Cal-Cheak Recreation Site

Located just south of Whistler, and right off the Sea-to-Sky highway, this is an extremely popular campground with 3 loops of sites available. We arrived in the evening on a Saturday in June and were grateful to find a place in their overflow area, a large open gravel spot below the hydro lines after the second loop.

The sites were along dirt roads that wound through the forest. The first loop, closest to the road, would have the most highway noise but it wasn’t too bad as it is down a hill and a short distance away. The third loop, Confluence, had a foot trail that led to a pedestrian suspension bridge over the river. Calcheak Forest Service Road also crosses the river and there is a trail from the overflow area to the river as well, so you can view the water from multiple spots.

Cell signal was decent, mosquitoes and black flies were present. A ranger came by just before dusk to collect a camping fee from us. Fee for actual sites was $13 but since we were in the overflow area, it was half price, $6.50 which seemed entirely reasonable. She said that previously they didn’t have an overflow area but they opened one up to help accommodate demand at peak times. Yay! There were about 8 RVs in the overflow area that night.

A short drive up the road is Whistler Village. They have oversize parking for RVs in Lot 3 – easy to find, just follow the signs. Price was $10 for regular cars for the day 8 am – 5pm (free after 5pm) and double that $20 for RVs over 20’. Pay by credit card at the machine entering your license plate.

We were looking for a primitive (no hookups) campground that would be convenient to hiking in the Whistler area. We're self-contained in our 8 meter (25 foot) MH and don't use the facilities. We stayed 4 weeknights in late September. The CG filled Tu/We and was 25% full TH/F. This is a nice primitive CG about 15 minutes south of Whistler Village. There are 3 loops: Cal-Cheak is the first on the right and the largest with mostly level dirt sites. Cal-Cheak North is next on the left and has a mix of small and large dirt sites, some right on the river, some needing leveling. Cal-Cheak South is next on the right and has smaller dirt sites, most will need some leveling. All sites are tucked into the trees and providing shade and some privacy and were a bit muddy after 3 days of rain. There's no water, no dump. There're pit toilets and trash. There're weak yet usable ATT/Rogers and Verizon cell signals. We stayed in the North loop and found noted no road noise and distant train noise.

Price is now $15/night or $7.50 for seniors. I arrived on a Thursday (6/8) around 4pm and it was probably only 50% full, and got to around 90% full by the time it was dark. We tow a 24ft travel trailer with our Ford F-150. The first two loops have smaller sites and the roads are narrow with the trees, so we went to the third loop and they have plenty of sites that could accommodate us. There are a only few sites that can accommodate 30+ ft trailers, 5th wheels or larger so be cautious.. there are also what looked like long term residents in a couple of those sites. Most sites need leveling of some sort so be prepared. The overflow site is kind of run down now with several broken down cars & campers.. we have starlink & solar so we had planned to stay there originally but it didn’t feel very comfortable/safe. Thankfully we had cell service (1 bar 5G on T Mobile and 2 bars 5G AT&T.) Overall this was a nice place to stay. 20 mins from Whistler Village and 40 mins from Squamish.

Side note: there were a few crows in the trees all day every day and they woke us both up in the morning. Not sure if this happens all the time.. drove our dogs crazy too.

We arrived around noon on a Thursday in July and found about half the sites open. Site 27 in a new loops not shown on our map. $7.50 for seniors.

Only issue was we bent out steps on our travel trailer going through the first loop and hitting a low stump. If you’re pulling anything over 20’ avoid the first loop and go for the 2nd loop on the right near the power lines. Newly constructed and fine for bigger rigs.