Crooked Creek Campground — Hotel in Alberta

My partner and I tented at Crooked Creek Campground for 8 nights between August 22-30, 2025 while spending the days hiking and exploring nearby Waterton Lakes National Park. We stayed in site 107, which is one of the tenting sites you can park in. There are also walk-in tenting sites along a wood chip path, with two parking areas for cars. The campground has a large area near the highway for RVs and roofed campers. I liked that the tenting area was the furthest from the highway so you couldn’t hear the road noise.

I really liked our site. It was surrounded by trees and brush and unfortunately didn’t have a mountain view directly from the site; however, the campground itself had lovely views of the mountains from other areas. The site felt pretty private and we couldn’t see the sites around us, but could hear people talking in the walk-in site behind us sometimes. I appreciated that the site had a fire pit, as the campground in Waterton National Park townsite does not have fire pits. We ended up only having a fire one evening though as there were always things to do in the area! Directly outside of our site was two modern outhouse washrooms with flush toilets and a small sink and soap inside. There was also a tap with potable water, bear proof garbage bins, and outlets for charging stuff if needed.

I loved hearing lots of different birds from our campsite (the gray catbird seemed to be the most common). We also saw a beaver in the creek behind our site, saw bats flying around after dark, and often heard cows mooing from the nearby ranches or coyotes howling at night. Lots of wildlife around!

A small creek flowed through the campground (hence the name) and there were a couple of foot bridges crossing it. The campground office had a small store inside with some food and camping items, as well as, firewood ($15 a bundle).

There is one shower building for the entire campground with only two stalls for women and two for men. It’s located in the RV section and a short walk for tenters. The water pressure in the showers was basically a trickle most of the time. The water temperature fluctuated between hot and cool and you couldn’t control the temp at all. You also had to keep pressing the button every 20 seconds or so for the water to keep running, which was a bit annoying. The only time the water pressure was good, was if you were the only person using the showers. There were hooks to hang clothes and towels outside the shower which was appreciated.

In the same building as the showers, there was a laundry room with coin operated machines ($4 for a wash and $4 for dry) and an enclosed space with picnic tables, a wood stove, seating and a small library of used books. The campground also offers free Wi-Fi.

I’m really glad I chose to stay at Crooked Creek versus the national park townsite campground, as the sites offer more privacy, it’s only a short drive into the park, it’s the same price as the national park for a basic site, and you can have fires. I had a great experience here overall. Minus one star for the shower facilities, but hopefully this can be improved...

We booked this last minute after our campsite in Jasper was canceled due to wildfires. This was our first time camping and we were all apprehensive. Based on the reviews I thought the amenities here would help make a smooth first experience. This was absolutely true. We bought ice and firewood on-site, which was very convenient. The bathrooms were super clean and there were many available. We had a walk-in camping site (118) and used their carts available to transfer our stuff from the car; it wasn’t too bad. Site was reasonably private and spacious - we had one Coleman XL 8-person tent and one mini 2-person tent and with both set up, we still had more than enough space around the picnic table. The bear box for food was also spacious and convenient. First night was rainy but after some effort we got all set up and we were glad to be staying another night after that one. There were many spigots to get water and a big dish-washing station. The family showers were super clean and updated, a pleasure to use. Views were gorgeous and it was a short drive to the National Park, where we kayaked and hiked. We were really happy with our choice to stay in Crooked Creek! It definitely makes camping super accessible to people nervous about being in nature. The other guests were very friendly too; we got help hammering in our tent stakes and building a fire. 3 notes:

1. The link “Get directions” on the confirmation email brought us to the wrong place (a few minutes out of the way) but the Google Maps location brings you to the right place
2. A few more signposts in the directions of different numbered campsites, bathrooms, showers, might be helpful.
3. We unfortunately detached half our bumper when we didn’t notice a post pulling out. Obviously this was quite stressful. We decided to temporarily attach the bumper with rope/ zip ties (as is common) and drive to a body shop. The staff were sympathetic and were kind enough to offer a nice piece of rope. However they were insistent about not helping us attach the bumper in this manner. This was fine as we managed on our own. As far as I understand they were worried about getting sued if this plan of ours caused more damage to the car in some way. It is quite sad to me that in our cultural zeitgeist , individuals and businesses often prioritize the avoidance of a lawsuit over human kindness. Wishes for a better world where humanity is upheld in...

This is my second year staying here. The first year I didn’t really notice anything of concern. This year, I was really disappointed by the bathroom facilities. There was not enough pressure throughout many parts of the day to take a decent shower, nor enough hot water. It was frustrating and disappointing, as there is only one shower facility on site for all tenters and campers to use. Two showers for the women’s side, two for the men’s side. One flush toilet for women, one flush toilet for men, the rest of the bathroom facilities are larger outhouses. I had brought it to the attention of the staff that the shower hose for one of the showers was broken in the women’s washroom and that one of the sinks was plugged. The shower hose got fixed, but the sink remained plugged unfortunately, which meant one of the two sinks for women to use remained out of commission for the 3 nights I stayed here. We had to take turns at times waiting for a sink to use to wash our hands or brush our teeth. The outhouses don’t have sinks in them, so there really are only two running sinks per gender in the entire site, plus a dish washing sink. The campsite itself has a gorgeous mountainous backdrop, and the proximity to Waterton villiage and the US border is fantastic. I was very happy with my stay here last year, this year was disappointing in terms of the bathroom facilities as described above. More cleaning of the main bathroom given that it’s such a high traffic area being the only spot with running toilet/sink/showers for everyone in the park is recommended. Great option to stay...