Klahanie Campground — Hotel in Squamish

I don’t even know where to begin.

As an active mountain climber and hiker, I have a lot of experience in many different types of campgrounds throughout BC, Alberta, and Washington. This was the worst campground I have ever stayed at in my entire life. I’ll keep this as short as I can and skip over the massive Wifi issues, and get straight to the main incident.

Klahanie has multiple massive downhill slopes to get to other areas of the campground. And when I say massive, I mean massive. There is even signage at the one behind the main office.

As I was driving further into the campground, I noticed another slope. I did not see a sign, so I assumed the slope was not as steep as the previous one that required signage. As I approached, I noticed more camp sites at the bottom of the hill. This was clearly a drive lane that people regularly used to get in and out of those camp sites. So I continue, and crawl over the hill and hear a very loud noise and feel a thud, as if something had made contact with the undercarriage of my vehicle. I move my vehicle, get out, and notice an enormous rock sticking out of the side of the hill, just after the slope starts, so you cannot see it as you approach it from the top. There was no signage, no spray paint, no tape - nothing to inform you of the hazard in the middle of the drive lane.

I took a photo of the rock and surrounding drive lane, and reported it to Klahanie via email. I eventually received a wildly unprofessional reply from Klahanie employee Rick who said that due to my vehicle being “built for the street”, it was “not a suitable vehicle” to be driving at Klahanie.

I drive a 2016 Toyota Corolla. That type of vehicle should be perfectly fine to drive in and out of any campground.

Rick also hilariously stated that Klahanie is a “remote area in the mountains.” This made me laugh as it is literally on the side of a main highway thirty minutes north of the third largest city in the country. Maybe Rick has never actually been to a walk-in remote campsite in the mountains? Hmm. Who knows. He must be a city person.

I informed Rick that a mechanic at a Toyota dealership informed me the damage was extensive and would cost over $700 to fix. Rick said they would not be paying for any damage to my vehicle, even though it was caused by an unmarked hazard in the middle of their drive lane. I feel sorry for anyone else who has had this happen to them at that exact same location.

So, in conclusion, I guess do not come to this campground unless you are driving a Jeep Wrangler or something similar because, as Rick told me, normal vehicles are "not suitable"...

Klahanie Campground

To preface this review I just wanted to state that we had been coming here for nearly 20 years up until a few years ago when we decided to try some other campgrounds. So we decided to return to Klahanie where we started our annual tradition. As expected many things have changed since we were last here. Most of which fall under my list of gripes!

Firstly, the price is quite high considering the campground has limited amenities.

Secondly, there are limited sewage sites for RVs which surprisingly are all the same price as the water+electricity sites! The power kept tripping the breaker when we had our microwave running. This is a standard 30amp which should easily handle one appliance! Also, the water pressure for the RV sites very low, making showers really slow.

As an alternative you can take a shower for $2 for four minutes which use to be free. This in my opinion is an example of nickel and dime-ing the customer!

Lastly, you must now wear a wristband throughout your stay otherwise, there is a $40 fine. In addition, you must have a car tag which must be displayed at all times on your vehicle.

In fact we were stopped on our way back to our site because we didn’t have our tag properly displayed on our dashboard. (FYI we didn’t have our tag on our dash because we were driving down the highway with the windows open, so we put it away.) The man who stopped us was the owner whose name is Rick. When he spoke to us he was extremely unpleasant and very unprofessional, basically berating us for the missing tag. Initially it felt like he targeted us because we were Asian. I then realized he must have been just frustrated that other patrons were not displaying their wristbands and car tags too. But taking out your frustrations on a paying customer is hardly the way to retain repeat customers!

This campground to say the least has fallen from grace! It was such a great place to make our annual pilgrimage for years, but sadly has come short of any expectations I ever had.

If you don’t mind paying a little more for virtually no amenities this is the place for...

Poorly managed, run down, overpriced, and way too many rules!

My family and I stayed up there at the end of Nov 2020. We made sure we called in during the week to see if they were accepting guests as Covid rules were changing to stay within your municipality. We were told to come on up and was not advised to pre-book our desired site. Upon arrival (check in time 1pm), there was no one at the office - it was self serve and the window was plastered with over 10 pieces of paper with Covid rules and directions on how to reserve a site! So, we proceeded to drive around to find an empty site to set up camp. We find a prime spot with a view and spent an hour setting up and even started a fire. Shortly after, a man approaches our site and asks if we had a reservation? He was on the phone and had said he was talking to the manager, and that he had reserved the spot and we had to move! Let's just say it was a rude way of asking us to move since we thought the site was available. The manager quickly shows up in his truck and advises us that we had to move and that we should have reserved a site online! He shows us which sites were avail for 2 nights and stands on GUARD while we're packing up to move.

We ended up staying at a site with a view overlooking Shannon Falls. It was loud and overlooked the residents of the campground. The manager never apologized for the inconvenience nor did he offer any fire wood for us having to move out of our original site. We basically made a roaring fire for the guy and there was not even a thank you!

My family and I made the best of our situation and enjoyed our hikes around the property and Shannon Falls. Upon leaving, we attempted to use the sani dump only to find that it was locked but, also you had to pay an additional $10.

I would never stay here ever again!!!!! Porteau Cove Provincial Park is a fraction of the price with full hookups and sani-dump. Amazing views and just a short drive to...