Canada’s Backpacker Buses Offer Northern Exposure

With U.S. dollars exchanging for about 1.4 Canadian dollars, Canada continues to grow as an attractive destination for budget adventurers. For those heading for the western portion of the country, a variety of services now cater to young backpacking travelers.

Moose Run Tours offers a hop-on-hop-off backpacker bus service along a 10-day circular route, which starts in Vancouver on Mondays and Thursdays and includes stops in Whistler, Kamloops, Jasper, Lake Louise, Banff, Kelowna and Penticton. Passengers have up to mid-October to finish their trip.

Stops are scheduled at hostels and at sites for such activities as river rafting, mountain biking, glacier tours, jet skiing and horseback riding. The fare for the circuit is about $235. For more information, telephone (888) 388-4881, Internet https://www.mooserun.com or write to Moose Run Adventure Tours, 1653 Coquitlam Ave., Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada V3B 1H8.

You can explore Vancouver Island with Seagull Expeditions. This small company operates do-it-yourself camping tours in 18- and 11-seater passenger vehicles. Participants pay a small fee and contribute to a communal food kitty. Camping equipment is supplied.

The three-day tour to Pacific Rim National Park includes opportunities for mountain biking and whale watching at Tofino. Priced from $99, it departs Victoria every Monday and Thursday. The Strathcona Provincial Park tour, with opportunities to hike in a rain forest and to see salmon-spawning channels near the Campbell River, is also three days long and costs $66. It departs Victoria every Saturday. A five-day combination of both tours is $155, plus $16.50 for the food kitty and $14.50 for camping fees. Starting in June, some tours will depart from Vancouver.

For more information (including new day tours), contact Seagull Expeditions, No. 213-951 Topaz Ave., Victoria, BC, Canada V8T 2M2; tel. (800) 580-3890. Seagull Expeditions offers a 5% discount for Internet bookings. Information on Seagull, Bigfoot and Rocky Express tours is available on the Internet at https:/www.backpackertours.com.

Bigfoot Adventure Tours offers transportation between Vancouver and Banff for $70. Traveling east, the 11-passenger vehicles make an overnight stop in Squilax at Shuswap Lake, providing the opportunity to explore a beaver dam, swim in the lake and stay in a hostel that has beds in former Canadian National Railway train cabooses. Buses depart Vancouver on Fridays, Wednesdays and Sundays. The service will continue until mid-October. Westbound, the buses stop in Kamloops, which has a hostel in a former courthouse and opportunities for white-water rafting, horseback riding and hiking. Buses depart Banff on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Hostel accommodation is reserved for Bigfoot passengers at an average cost of $10 per night. New for this year is a two-day tour from Banff to Jasper and back, with an overnight stop at Edith Cavil Hostel. The cost is $60. It operates three times per week. For more information, contact Bigfoot at 1900 Valmont Way, Richmond, BC, Canada V6V 1Y4; tel. (888) 244-6673, fax (604) 278-4881.

True North Tours operates the Rocky Express, a six-day budget adventure through the Rockies in 15-seat vehicles. Into its seventh season, Rocky Express departs Calgary and Banff International hostels every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, mid-May through mid-October. Stops are made in Banff, Lake Louise, Lake Moraine, the Columbia ice fields, Jasper and Maligne Lake.

Optional activities en route include white-water rafting, caving, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, canoeing and a glacier tour on a Snocoach. The $132 fare includes all park entrance fees. Accommodation is reserved at Hostelling International facilities, at a total cost of $45 for the week. Participants also contribute $16 to a communal food kitty.

For more information, contact Rocky Express c/o True North Tours, Box 75051, Cambrian P.O., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2K 6J8; tel./fax (403) 912-0407.

Contiki Holidays, the world’s largest tour operator for travelers 18 to 35, operates a 10-day Rockies tour, with three departures scheduled to overlap with the Calgary Stampede. Tours include transportation by air-conditioned coach, twin accommodation (except in Banff, where it’s four per room), five dinners and nine breakfasts, a guide and a Snocoach ride on the Athabasca Glacier. The route is Seattle or Vancouver to Banff, Whistler, Kamloops, Jasper, Banff, Calgary, Kelowna, Vancouver/Seattle. Rates from $955. See a travel agent, tel. (800) 266-8454 or Internet https://www.contiki.com.

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The Global Village Backpackers Toronto hostel is the only hostel in Canada given a thumbs-up in the 1999 edition of “Let’s Go USA/Canada.” This month another Global Village Backpackers facility opens in Vancouver. This 250-bed independent hostel (average four beds per room) is located at 1018 Granville St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1L5; tel. (888) 844-7875, Internet https://www.globalbackpackers.com. For information and links to Hostelling International facilities in Canada, visit https://www.hostellingintl.ca.

Next week: Eastern Canada bus services.