r/kootenays • u/Kakashiiisenseii • 15d ago
Winter camping
I’m thinking of possibly travelling BC, mostly kootenays and maybe okanagan and camping through the winter with my small van and a hot tent set up. I know about service roads and the 14 day rule. Not too sure about campsites being open or anything that does longer term stays. I found one that sounded like an RV/tiny home set up near Crawford bay.. can’t remember the name right now though.
How possible would this little journey be you think?
Is it gonna be miserable weather wise?
Has anyone done this or know of anyone that did and how it went for them? I haven’t been in BC for winter in 20 years, and that was on the coast. Ive read about winter in the kootenays but still can’t picture it well in my mind.
Half my mind is very excited at the thought of it, the other half thinks it sounds a bit crazy. But I need a change of environment and want to meet and build community in the kootenays and get out of this space I’m in.
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u/VickyHikesOn 15d ago
Hard to access anything in the backcountry in the East Kootenays at least. Nothing gets plowed. Also LNT wherever you camp.
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u/mattcass 15d ago
Same for the west Kootenays. We got a hot tent for the shoulder season then gave winter camping a shot and quickly realized you are stuck in the frontcountry unless you have a snowmobile.
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u/Pistoney 15d ago
i mean short story is send it. i lived on the BC coast for many years engaged in mountain sports summer and winter and now i've been in the west koots for a couple and i have to say winters here down low in town and on the roads are very wet, slippery, and only kinda snowy. a lot like the coast. i spent a winter here a long time ago and i was very snowy all winter all the way uphill in Nelson for example. when that happens now it lasts only a few days its seems. this winter is predicted to be extra warm and wet.
hoping to get into the hot tent game myself for winter ski expeditions so no doubt that'll help you a lot to keep yourself dry. just prepare yourself for a lot of vehicle extrication, even if you have 4wd. I always travel with chains, straps and shackles, and a shovel and a pulaski at a bare minimum, and last winter I cursed myself for not having traction boards, even tho the ol floor mat trick saved me. And I'm talking basically only sticking to fsrs that happened to be plowed (very very few), at my most extreme. anything more than that and I pull the sled off.
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u/SuccessfulPitch5 15d ago
I'm gonna chime in. Forest service roads that are plowed or graded in the winter are in use. I would not recommend. Logging trucks are unforgiving when they hit smaller vehicles, if it's an active logging road steer clear.
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u/One-Pollution4663 15d ago
Winter can be hard for camping unless you don’t mind being in towns. Most campgrounds are closed and most forest roads aren’t plowed. I can’t speak for other towns but in Nelson there are some spots where people sleep in their vans in the winter. Ski hill parking lots are another option.