Little Bow Provincial Park is a great place to spend a few days or weeks camping. The nearby reservoir with a marked off swimming area is the top attraction – spend the day lounging on the beach catching the sunshine, build a sandcastle, paddle board or bring your boat and jet skis. An onsite concession is available to treat yourself to ice cream, hot dogs or hamburgers, plus essentials like milk and ice, making it easy to stay for several days.
The Basics
- Check-in time: 4:00 pm
- Check-out time: 11:00 am
- Reservations: Alberta Parks or call 403-897-3933
- Group Sites: Yes – these are not powered
- On-Site accommodations: No comfort cabins in this campground
- Playground: Yes – it’s okay but not amazing
- Cell Signal: None-bad If you climb the large hill you can get a signal
- Website
Reservations at Little Bow Provincial Park
Reservations for this campground can be made online through Alberta Parks. There are 138 unserviced and 38 serviced sites and it usually isn’t too difficult to find a spot to camp. I would recommend reserving your spot at least 2 weeks ahead to avoid disappointment.
The albertparks.ca website has pages for reservation tips and cancellation policy. I found it fairly easy to navigate this site.
Getting to Little Bow Provincial Park
This fun campground is located near the small town of Champion. Google will take you right to the campground. Little Bow Provincial Park
Warning: Don’t head to Little Bow Reservoir PRA (Provincial Recreation Area) which is a completely separate area and location!
From Edmonton: 4.5 hours south
From Calgary: 1 hour and 40 minutes south
Map apps: Little Bow Provincial Park (Google) (Your cell service will work long enough to know where you’re going.)
Campsite Privacy and Tree Cover
There are plenty of trees for shade and hammock set up. They are tall and don’t provide much privacy. The sites aren’t private or spaced out like some front country forested campgrounds.
My favourite things were setting up on soft grass (this campground is irrigated) and all the trees that provided wonderful shade throughout the day. If you have ever tented on gravel pads you know how luxurious it is to have soft ground to insert pegs into!
Toilets, Showers, and other Washroom Details
There are well maintained pit toilets in the campground and near the swimming area. One of the loops even has a flush toilet/shower house. Showers take loonies and last for 2.5/loonie.
The regular campground includes both serviced and unserviced sites as well as a flush toilet and shower house. Showers only accept loonies and you get 2.5 minutes per loonie. When you are tenting a warm shower is a lovely treat!
Our family used the Group Site which only has unserviced sites and pit toilets. The management of the campground is really good at keeping the toilets cleaned and stocked daily.
Campfires in Little Bow Provincial Park
There are raised, metal campfire rings in each site, although there was a fire ban when we visited due to hot and dry conditions. The website has firewood listed for sale but it wasn’t unavailable during the fire ban.
Sani-Dump at Little Bow Provincial Park
Water filling station and sewage disposal station is located at the entrance of the park, on top of the hill.
The sewage disposal fee is $6.00. Place payment in payment vault located at sewage disposal station. Not available September-May.
Other Campground Amenities
Camp Store
There is a concession/store located near the swimming area. Burgers, fries and hotdogs along with ice cream cones and other sweets are available. The store also has ice, milk and other essentials you may have forgotten or run out of. There are even a few games and activities available if you need something to fill your time.
Activities
From the website, “The breezy reservoir is perfect for sailing and wind surfing. It’s also a good spot to enjoy canoeing, water skiing, fishing, swimming, and the beach.”
My group enjoyed catching crawfish, swimming, and paddle boarding in the lake, playing at the playground, and building hammock cities several layers high.
More Alberta Camping
Alberta Mamas loves camping in Alberta. Be sure to check out some of our other posts:
- The complete list of Alberta Mamas’ campground reviews
- Our favourite campgrounds
- Alberta campgrounds with pools
Contributor
Alberta Mamas gratefully thanks Anya Guerra for sharing the details of her experience with Little Bow Provincial Park with us! Anya loves spending as many days outside as possible and helping individuals and families to have meaningful experiences in nature. You can find more ideas for outings and tips for getting outside with Anya on Instagram Anya | Nature & Adventure Leader (@365naturewalks) and Facebook 365 Nature Walks.