the glampur will be welcomed by a well signed and well kept campground. Once we made it to Drayton Valley and found Hwy 620 going to the Brazeau Dam, the signage was easy to follow to the campsite.
The Campsite has four loops but only 3 of the loops were open at the time of our visit.
All loops can have reservations made for the campground at Reserve Alberta Parks
A & B loops are rustic and without power, water, or sewer. C loop offers power but in roadside drive up open style campsites, where you have a pedestal and and a picnic table, but little else. Though A & B loops were rustic they offered the best value for secluded glamping experience. If you were coming here with kids the A loop would be best as it is the closet to the beach. We chose the B loop.
Since we had already reserved our site in the B loop off we went to the right.
We found our site and we planted our flag. Let the unpacking begin!
Definitely big rig friendly roads and campsites, though we did see bus style RV’s staying in the overflow near the front of the park.
The road into the campground is a beautiful drive. Though it is not long it is nicely treed and very lush.
Great access roads for the campsites made it an easy backup for the RV. Nicely tucked away in our site, with all our gear out, we had great privacy from the road.
With the campsite setup and everything where it should be, it was time to enjoy the sunshine and the campground and go exploring. It was a grey day when we left Calgary so to have sunshine at the end of the journey was refreshing. Unfortunately little did we know this would be the last of the sunshine for awhile.
We did not see much wildlife on this trip but I did get a visit from a beautiful butterfly that flew in front of me and stopped next to my chair.
Be prepared for long walks. The area around the campsite is very spread out. As I said earlier the walk to the beach is a trek from either the B, C, or D loops. A loop has the quickest routes to the beach. Walking to the Dam to view the lake and facilities will take a good 30min.
Once at the Dam you are treated to great views of the surrounding area and the facilities built here.
The Dam and the Spill way are separated by a distance and a canal. The spill way is built within a bridge with Hwy 620 roaring over top.
From the bridge deck you can get a great view looking down the spill way.
The spill way opens up on to a beautiful man made lake. Further down this lake are a numerous boondocking sites along the lake. This is ATV country and many of the campers we saw out here were Truck and camper with ATV’s. Based on the condition of the access road to these areas, that’s the type of rig you need to get in.
If you walk the other way up the canal you can get to the Dam and see the lake behind it and the canal in front of it. There is a lot of equipment and high voltage lines running along the service road, so there is always an electrical hum in the air. All of these sites are protected by fencing, but it is always wise to beware and watch out with little kids.
The canal offered a beautiful view of its lush banks running along side the service road. Along the service road next to the canal was Crown Land and free camping was available. The access road on to the land and the humming from the electrical equipment running up the service road, made us realize we had the best spot back in B loop, maybe no water front view but we had peace and quite.
Unfortunately I do not have great memories of Brazeau, even though the area was beautiful. From the start of the trip I had contracted pneumonia, unbeknownst to me, so the whole trip i felt awful. Also, other than the first day the weather was so unstable it rained most of the time we were there. With a huge thunderstorm the first night that scared our guest. I think if I had been here earlier in the year instead of the end of July we may have had a better time. Surly the area is geared up for the ATV enthusiast, but the RV’er can still have a great trip here. certainly the drive up Hwy 22 is beautiful and worth the trip in it self.
Happy Trails
The Glampurs
Nuts & Bolts:
Brazeau is a big rig friendly campground, with a total of 53 sites, but I think that the D loop is often closed except in high season or high demand. Most of the sites were level or could be leveled with little effort and a few leveling blocks. There are a total of 13 – 30 amp powered sites in Loop C, but unless you absolutely need power I would not recommend these sites. Generators can be used in the non-powered sites between 7am and 10pm. Cell Service was adequate at two to three bars a booster would bring in more. There is no water, or sewer. All of these services can only be found in Drayton valley 58km away. A night here will set you back $26.00/night. Firewood is available for a fee. Reservations can be made here at Alberta Parks.