An owl was perched on a branch above our tent. Every dawn, almost on the cusp of sunbreak, an…read moreapparently racist murder of crows would gather around and intimidate said owl. They would squawk incessantly for minutes, then pause, only to be followed by a single taunting hoot from the owl, resulting in the murder riling up again. When we finally emerged from our tent several hours later, the owl was still perched above us, unmoved apparently from the night before, with a mess of crow feathers scattered about. This repeated each morning for three days; at no point did the crows realize that this was not an owl in which to screw with. We found out later the owl had a nest one tree away, so I thank it for not acknowledging us as a threat.
That strangely humorous anecdote is my strongest memory from Rainbow Valley, a campground lodged inside of Edmonton. I mean "inside" of Edmonton, meaning despite having a tent, the night was obscured with light pollution and traffic noises never ceased. At least it was close to town. It's a solution for those people too cheap for a hotel (like us) or people with an expensive fifth wheel or RV they badly need to justify. For those with tents, there is no power, no internet access, which you should obviously expect if camping out of town. When surrounded by full bathroom, shower facilities, and streetlights INSIDE the campground, the lack of plug-in power was oddly notable. And there was a fire-ban in effect the first night.
A note about security: the facility claimed to be safe, but at no point did we trust such a statement. Yes, it is fenced, and yes, there is a card-accessed gate at the entrance. What they don't have is a gate at the exit. Instead, there's only a collapsible spike strip easily circumvented by people walking. So I'd still keep everything in a car. The pro of being in a town is that you can forget about the threats of wild animals (which some people will take as a con), but it also means there are no nearby bodies of water. All you can do when you exit your tent is pile in a car and head into the city. If you stay, there's very little else other than cooking over a clumsy stove and getting drunk...which I do believe most of our neighbors ended up doing. You require some stimulation in the evening since there's a mind-numbingly absurd 11 pm curfew. No lies, the aforementioned card key does not work between 11 pm and 5 am, meaning if you show up late, you have to park outside the campground and walk to your tent. And since the office is open from nine to six, you can neither check in late nor check out early. But hey, it's three times cheaper than a hotel, so happy camping!
