Redstreak Campground is a pretty camping area at the Southern end of Kootenay National Park (Canada), near Radium Hot Springs and Sinclair Canyon. It is a pretty large campground with good facilities and it’s location means it is normally warmer that the campgrounds further into the rocky mountains. The campsites are located on a hill with incredible views over the Columbia River valley and with easy to access trails to the hot springs, and to the nearby village.

Redstreak Campground Location

Redstreak Campground is on a hill at the southern end of Kootenay National Park, next to Radium Hot Springs and overlooking the village of Radium Hot Springs. The campsite is surrounded by semi arid grasslands, so it is a great area to watch out for bighorn sheep.

Redstreak Campground Map

There are 232 Campsites available. Each of the sites we saw were surrounded by trees and arranged around shared facilities, like loos, showers and covered cooking areas. It is a very large campground, but as it is arranged in smaller groups, it feels intimate.

Redstreak Campground Facilities

• Flushing loos and showers
• Fire pits and picnic benches at all sites
• Drinking water (and sani dumps for the RV-folks) and grey water sinks
• Firewood. You shouldn’t bring wood from outside the park.
• Covered cooking/dining area in case you need to cook in the rain (photo below)
• Food lockers
• Recycling and garbage bins
• Playgrounds
• Barrier free campsites for disabled campers

Bare campsite

The most important rule about camping in the Rockies is keeping a bare campsite. Basically you need to pack away all food, cups, plates, pans, grills etc., and anything that has a scent that might attract bears. Store things in your vehicle or in the bear-proof storage lockers. Never leave any of food or these items unattended for even a minute, and do not keep them inside your tent. In addition to bears, don’t be surprised if you see bighorned sheep.

Camping at Redstreak pros and cons

Redstreak’s campsites are spacious. They would work well for both RVs and tents, but it felt lovely and roomy with a single tent. Redstreak is on the edge of the mountains, so you may have cell service(!) There are showers aaand you’re near a hot spring, so you can stay clean. (Although both the showers and the hot springs were closed due to covid-19 when we visited.)

The downside is it there is little undergrowth beneath the trees, so you can often see and hear other campers. It can also be hard to book a campsite as this is a popular campground with lots of other people keen to stay there!

Radium Hot Springs

One of the best reasons to camp at Redstreak Campground is being so close to Radium Hot Springs. As well as the natural hot springs, there is a pool. You can reach these on foot along a pretty 2.7 km trail.

Booking at Redstreak Campground

You can reserve spots to camp here in advance. Use the Frontcountry campground website to book. There are 144 unserviced campsites, 38 with electricity as well as 50 with water, sewers and electricity.
Open Dates: April 29 to October 9
Redstreak Campground fees: (you also need to pay a $11.50 non refundable reservation fee on top of this, plus $9.25 for a fire permit.)
Unserviced, with fire pit: $29.25
Electrical – $34.50
Water, sewer and electrical $40.75

– Max people per site: 6 people
– Max 3 “units” per site. A unit is a vehicle, RV or tent. Only 1 RV or trailer per site.

Redstreak Campground vs Marble Canyon Campground

Both campgrounds are great places to stay, so you’ll probably want to choose whichever campground is closest to the trails or sights you’d like to visit. Marble Canyon is a lot smaller, and close to the road so louder, it also has more dilapidated facilities. However it is also cheaper, and much closer to Banff and Lake Louise. If you want to explore the Northern part of Kootenay National Park or Banff, it’s better to stay there.

Redstreak is larger (and the individual campsites are more spacious.) It is also much closer to facilities like shops and the hot springs. It’s further away from the hikes in the Northern part of Kootenay National Park, but really good for adventures in the Columbia Valley. Restreak has a warmer climate as it is at a lower elevation at the edge of the mountains.

Wait, what is car camping?

Car camping (or front country camping) doesn’t mean you sleep in the car. It just means you carry all your camping equipment in the car and park right next to your tent. We really like this style of camping as it means we can be luxurious with things like real pillows. It also allows us to use the fire pits to cook more elaborate food (we can even use our cast iron pan).

Campfires at Redstreak

When we stayed at Redstreak the fire permit ($9.25) was not included in the price when you book a campsite. However you can pay with cash after you arrive. We LOVE cooking on campfires, so we paid the extra. Invasive insects and pests can live in firewood so you should always use local firewood to protect the forests. You do not have to pay for the firewood (it’s included with the fire permit.) Just wander over to the log pile and pick up what you need.

Campfire meals

As always, we had fun cooking next to our tent. We had leftover chicken from our previous night camping at Marble Canyon, so one night we had pesto pasta with that. The other night involved finding fork-like sticks to skewer hot dogs on the campfire.

Explore by Foot

This campground is within walking distance from the Village of Radium Hot Springs. There are shops there as well as an information booth if you need maps or ideas for what to explore. We also loved the forest footpath to the Radium Hot Springs pools via Sinclair Canyon.

If you don’t mind a bit of a drive, there are even more hiking possibilities nearby.

Hikes Near Redstreak Campground

There are plenty of hikes and adventures in and around Kootenay National Park. You can easily reach the beautiful trails (and hot springs) in Columbia Valley as well as the mountains in all directions. Here are a few ideas…

• Right next to Redstreak Campground is the Juniper Trail that leads you to Radium Hot Springs
• Dog Lake (easy hike to one of the prettiest places I have ever been swimming.)
• Cross the Vermilion River to hike along the Simpson River
• There are some really cool hoodoos in the Columbia Valley to the South, near Fairmont Hot springs.
• Panorama Summit is a fun hike up the ski trails of Panorama resort near here.
• Marble Canyon, Paint Pots as well as Stanley Glacier are all great places to visit in the Northern part of Kootenay National Park.

This map shows all of our adventures in BC and Alberta. You can zoom in to the area around Kootenay National Park to see all the hikes mentioned above (and more!)

I would be happy to come back and stay here again. I loved that it was a warm, welcoming area to camp with fantastic views and easy to reach hiking trails. Do you like the look of camping at Redstreak Campground?