The last camping trip of the year is always the one where I take the best notes and make the most plans. Driving home in October with the gear packed and the cooler empty, something about the contrast between the season just ended and the one ahead makes me think clearly about what worked and what I’d change.

Here’s what I’m carrying into next summer from this season on the campingsask.com side of things, and from camping in general.

Book earlier than you think you need to

Every year I have at least one trip where I misjudged the booking window and ended up with a second-choice site or a second-choice park. The solution is obvious and I keep not doing it: set a calendar alarm for the specific April date that your target park opens, and treat that morning like an appointment.

The 2026 provincial parks schedule had Candle Lake and Good Spirit opening April 14, Moose Mountain and Duck Mountain April 15, Cypress Hills and Greenwater April 16, and Pike Lake and Narrow Hills April 17. Those dates are announced in late January or early February. Mark them when they come out.

Waskesiu and the rest of Prince Albert National Park runs through Parks Canada at reservation.pc.gc.ca — their bookings opened April 24 in 2026. Different system, different date, worth marking separately.

The regional parks are worth exploring

I’ve been saying this for a while and I mean it. Saskatchewan has over 90 regional parks — Atton’s Lake, Brightsand Lake, Wakaw Lake, Lucien Lake, Katepwa Point, and many others — and most of them have no central booking date, no April queue, and less competition than the provincial system. Each one books on its own calendar through its own system. Saskregionalparks.ca has the contact info for each one.

This is a genuine advantage and most Saskatchewan campers haven’t used it yet. Pick two or three regional parks you’ve never been to and explore them in a year where the provincial parks feel crowded.

September deserves more trips

I’ve said this before and I’ll keep saying it. September camping in Saskatchewan — specifically the first two weeks, before the frost nights get reliable — is the best camping of the year. Warm days, cold nights, fall colour starting, mosquitoes gone, campgrounds quiet. Get the warm sleeping bag and go.

Pack notes from this year

The stakes held in prairie wind. The DEET 30% product worked. The offline maps on GPS came through when cell coverage dropped. The coin laundry at every provincial park were $2.00 — bring a roll of loonies or toonies. The free firewood at provincial parks is real and good; you don’t need to bring your own or pay for it separately – but the fire bans were in effect.

What didn’t work: the camp chairs I thought were compact turned out to need replacement after four seasons of Saskatchewan UV. Replacing them this winter. Also the tarp setup — I’ve been improvising it every trip and I need to commit to a real tarp shelter system before next summer.

What’s on the list for next year

Maybe a  first trip to Meadow Lake. I’ve been writing about it and linking to it from this site and I haven’t been there in a long while. That’s overdue. Also a proper fishing trip — somewhere in the Nipawin area, Tobin Lake if I can get organized, September timing. And at least one trip where I go somewhere I’ve never been before, based on a campingsask.com campground listing I haven’t personally visited. There are parks in this database I only know from research, and that’s a gap worth closing.

See you at the campground next May.