At the beginning of April, BC Parks closed all parks and protected areas in order to discourage non-essential travel and group gatherings. This was done as part of the BC government’s plan to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, now known as Covid-19.
However, with Phase One of BC’s Restart Plan now underway, day use areas, trails, recreation sites, picnic areas and boat launches were reopened in mid-May. As of June 1, most provincial campgrounds reopening, allowing British Columbians the chance to get out and enjoy nature over the summer months.
To continue to limit the spread of Covid-19, of which there are still more than 300 active cases in the province, reservations for provincial park campsites will be restricted to residents of BC. Reservations made by those in other provinces will not be accepted and any previously made reservations will be refunded.
“Spending time in nature is one of the best things we can do for our health and well-being,” said George Hyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.
“Camping provides the ideal opportunity to connect safely with family and friends in BC Parks’ beauty. We want to ensure British Columbians have access to summer vacation opportunities close to home, so we are limiting reservations to BC residents. Our plan is to safely open as many parks as possible so that BC campers and day visitors can rediscover the wilderness beauty close to home.”
Previously, reservations could be made up to four months in advance of an arrival date, but will now only be available up to two months in advance, to help spread out the demand during the busy summer months.
To allow for physical distancing, some campgrounds will have fewer sites available, and some campgrounds may have service changes or open at a later date. Backcountry communal cabins, hot springs and campgrounds that require users to use shared cooking facilities will remain temporarily closed.
“Covid-19 has changed a lot of our travel plans this summer, but camping locally in BC Parks or recreation sites might be the break you need,” said Joss Penny, chair of the Camping and RVing Coalition in BC.
“I welcome the news of 180 new campsites in provincial parks and recreation sites to boost capacity and help ease some of the pressure of locating places to stay in high demand locations.”
The pressure of booking those high demand locations was exacerbated by the fact that when the Discover Camping BC reservation portal was opened to British Columbians at 7am Monday, May 25, it crashed almost immediately due to staggering amounts of traffic.
Potential campers took to social media to voice their frustrations, with many noting that it took them more than three hours of repeated attempts to successfully make a reservation.
The website reported technical difficulties, which are expected to be ironed out as the volume of traffic to the site becomes more manageable.
