STARS: 4.5 out of 5
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BEAR RIDGE CAMPGROUND, NORTHEAST OF EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA: GPS 40.8882° N, 79.4276° W
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The pluses to this campground are the owners (absolutely fabulous and accommodating people - Kevin and his wife) the informal "manager" (Jason), the beauty, the friendliness of the "long-term" RVers, our nice (only existing) pull-through (that is usually used as a turn-around), and the location by a slow-moving and very swimmable river.
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The minuses are the bathrooms are all port-a-potties (which were as incredible clean as possible, but still port-a-potties, which are my least favorite of public toilets), the road down to our site (not the beginning of the entrance, but closer in to the campground) had sharp bends that were challenging to navigate in places, lack of cellular service (completely non-existent). We also had a challenge getting into our pull-through where we nearly took out our awning as we were parking. Fortunately, Jeff had an ingenious idea to use a ratchet style tie to squeeze two trees together, thus bringing the problem-tree out of range of our awning. Granted, some of this problem could have been alleviated by a more sophisticated driver/instruction-giver combo, but nonetheless I think I should mention it. Many of the back-in sites looked impossible, but people were parked in them! I would say a good half of the spots in the campground were occupied by long-term summer residents. The owner even has super cute signs posted at those sites with the RV-owners names, like welcome signs. Very nice touch. We wish there was a campground situation like us for back in our hometown of Portland, OR. We'd love to have a long-term parking/camping option like this in lieu of the sterile and concrete looking RV parks.
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We feel very blessed that they allowed us to park in the pull-through, because it's probably the only one we could have managed. I felt badly, though, because that took away the only turnaround on the property. I'm not sure what we would have done if we had gotten to the end (where this pull-through was) and had needed to use it as a turnaround and had it occupied by someone else. The turn around process would have been a nightmare for us that would have turned into sure damage to our trailer.
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Another incredibly nice accommodation was the use of their personal canoe. We really wanted to rent one, and they don't have any place nearby to do that, so the owner rented us his for a very cheap daily rate. I don't want to say the price, in case he changes it for others, but it was super nice.
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His directions to the location had distances that were slightly off, hence my suggestion to use the GPS coordinates in conjunction with his directions. Also, his directions mention his driveway being the first one on the left, but technically it is the second one on the left, so be careful of that. Have a passenger get out and check them out before turning in.
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There is no potable water supply and a very strange set up for a dump which we did not use.
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I usually mention cellular service at the end of my reviews, so I will mention it again here for anyone skimming for it. There was no cellular of any kind.