A decision by B.C. Parks eliminates the possibility of first-come, first-served camping at the popular Golden Ears Provincial Park, that will be made 100% online reservable for the 2019 camping season, with no more drive-up bookings. Over the past year there were 350 reservable campsites at Golden Ears out of 409 in total, but soon the entire campsite will be reservations only, reports Maple Ridge News.
“You can call us unhappy campers,” said Michael Babor. “We have a love for that park like no other. For me, it’s because I grew up going there. It’s a lifetime of great memories.”
The reservation system has already virtually taken over, and with so few drive-up spots last summer it was impossible to get a site. Booking in advance is also difficult, says Angela Massey, and she said family campers are competing with companies that are re-selling sites, and are booking them en mass. She points out that young people with no credit cards will not be able to book a site, nor will seniors who lack the tech savvy to navigate the online booking system.
Babor said he simply can’t book camping months in advance. He is a shift worker and doesn’t know his schedule more than three weeks ahead of time.
“First-come, first-serve is necessary for so many reasons,” said Darshan Andrews. “Not everyone has the ability to schedule their camping trips and take time off work, etc., months in advance. Reserve-only sites certainly make it nearly impossible for me to take my family camping.”
Environment Ministry spokesman David Karn said there is public demand for more campsite reservations.
“The number of reservable sites at any given campground or park is driven by consumer demand and in alignment with B.C. Parks’ mandate to manage the land sustainably,” he said. “The overwhelming public demand is for increased reservation opportunities. B.C. Parks adjusts reservable inventory on an annual basis in response to occupancy demand.”
What dumb reasoning to fill up campsites. “They claim first come is damaging so they let 5 billion people know where to camp?” How stupid. Chinese musta bought the campground.
It is interesting how they listen to consumer demand for more reservable sites but when it comes to more campgrounds, a longer operating season, or larger sites these all fall on deaf ears.
So much for the spontaneity of camping travel.
How much is charged for reservation fees ?? ( I heard $6.00 per night for up to 3 nights and any more nights were not charged a reservation fee. Also if a person does reserve a site for a certain amount of days do they pay for it all up front or when they arrive. If they cancel do they get any refund? To help with this problem make anyone that wants to reserve a site to have to pay for all days booked with no refunds ,period! The government is subsidizing these campgrounds and they should charge what a private campground charges . Because they are the government they do not pay taxes on their property which usually is some of the best properties in the province with lake frontage and over sized campsites. The private campgrounds cannot compete with them . Also, a lot of provincial campgrounds close down for the season too early even though there is a demand for people to still use the shoulder season to enjoy the outdoors
This has happened in Alberta also at Lesser Slave lake Provincial Park. We stopped in as we had many years ago and the lady said it is reservation only. She was willing to give us the number of the sites that were still open for the 2 days we wanted BUT when it came to paying we still had to pay the $12.00 reservation fee even though we were standing there. Socialists in AB also!!
It is lousy because it will get like concerts where there are never any tickets available except from scalpers at a premium.