Stemwinder and Alice Lake Provincial Parks

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

So with 2019 upon us, the Profil came out of storage and got de-winterized, some post-winter love, and prepped for our new camping season.

Stemwinder Provincial Park. May long weekend. An amazing backdrop of the Similkameen River, our site had a lovely 20 foot drop off that had us worried about Jacob all weekend – lol. We celebrated Maddy’s 6th birthday and promptly took off for our 2019 camping season. A beautiful park east of Princeton, it lacked a few things we would look for in a family campground – a playground or beach, open fields, or safe running areas for the kids. The Similkameen River runs on the south side of the park, and the Crowsnest Highway immediately to the north. While an amazing park, it is definitely suited to adult couples looking for adventure (kayaking, hiking), or those with older kids who can run and adventure without fear of being swept away.

Tip: for those RVing at Stemwinder, there is no suitable water connection here, get your freshwater filled at Manning Provincial Park about 45 minutes to the west or find somewhere with good potable water in Princeton.

We quickly realized one thing, with Jacob now 21 months, he was ready and wanting to rip and roar to his own adventure, and utilize his growing desire for independence. While working, we found him in our feet, climbing up and down, in and out, and generally just impeding us in any way that he could. While not having many kid-friendly amenities, I would still give this campground a solid 8 out of 10 for overall activities, location, views, ease-of-access, and privacy.

Alice Lake Provincial Park – What can I say here, I’ve loved this campground and provincial park since my teen days as a cadet. Many fond memories of adventure expeditions here and it is as amazing as the first time I rolled in as a teen. Alice Lake has serviced campsites, many of them, which makes RVing much more convenient. It is also one of few provincial campgrounds in the coastal region with electrical hookups. A great network of hiking trails, a (summertime) warm lake suitable for swimming, along with a network of mountain biking trails and easy access to area attractions make for a great base for adventure seekers. The Chief, Sea-to-Sky gondola, Whistler, and many more attractions make this campground a cheap alternative to expensive hotels.

This campground has something for all ages! A nice adventure playground, to expansive campsites, the kids were able to run, climb, and play, without constant supervision – yes, even Jacob! We truly felt that there were few to no neighbours around us. The older kids were climbing up the backside of the campsite, with toddlers in tow as well. Electrical hookup meant we could utilize our microwave to heat up the evening milk quickly, and while not needed this time, could have made use of the fans and heater without fearing of killing our 12V battery.

Overall, I would give this campground a solid 10 out of 10, it continues to wow and impress after many years. An abundance of nearby, world-class attractions, kid-friendly amenities, space, privacy, convenience of on-site sani-dump, available electrical hookup, and location proximity make it a great choice for those looking for coastal family adventures!

After 12 years together, 6 of it married, and 5 of it with children, we decided to embark on a new adventure a year ago, taking on RVing and making camping a way of life. Now, I want to share it with our friends and family.

Our first tow vehicle, a 2010 Toyota Venza with at the time more than 200,000 kms on it. A little front-wheel drive, 4 cylinder engine putting out approximately 200hp. Why is this important? Well, your tow vehicle is the most critical component in determining what you can tow, and can make the difference in safe, stress-free adventures.

So what were our wants and limits?

• We had certain limitations due to our 4 cylinder engine (which many would say is not a suitable tow engine, they are probably right in many ways, but it doesn’t have to stop you from enjoying a travel trailer/camper). So, we had a 2,500 lbs tow capacity, which realistically put us at 2,000 lbs, loaded with all our gear, so searching for a dry weight trailer for the family of 1,600 lbs was going to be challenging.
• The wants: bunkhouse for the kids, bathroom, fridge, and small galley for indoor cooking days.
• I spent months researching different units. Let me tell you this, ultra-lightweight units are EXPENSIVE. Armadillo, a BC produced trailer building modern fiberglass Boler-shelled travel trailers start over $25,000.00CDN. While lovely and practical, didn’t fit all our wants.
• Then, months into the search and just before the camping season was to begin, I found Prolite, specifically the Profil. This built-in-Canada trailer was ultralight, at 1,685 lbs dry, 16 feet long, bunkhouse, bathroom, fridge with indoor galley, electric breaks, awning and the conveniences of home, it had what we wanted. Test tow looked good, reviews were hard to find but looked good from what I saw. So, we wrote up the cheque and a couple weeks later we picked up the trailer, and keys, to our first new travelling home.

First few trips were just last-minute single and two-night trips to local parks, we learned and perfected backing into tight campsites, leveling, general setup and tear down processes. Things worked great, we did find it tight, but RVing with a soon-to-be 5-year old and 8/9 month old was easily doable in this unit. We became HOOKED on RVing. Little enhancements here and there and we really felt that it was becoming ours.

Then came slightly longer and further trips, BC’s Southern Interior has an abundance of provincial and private campgrounds, all beautiful on their own accord. a whirlwind 5-night trip visiting Shuswap Provincial Park, Lake Louise – Banff National Park, and Summit Lake Provincial Park is as crazy as it sounds. In 6 days we had driven over 2,200 kms.

A hot and dry summer led to the last two weeks of August being commited to assisting the provincial government and I deployed with the Canadian Armed Forces on Operation Lentus to the smokey and burning BC interior.

Upon return, we rounded up our first season RVing to some local sites, wrapping up at Whistler RV Park. A beautiful RV campground located just south of Whistler, an amazing base for adventure seekers ATVing the many trails, or hitting Whistler/Blackcomb without the enormous accommodation costs.

There was one thing we knew for certain when we wrapped up season one, we loved RVing and were already looking forward to the next season to come.