by JudyJB » Mon Sep 09, 2024 8:43 pm
Tina, you are right about the Canadian campgrounds, and the interesting thing is that there are tons of campers around, even in big rigs. I seldom stay in a full hookup site in the U.S. and am usually happy with just electric, but these electric-only sites here are not cheap. Most cost at least $40 per site, which ends up being reasonable for me with the currency difference--about $30, but Canadians are complaining that they should get more for their money, and they really like U.S. campsites better, but they exchange rate makes them more expensive.
I think a lot of the problems with these provincial and national parks is due to poor design. For example, the buddy sites I am in here are pull-thru, and you can enter from each end. The problem is that the picnic tables are on the outside of the double driveway, which means most people park so that their doors are facing the picnic table so they can have a little privacy. Almost everyone has slides so that means there is only about 2-3' between rigs, and it also means that your electric connection will be on the wrong side, so you have to have a 30 amp extension cord. Luckily, most Canadians carry one. A lot of Americans don't.
I was in a provincial park in Ontario last summer where my electric hookup was in back of the next site, and there were a lot of trees between sites. In order to plug in, even with 50' of electric cords, I had to park my rig BEHIND the picnic table and grill, which was really tricky!
Last night, I had 30 amps hooked up, but blew a breaker outside when I had my AC and microwave working, which has never happened before. I had to bend way over to look under the box cover and flipped the switch, but it did nothing. Hiked down to check-in booth and they sent someone out. Turns out there was a second switch hidden under the hinge for the box cover. You could feel it if you knew where to look, but no way could you see it without unscrewing the cover!! A sticker on the box would have saved the ranger a lot of time because she said almost everyone missed that second switch, and she said the government was required to select the cheapest vendor and this was what they got!!
My elderly next door neighbors from last night had to move to another site for the next four days because their reservations at Jasper were cancelled. Their new site is at the far end of this campsite, which means they have a 2,000' walk to the shuttle stop which is shared with another campground. They did not think they could walk that far, so since I am closer to the shuttle, I told them they could park behind my rig during the day.