Lucerne Campground

It was too early in our day to check in but we found this provincial park quaint. Well maintained and spacious campsites with clean, old school outhouses. Slight highway noise from Hwy 16 but not enough to keep you awake. Nice trails. Some train noise across the lake. Overall an OK site for the night. $22/Canadian per night.

We arrived near 10 pm on Wednesday night and found a site open. It was marked reserved but we deduced it was reserved for walkins. We couldn’t find the host the next morning, so we moved to a site with a sign denoting it was available for the coming night. We really didn’t spend much time here because we explores Jasper the entire next day, but it was clean, well maintained, and the host was very friendly once we finally caught up with him. There was a nice view of the lake from several of the sites. No cell signal (at&t). Mosquitoes were very bad, but that seems to be everywhere in canada.

Access is excellent, right off Highway 16 which goes over Yellowhead Pass. The only drawback is the proximity to the highway. We stayed in Sites 24 and 29 which are both near the highway, Site 29 being practically adjacent. The road noise was extreme at Site 29. Trains also pass by regularly, and their rumble is a soothing sound to those so accustomed. The tracks are on the other side (NW) of Yellowhead Lake which lies adjacent to the campground. Fortunately they never blow their horns.

The 29 RV campsites are well laid out and mostly separated by 50’-100’. There’s an additional 7 tent sites, some of which are walk-in. The BC website indicates that several, such as 19, will only accommodate up to 32’ trailers; however, we could have easily backed our 34’ MOHO into it and many others. Sites 2-6 are first-come and all can accommodate up to 35’ motorhomes and trailers. They tend to fill early in the afternoon, so arriving near noon or one hour after checkout will provide your best opportunity at success. We saw several vans and trailers making multiple rounds late in the day futilely hoping for a site.

Available water comes from two hand-pump wells which indicate “BOIL”. There is a free public dump station with potable water in Jasper on 93A a short distance south of town, about 22 miles east of the campground. It’s a good Sani-Station; we used it since we came from the south over the Icefield Highway. Be aware that as you travel east from the campground on Highway 16, you enter Jasper National Park which requires a park pass to enter. There is both trash and recycling receptacles in the campground.

Most of the campsites in the eastern half of the campground are either somewhat or totally open to the sky. We got a very good STARLINK signal from Sites 24 and 29 where the antenna was pointing SOUTH. Another STARLINK dishy in the campground was also pointing south, the first time we’d ever experienced that. Guess we’re far enough north that the satellites are to the south. The campsites in the northern half of the campground are in the forest where you’d be hard pressed or unsuccessful at getting a STARLINK signal.

Bears frequent this area, and one wandered through early in the morning while we were there. Signs indicate to carry bear spray, particularly if you walk the very short Labrador Tea Trail that meanders through the forest and alongside Yellowhead Lake.

There is a small sand beach at the campground, but it’s about 300’ down a vehicle-wide path which is foot-travel only. This beach, and the campground, is located on the northern ‘bulb’ of Yellowhead Lake. The larger lake is to the south, and the two lakes are connected by a narrow arm. There is a small boat launch at the larger lake; it is located about 2 miles east of the campground.

While there are mosquitoes here, they weren’t prolific nor particularly bothersome in late July. We were able to sit outside our coach and enjoy ourselves without the use of a bug tent. When we returned in mid-August, the mosquitoes were prolific enough that we setup our bug shelter.

We would definitely stay here again.

My partner, Hans wrote a great review below when we were here the last time read that first. Let me say first that site 29 is the worst site in the whole campground. It is a very large site but it is located close to the road and two exit roads of the campground aside of Highway 16. The noise is unbelievable my white noise machine can’t even block out half of it,

You need to boil the water for one minute or so the sign says. They’re hand pumps but as we witnessed a Ranger pump water into his bottle and immediately drink from it I don’t think there’s an issue.

Don’t try to get into this campground for the few first come first serve sites after around 3 PM because it fills quickly .

The small trail called Labrador tea trail was blocked last time we were here approximately three weeks ago but has since been cleared out. It’s about .6 miles and takes you down to the shore of a bigger portion of yellow head lake and walks along it back to the campground

Last time we were here there were no fires allowed, but they are allowing them now, I don’t know why, because the air has been so smoky for the last two days. One of the Rangers told us that the smoke was coming from a fire around Kamloops. I really don’t understand people who build fires when it’s hot and smoky, but they do.

The beach is only a small walk from the end where you can park, but it only connects you to a very small part of yellow head lake. If you want to get to the larger portion of yellow head lake you need to go up the road about 2 miles to the boat launch.

The one closest hike which is the Yellowhead Trail has not been cleared for over a month you can get about 1 mile up to the lookout but you have to climb over 5 trees, and after that, it’s almost impossible to get any further. No bear sightings.

You can use Starlink at this site and a number of other sites but probably in 2/3 of the campground, there’s too much tree cover

This campground has Hwy 16 at the front of the property and the railroad at the back of the property. This is a main truck route at night. There was a constant sound of trucks. At the back of the property just past the small lake is two sets of train tracks. We counted a train every half hour to 45 minutes going either west or east all night long The best part is the trains have to slow for a corner, so you get to hear the screech of steel against steel as they apply the brakes. If we had knew it was that bad before we paid, we would have kept driving.