We are a little bit ahead of schedule and will be getting to Jasper and Banff in late August(in theory) from our trip to Alaska. A couple of questions: Does the Jasper and Banff NP have drive-up campsites(meaning no reservations)? I saw in Days End there is Overflow parking which would be fine, anyone have a feel for availability in late August?

Would it be better to find other things to do(I am sure we could) so we delay Jasper and Banff until early September?

Need some ideas here..............Thanks

We were in Jasper late August 2017 in the overflow parking in Jasper.  This is a large open area, with plenty of space. You just pick a spot, nothing assigned.  This is a great place to camp.  Overflow is near Snaring campground north of Jasper on Hwy 16.  Jasper is a night sky preserve and the stars are amazing.  I have never seen so many stars.

Edited July 24 by treeed

After Labor Day, the crowds always thin out. Just the nature of the beast. There is drive-up sites in most of the parks in the area, but you need to be in there early (before lunch) to get them. Plan to stay somewhere close the night before, to get packed up and travel and get there. Mount Robson is a great park an hour west of Jasper, Hinton has a KOA, an hour east of the park. Whistlers campground is closed this year for a facelift, and they had a large overflow area, also closed.

  On 7/24/2019 at 10:57 PM, Darryl&Rita said:

After Labor Day, the crowds always thin out. Just the nature of the beast. There is drive-up sites in most of the parks in the area, but you need to be in there early (before lunch) to get them. Plan to stay somewhere close the night before, to get packed up and travel and get there. Mount Robson is a great park an hour west of Jasper, Hinton has a KOA, an hour east of the park. Whistlers campground is closed this year for a facelift, and they had a large overflow area, also closed.

Do you think the overflow of Whistler is the same as Treeed stayed at?

We do plan to be an hour or 2 away and we generally hit the road by 8 AM.

  On 7/24/2019 at 11:15 PM, SWharton said:

Do you think the overflow of Whistler is the same as Treeed stayed at?

We do plan to be an hour or 2 away and we generally hit the road by 8 AM.

Impossible to say. Whistlers is the closest to Jasper townsite, but there are overflow spots at most parks. Just as an FYI, the Ice Fields Parkway also offers 100 spots on a FCFS basis. Granted, it's in a parking lot, and surrounded by ice and snow.

You have both given us very useful info. Next time we have good internet and cell phone coverage I'll do some Google mapping to see the spots and make some phone calls to confirm the overflow parking status and, if possible, locations. Overflow is fine, prefer a cg but boondocking is boondocking.

I had read that Whistler was closed but yesterday was the first I read about the overflow parking.