Glaciers on the passenger side.

There is one road. It runs about 230 kilometres from Lake Louise to Jasper through the spine of the Rockies, and for almost all of it there is nothing to do but look out the window and try to keep the rig on the pavement while a glacier the size of a small city hangs off a cliff to your right.

This is the Icefields Parkway, Highway 93 North. It is not a shortcut to anything. There are no towns on it, no signal on it and no sensible way to drive it quickly. People who try to do it in one push arrive in Jasper with a sore neck and a camera roll full of windshield glare. People who do it in an RV, slowly, with a campground booked in the middle, arrive with stories.

You have the right vehicle. A motorhome or trailer means your kitchen, your bed and your rain gear come with you to every pullout. It also means you are now the biggest thing on a road full of rental cars driven by people looking at mountains instead of the centre line. Both of these facts will matter.

A few things are true about this road. It is beautiful. It is long. It does not care about your schedule. Plan accordingly.

Field note

The parkway has no fuel you can count on, no cell service and no towns. It does have more than a hundred glaciers along the way. Budget your attention accordingly.

The case for driving your house.

The parkway is the point. The lakes, falls and glaciers are strung along it like beads, and most of them sit a few minutes’ walk from a parking lot. In a car you stop, look, get cold and leave. In an RV you stop, look, put the kettle on and stay until the light changes.

There are no towns between Lake Louise and Jasper, so the campgrounds along the way are the only places to sleep between the two ends that aren’t a lodge with a lodge price. Parks Canada runs a string of them, from big serviced sites to small first-come loops by the river. Waking up halfway along means you hit the famous stops early, before the tour buses have finished their breakfast.

And there’s the plain fact that weather in the Rockies doesn’t care what month it is. Snow in July is not a myth. Neither is sideways rain at Bow Summit. When it happens, you have a furnace and a roof. Everyone else has a hoodie.

Seven stops worth the parking job.

You can’t do everything, and you shouldn’t try. These are the ones worth the parking manoeuvre. Pullouts and lots fill early in summer, and some are tight for big rigs, so arrive early or be ready to keep driving and come back.

Field note

Peyto Lake gets its colour from rock flour: rock ground to powder by glaciers and suspended in meltwater, where it scatters light. That’s the whole trick. It still doesn’t look real.

Paperwork, briefly.

The parkway runs through two national parks, so you need a valid national parks pass to drive it. Buy a daily pass or a Parks Canada Discovery Pass before you go, and keep it where staff can see it.

Campgrounds along the parkway are run by Parks Canada. Some take reservations through the Parks Canada Reservation Service, which opens in January for the season and books up fast for summer weekends. Others are first-come, first-served, which means arriving early in the day, not at dusk with your fingers crossed. Seasons vary by campground and open later and close earlier at higher elevations.

Jasper is still recovering from the 2024 wildfire. Some campgrounds on the Jasper end have reopened, some at reduced capacity, and some are being used for rebuilding work. Check Parks Canada’s current Jasper camping page before you count on a site. We’re not going to guess for you.

Fire permits are sold separately at campgrounds that allow fires. Fire bans happen. Follow them.

How people get hurt here.

This road is beautiful and it is still a mountain highway with wildlife, weather and no phone signal. Most bad days here start with someone stopping where they shouldn’t.

• Never stop in the driving lane to look at an animal. Use a pullout, stay in your vehicle and move on. A stopped RV on the shoulder of a curve is how collisions happen.
• Give wildlife room. Parks Canada asks for at least 30 metres from elk, deer and sheep and at least 100 metres from bears, wolves and cougars. Feeding wildlife is illegal and gets animals killed.
• Download your maps and campground details before you leave Lake Louise or Jasper. There is no cell service along the parkway.
• Do not walk onto the Athabasca Glacier without a guide. Crevasses can be hidden under snow.
• Fill your fuel tank before you start. Don’t count on buying fuel along the way, and in winter there are no services on the parkway at all.
• From November 1 to April 1, snow tires or chains are required. Snow clearing happens during the day, not overnight. Check road conditions before every drive.

Field note

Thirty metres from elk, deer and sheep. A hundred from bears, wolves and cougars. If you can’t judge the distance, stay in the vehicle, which is the right answer anyway.

Driving it in something the size of a house.

Start from Lake Louise, off the Trans-Canada Highway, or from Jasper, off the Yellowhead Highway. Either direction works. Going north puts the Columbia Icefield and the big falls at the end of the drive, which is a satisfying way to finish.

Drive it in daylight. The views are the whole point, the wildlife is more active at dawn and dusk, and the road has long stretches with no lighting and no help nearby. Leave room behind you, use pullouts to let faster traffic pass, and gear down on long descents instead of cooking your brakes.

Fill your fresh water and empty your tanks where your campground allows. Some campgrounds have water and dump stations only during their operating season. Plan your fills and dumps the way you plan your fuel: before you need them.

The kitchen is the only restaurant.

There’s nowhere to eat for most of this drive, and the places that do exist are priced for people with nowhere else to go. You have a kitchen. Use it.

• Do a full grocery run before you enter the park. Plan every meal between Lake Louise and Jasper, plus one spare.
• Cook breakfast at the lake, not in the parking lot of a motel. Bacon smells better at 2,000 metres. That’s science, or close enough.
• Keep a thermos of soup or coffee ready for the cold viewpoints. You will thank yourself at Bow Summit.
• Store all food, coolers and garbage inside your hard-sided RV or vehicle. Parks Canada runs bare-campsite rules for a reason: a bear that finds food once comes back.
• Your propane tank and fridge are your restaurant. Top up propane before you go.

Two nights on the parkway.

Built around two nights at parkway campgrounds. Rearrange it around whatever is open.

Standing on the ice, properly.

The safe way onto the Athabasca Glacier is with a licensed operator. Guided tours and glacier walks run from the Columbia Icefield area in season. Book them directly, ask what’s included and wear the boots they tell you to wear. Parks Canada staff at the icefield can tell you what’s operating that day.

The list.

Six things to remember.

1. Pull over properly or don’t pull over.
2. Stay in the rig when the wildlife shows up.
3. Fill the tank before the road starts.
4. Nobody walks on the glacier without a guide.
5. Get to the famous stops before the buses do.
6. Cook breakfast with a view. Every day.

One road, a string of impossible lakes and ice on the passenger side. Drive it slowly. Stop properly. Jasper will still be there.

Check these before you leave.

Details checked in October 2026 against Parks Canada. Campground status in Jasper, seasons, fees and road conditions change, so confirm with Parks Canada before you go. The opening photograph is by Karl Paul Baldacchino on Unsplash.