Park Entry Fees
For more than eighty years motorists and motorcyclists had to buy permits to enter Canada's mountain national parks. Since 1996 a different system has been in operation. Now fees and permits are based on a per-person per-day principle, and everyone entering any of the Rockies national parks, regardless of mode of entry, must buy a permit . The revised system is based on the premise that people - not vehicles - use parks, in much the same way as they enter art galleries or museums. Fees are ploughed directly back into the parks, unlike in the past where they were returned to a central revenue pool. The cost of a Day Pass valid for all four of the Rocky national parks (Banff, Jasper, Yoho and Kootenay) is $5 per day per person. Or you may buy a Great Western Annual Pass for $35, valid for unlimited entry to all eleven national parks in western Canada for a year. "Group" day-passes are available for anything between two and ten people at a flat rate: $10 daily, $70 annual. Thus four people in a car, for example, are charged just $10. If you come in by bus you'll not be charged at point of entry - it's up to you to be honest and buy a pass. Passes can be bought in advance with credit cards by phoning tel 1-800/748-PARK or email natlparks-ab@pch.gc.ca . Passes are also sold at some Husky petrol stations or at the Mountain Equipment Co-op shops in Calgary and Vancouver. Permits can bought at the road entrances to all parks (compulsory for people in cars or on bikes), park information centres, some park campsites and (in summer) at automated pass machines within parks. If you buy a couple of day-passes and decide you want to stay on, then you can redeem their cost against a year's pass at park centres on presentation of receipts. Great Western Annual passes are valid for a year from the date of purchase. There's no fee to enter provincial parks. A separate backcountry Wilderness Pass ($6 per person per night to a maximum of $30 per person per trip, vaild in all four national parks - Banff, Jasper, Yoho and Kootenay), available from any park visitor centre or infocentre, is required for all overnight backcountry use. Note that all backcountry areas in all parks have a quota and that it's vital to make bookings well in advance (up to three months) if you wish to walk - and camp on - some of the most popular trails requiring overnight stops. The most popular trails are indicated in the various hiking features throughout the text. Reservations can made by phone or in person at some of the more backcountry campsites, but not for the major park-run campsites. There is a $10 nonrefundable booking fee.
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