Arrow Lakes Provincial Park to Kootenay National Park Road Trip

A Western Canada Road Trip – Day 9

It was time to hit the road again, but this time from Arrow Lakes Provincial Park to Kootenay National Park (where we actually had a campsite booked).

Even though it was another longish driving day (3.5 hrs vs. the 6.5 hr drive the day before), the scenery kept things interesting.

Waking Up in Arrow Lakes Provincial Park

After a night under the stars at Arrow Lakes Provincial Park, we woke up to the sounds of people in the lake behind us. Even in the sunshine, Arrow Lakes Provincial Park was stunning.

We made a quick breakfast in the campervan, Callum hopped in the water to freshen up before we hit the road.

Giant Cedars Boardwalk Trail at Revelstoke National Park

First up was a stop at Revelstoke National Park for a relaxing stroll along the Giant Cedars Boardwalk Trail. It’s nice being under the canopy of 500-year-old cedars.

This stop probably took us about an hour, and is definitely worth it. It wasn’t very busy, which added to the serenity.

There are a lot of cool things you can do in Revelstoke National Park, but that will have to happen on another trip for us.

The Road to Kootenay National Park

The views were incredible the whole way, especially Mount Sir Donald, which really stood out! Which makes sense, because it is literally a massive mountain.

We drove through the town of Golden, and took the mountain road on the outside of town. Traffic was really backed up. I assumed it was construction, but it was actually a transport truck that flipped over 🙁.

Arriving at Kootenay National Park

We eventually made it to our campground in Kootenay National Park, but when we entered Marble Canyon Campground, I realized we had no cell phone service. It would’ve been smart to plan our activities ahead of time, but hey, sometimes it’s nice to disconnect and just go with the flow.

Plus, they had a booklet when you enter with all of the activities you can do in the national park. It’s like they knew there was no service and people would need a paper guide with things to do 😉.

After pulling up to our campsite, we decided to go for a bit of a walk and try to find a good location for Callum to set up his camera to take a time lapse of the Milky Way. It’s much easier to plan during the day when you can actually see things.

Looking out at the mountains around the campground, it was clear that there had been a forest fire in recent years. The trees were missing their foliage, but you could still see the trunks.

I hadn’t really been exposed to the effects of forest fires before this trip.

Attempt at Showering

We tried to use the portable shower we brought from home since the showers at the campground were closed due to COVID, but the hook where you would attach it to a tree branch broke off when we tried to attach it to the tree. The bag filled with water was too heavy for the hook…great design.

After our shower fail, we ended up making dinner and eating it on the picnic table.

Night in Kootenay National Park

It was definitely getting colder. I was glad our campsite came with a campfire and that our campervan had a heater. I don’t know how we would have made it through some of the cold nights without it.

Once it was dark, I went with Callum to set up his time lapse and help him with the composition. I was kind of afraid we would just run into bears, but I didn’t see a bear this entire trip.

I ended up going to bed, but Callum got up to grab his camera after the Milky Way had passed.

The next day was the first day where we could explore Kootenay National Park and not a long day of driving.

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