Protection Mountain Campground

We arrived in Tuesday September 3rd - did our research and everything online said it was open, the signs on the road said it was open and we show up to a chain across the entry. I walked up to kiosk board and a small sign saying they closed for the season as of 11am on that day we arrived. Was super bummed because side everything online still indicates it’s open, but be warned it’s closed!!

We arrived on a Friday morning in mid August with plentyyyy of sights available in both loops. The bathrooms in the large loop (there are 2 bathhouses on this side) are well maintained - clean, 3 stall, running water and flush toilets. Beside them are water spigots, a dishwashing station, and a cooking pavilion. Also nearby are bear lockers for tent campers and bear safe dumpsters. Most sites nearby had trails directly to bathhouse without having to walk the road. Road in is a bit rutted but no issue with a 38 ft fifth wheel. Sites are HUGE! Very generous in size and nice picnic tables available at each. Location to area attractions is nearby unparalleled in terms of camping at this price… currently $24/night CAD. Highly recommend a stay here - we’re making it 9 nights!

All FCFS, absolutely stunning location. Not much privacy between sites because it was all clear-cut to build the campground, but they’ve planted bushes around each perimeter so it will be excellent once they’ve grown. There’s one loop with pull through sites for large RVs and a second (larger) loop with back-in sites, one corner set aside for tent only. Resident elk came through every evening. Bathrooms were pretty nastyl, but we were happy to have flush toilets instead of vault. No showers. A train goes by regularly on the other side of the road, but it wasn’t loud enough to bother us.

The views are absoultely beautiful!
We stayed in the wide open loop were all the trees have been removed. Was great for solar as this campground has no hookups. Doesn't have any water taps for filling jugs and had a water boil advisory if you use water in the washrooms.
We got water 22 minutes up the street at Castle Mountain Campground. (nicer campground but not as big rig friendly)
No dump station at this location.
Washrooms were ok, not that clean but at least it was a washroom with running water and not a vault toilet.
There was bears in the area so they were not letting tenters stay in this campground, including soft sided tent trailers.
The campground road was horrible with big potholes until you got to camping loops.
A couple trains came by every night but didn't find them too loud or bothersome.

We had to use our Residential Weboost booster raised 25 feet into air and pointed in specific direction to get a weak Rogers (ATT) signal. Sometimes we could load facebook/instagram, often the signal was only good enough to send and recieve messages. As soon as you stood away from booster you couldnt get messages.
ATT Roams on Rogers Network here.
I put all cell service as No Service below as its only slighly possible with a really good booster.
For any HughesNet users this location was too far north for me to get working.

This is a nice enough dry camping campground. Sites are gravel, level and long.

Not much privacy but plenty of solar. Bathrooms are ok but no shower. Some nice views all around.

Short entrance road has some very deep potholes. Take your time luckily the entrance is very short.

We had cell using a booster on both Verizon and ATT. There is a train track just across the road.

Short slow drive to Lake Louise.

First come first serve CG. Lacking a host or good manager. Several sites still closed due to hazard trees. Open sites with visibility to all those in the campground (no trees). Noise from the parkway, rail line and Highway 1. Tables need staining. Fire pits need to be emptied ($9 extra just to have a campfire). On the plus side-nice mountain views and refurbished bathrooms. Limited generator hours.

One of only two first-come, first-serve CGs within about 20 kms of Lake Louise. (The other is Mosquito Creek, about 20 kms north of Lake Louise. In July 2022, Castle Mountain CG, just down the road, was closed indefinitely.) Price in July 2022 was $23 CDN. There was no onsite management or host, just a ranger that drove through each evening. Peak season the CG filled up by early evening.

The entry road has deep potholes but the CG loops are good. The first loop, sites 1-14, are pull-through sites for RVs, no tents allowed. This loop had nice flush toilets with a sink. The cooking pavilion was next to it. The other loop was much larger, for smaller RVs and tents. I don't know what the toilets were like there.

Although the campground is in a forested area, the loops are in large clearings so the sites are very exposed, though reasonably spaced. This is good for solar, but not good if you want some shade and/or a little screening from the other campers. Sites along the fringe have a little tree cover. There are great views of the mountains from the CG. There is some noise from the train track across the highway, but the trains are not blowing their whistles so it's not too bad. Can hear cars on the highway.

Given the limited availability of FCFS camping, this place was ok.