We will be going to SE B.C. in late July. I am wondering what are some good camping spots with fly fishing east of Cranbrook? Will be coming up thru Kaispell, MT
Thanks.
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edited 06/07/12 09:48am by Duke-44 *
Do you want to change that to SE BC? SW is around Vancouver. Cranbrook is SE.
There are number of Provincial Parks in the area, as well as some rec-sites. They tend to be on lakes rather than rivers, so I don't know how they are for fly fishing.
http://www.gotflyfishing.com/location.php
Is a commercial outfit with a Cranbrook address. Their top rivers are: the St. Mary, Bull, Skookumchuck, Wigwam and Elk Rivers
Also check Mussio Maps - they have both Backroad Mapbooks and Fishing Books, with Kootenays volumes for both. The Backroad volume has 24 pages of fishing listings, 7 of which are for streams.
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About 20 minutes North of Cranbrook the Kimberley Riverside Campground is in a very nice setting on the St Mary's River.
The St Mary's River is highly rated for fly fishing. I don't fly fish so I can't tell you how it is right around there. Further east the Elk River is highly rated but I can't comment on the campgrounds.
The Elk might have better access.
For camping in the area around Cranbrook, or Fernie, you can choose from several provincial campsites. Try this website to see which ones suit your needs.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/index.html
At the end of July, most of these will be quite busy, and reservations may be necessary. Kikomun Creek on Lake Kookanusa and Mt. Fernie just outside Fernie are probably your best choices. There are others in the Cranbrook area. If you want private campsites, there is a nice one at Ft. Steele, about 10 miles east of Cranbrook. There website is
http://www.fortsteele.com/
Also Sparwood, 10 miles east of Fernie has a municipal campsite. It is called Mtn. Shadows.
http://www.sparwood.ca/camping
For fly fishing, you will cross the Elk River a few miles north of the Rooseville border crossing, which is north of Kalispell. If you turn east at Highway 3 towards Fernie, you will shortly see the Elk River on your right parallelling the highway right through Fernie to Sparwood. Most of it is easily accessible. There is at least one fly shop in Fernie that can line you up with guides, and Elk River floats if that is what you wish.
Sparwood and Elkford are housing communities for coal miners working in the area. For the most part the mines themselves are out of sight, or visible as flat top hills in the distance. The Elk and Fording rivers are in good shape.
Several years ago I drove to Elkford and did some hiking. I was thinking of driving further up valley to an alpine prov. park, but decided the road was too potholed, and returned to Sparwood to camp. There is also a municipal campground in Elkford.
I suspect that most of the campers and fishermen in the area, other than locals, are from Calgary. I also encountered a lot of motorcycles returning to Calgary from a weekend spent in the Kalispel area.
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