Camping in Cypress Hills Provincial Park

For 5 nights in July, we camped at Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Alberta. Located pretty much in the sleepy town of Elkwater, Alberta, this provincial park has several campgrounds. There’s something for every camping style – from the 20 full service sites at Beaver Creek campground (note these are the only campsites in the park that are full service), three campgrounds that are power and water sites, and two unserviced campgrounds. We stayed in Elkwater campground which is a campground with power and water hook ups. Our sensors on our trailer are never accurate – most sensors for one’s grey and black water tanks are notoriously unreliable – so we tried to be judicious with our water usage.

Note the beaches at Elkwater Lake are not dog-friendly but there’s a promenade that follows the beach that’s great to walk your dog on.

We had a lovely shaded site and the weather was cool enough we ran our heat in the mornings. However, we had a really hard time backing in, the site and roadway were very tight and narrow. and there was a lot of trees and foliage. (People parking multiple vehicles in front of their sites didn’t help – despite an abundance of extra parking pads and the stipulation of only two vehicles per site).

Nearby campgrounds such as Beaver Creek and Lakeview were more wide open and looked to be easier to back into. If we visit another time, we would consider more open campsites. We chose a shaded site due to possibility of the weather becoming very warm and the shade would help keep our trailer cool.

Showers were free.

There are few amenities in terms of groceries and other necessities, so plan accordingly or you’ll be paying a premium to purchase items at the stores in Elkwater.

It was lovely to get away. Tired from work and other home events, we were grateful for the rest and respite. This campground was a gateway to the rest of our vacation in Saskatchewan, I’ll write a separate post about that adventure, so stay tuned.