Driving from the Yukon to Southern British Columbia can be daunting enough with road condition worries, no signal and where to find gas without throwing boondocking in the mix. We really don’t like to pay for camping though when we are literally just making dinner and going to sleep. We also keep trying to up the ante with more boondocking and less campsites the longer we are on this adventure. So FREE won and we went boondocking for 3 nights on our way to Kelowna, BC.
The best thing about these remote areas along the Alaskan Highway is that there are plenty of spots to park your RV along the drive down. You can park at any turnout along the highway as long as there are no signs posted for no camping. If you prefer a tested spot, we have our go to resources below!
Our Resources
We find our best boondocking sites on Campendium, http://www.campendium.com. This site is super helpful for us because we rely on our fellow travellers reviews of the road conditions to get to the site, the spot itself since we are 43 feet long and the cell signal.
We also look at freecampsites.net for more reviews of off the beaten-path camping spots by fellow travellers as well. Sometimes we do find spots here that we were unable to find on Campendium or Allstays.
The Milepost. Yes it’s not just for Alaska! It covers all the highways from Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories as well.
Where we stayed
NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Have you ever camped somewhere so remote without cell signal and nothing around for miles? We used to camp in Algonquin, Ontario where we took all of our camping gear in a canoe and paddled out on the lake to our campsite. We still saw people around and it still felt like we weren’t alone. This was the first time I felt alone with no signal and no one around minus the few cars that came to checkout our spot and then drive away.
We stayed in Northern British Columbia GPS 58.8240035, -125.1353573 off the Alaska Highway near a tranquil river the colour of a brilliant light blue. I put my worries aside and we enjoyed checking out the river and relaxing for a bit before bed where we got an excellent nights sleep before heading off again the next morning. We even got rid of our garbage at the cans off the turnout.
WALMART DAWSON CREEK
Walmart is definitely always our go to “lot boondocking” spot when we are in a city. It is perfect for us to pick up our groceries while getting a safe place to park overnight. This Walmart was a bit noisy and busy with lots of RVs when we stayed but still a great stop!
ALBERTA ON HIGHWAY 40
We found this spot in the Milepost GPS 53.9245632, -118.8142969. It was incredibly helpful as Highway 40 in Alberta had limited markers and few signs not to mention, limited cell signal. This location however did have cell signal though! Highly recommend the Milepost for this leg of the journey.
With only a few other campers, we enjoyed having our rig parked right along the river and listening to the sounds of the water flowing all night. I truly did not want to leave the next day it was so relaxing! There is a 14 day limit here as is the norm for most places, with this scenery and fishing in the river, I can see why it would be a popular camping spot around here!
We were far enough away from the blazing forest fire smoke, but you could still see the haze in the distance when we put the drone up. If you travel back down from Alaska in August, you will most likely be caught up in the smoke. We had friends that travelled down in September and it was a more pleasant drive with spectacular views. After we left this spot, we drove through Jasper and couldn’t see much past the road instead of the magnificent views we had anticipated.
Lessons learned
Was boondocking in the remote North really that scary? Well no, not after getting over my fear the first night of feeling alone with no ability to even make a phone call if we were in trouble. Sometimes I feel that the unknown is always scary until you face your fear, in my case, boondocking with unknown wildlife in the remote North. I’m so glad we did and spent $0 on camping!