Part of travelling long term is making your dollars stretch. That means looking for free or cheap camping spots. There is a great app called ioverlander. People populate it with free or cheap camping sites they have used. They include descriptions and what amenities, if any, are available. All you do is open the map and look for spots where you plan to camp. It is amazing!
So, we crossed the border into Alberta Canada and needed a place to stay. We stopped at the tourist information center, which says you can camp in their back lot. We went in and talked to the nice young lady who informed us it was a national holiday weekend in Canada. Our chances of finding a campground, she informed us, was zero.
We opened iOverlander, looked about an hour up the road and found a spot. (We were not interested in staying at the visitor’s center in town, it didn’t have a good vibe). Up the road we went.
The place we had found was the back side of a small dam/hydro plant next to the stream. We found a little place to tuck in, made dinner and hung-out. We thought we were quite stealthy. To our surprise, in drives a white truck and out pops Alex, a Canadian Fish & Wildlife officer. We thought, uh oh, we are going to get tossed. Boy, we were wrong. He was a super nice guy. We chatted for a while and he said no problem, camping was fine. Phew!
Later that night another car pulls in and joins us, a young man there to fish for trout. Another truck pulled in in the morning and the guy set right to fishing. He pulled out a pike that must have been 3ft long. Alex, we can back up your claim that their are pike there!
Another free night on the road means we can travel that much longer!
Yee-haw! Happy Trails.
