I am doing a 3-week trip this summer from Toronto to the mountains of Alberta and I plan to avoid the larger city and travel the northern parts of the provinces. My hope is to camp along the way, either at campsites or stealth camping. Is it advisable to just go and follow my route and ask locals towards the end of the day where I might camp, or should I map out all the campsites and do a lot of research before I leave? I have never done a solo trip this long so I am not sure how to plan for this.

Any KOA campgrounds on or near your route? They’re a big chain in the US with some sites in Canada and very easy to use. We’ve ‘stealth’ camped for a bit and then stopped in a KOA to clean up.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with any advance planning. Unless you're far more rigid than I am, you never really know where you're going to end up stopping for the night anyway. No real need to ask locals, either; there are a lot more places suitable for camping than there are locals.

I do like paper maps, most of which will show public (i.e., state, provincial or national) campsites and recreational sites. But in the "northern parts of the provinces" there is generally a lot of tolerance for casual camping, as long as you're not creating a mess or getting someone's way.

Commercial campgrounds (or "Kampgrounds," per post #2) will be obvious and signposted in advance. They cater to RVs, so are often unappealing and expensive for other means of travel, but they do have hot showers.

The two-lane roads through boreal forest and muskeg tend to be kind've boring after a while, with relatively few real attractions along the way. Eventually, spotting moose or bear stops feeling exciting, but it's nice for fishing, northern lights viewing, and mosquito repellant testing. During summer the days are ridiculously long, giving you lots of options at the end of the day--no ferocious rush to find a place to stay before dark.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Im with Mark on this. You will find lots of place,s to camp, a lot of the little towns have public camp grounds and lots of provincial camp sites . Most river crossings have a little dirt rd you can zip down and camp.

All so goggle up motorcycle camp grounds along the way .

In northern ontario, make sure the cops ,OPP, can't see you from the HWY.