Thousands wait to book B.C. campsites as website relaunches

The new BC Parks camping reservations system launched Monday morning, and it appears thousands of people were up bright and early to book a campsite on the new website.

Avid camper and Maple Ridge resident Angela Massey was among them. She says they were all put in a randomly selected queue ahead of the 7 a.m. website launch.

“It sucks,” she said about the apparent lottery system created this year.

“All of my friends started logging in to book around six o’clock this morning…they randomly selected people for where they are in the queue, I was at like 5,000 in the queue, and then my other friends were at 8,900, and my other [friend] is at 11,000, and they logged in before me. So, it’s absolutely crazy.”

“I’m just trying to book a campsite,” she said, adding, “what we were basically hoping was the site would be easier to use.”

Barely a minute after BC Parks online camping reservation system opened… #bcparks #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/FOtMDeQK0J

— Monika Gul (@MonikaGul) March 21, 2022

Massey was able to book a campsite at Golden Ears Provincial Park and says certain features on the new website were a bit more user friendly. She says just waiting to book was the most frustrating part.

Reservations can only be made two months in advance. Many were looking to book for the busy May long weekend Monday morning.

#BCParks I was online at 630am and in the queue at 7am and I was over 22000 in line, wow, we literally live in a forested province, why can’t we have places to camp ? pic.twitter.com/ICD4DLPVdm

— mrslurpee (@mrslurpee) March 21, 2022

New #bccamping reservation system makes it impossible to camp with friends and secure multiple sites in same park.

— Susan Van Dyke (@lawyerPR) March 21, 2022

Deena Forder tried and failed to book a site at Golden Ears Provincial Park.

“They put you in line so you’re not booking at 7 o’clock. My booking was closer to 7:30 a.m., and by the time I got on, it was all completely booked. But the most frustrating part is my friends will all be there and there will be empty sites and we can’t use them. That’s the worst part, happens every time.”

She doesn’t think the lottery makes any sense and “thought it would be much easier” to use the new website.

“If I’m 16,000th in line in the queue, how many people are booking at the same time? That’s a lot of people,” she said.

@BCGovNews – lineups are for wickets not websites. The new camping reservation website system is an embarrassment for the tech industry in BC.

“Number of users in line ahead of you: 25247
Your estimated wait time is: more than an hour”

— Ryan Wilson (@ryansdwilson) March 21, 2022

The new website comes after many people complained about previous versions of the booking system. In 2020, the Discover Camping website crashed during the first day of booking. A year later, there were further website glitches preventing some from checking out.

In an email, the Ministry of Environment said the site launched as designed, and was able to clear 23,000 people from the queue within the first 45 minutes.

“As of noon, more than 17,000 reservations have been made and some parks still have availability for the May long weekend,” the ministry said Monday, adding that the queuing system is only in place for opening day to mitigate system overloads.

It says 97 per cent of bookings made during the first three hours were made from within B.C. The ministry adds the peak of the queue was at 7 a.m., when the maximum wait time was 45 minutes.

“The queuing system is only in place for the peak hour of opening day and is also used by other park agencies to provide fairness and transparency. People on the site were randomly placed in a virtual waiting room where they could see their place in line, mitigating system overloads during the peak hour of opening day.”

It adds 55 per cent of the BC Parks campsites are reservable, while the remaining 45 per cent are available on a first-come, first served basis.

However, it’s not just the booking system that seems to be the issue. Louise Pederson, Executive Director of Outdoor Recreation Council of BC says there are just not enough campsites to meet the demand. She is appealing for more to be created.

“They’ve made some changes to some other reservation policies that were very much needed. So I think overall, it looks great, but we do have some concerns,” Pederson said Sunday night.

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• B.C. campers run into issues booking a campsite

She says British Columbians need more flexibility when it comes to park use.

“I mean, some of the solutions are to ensure that all parks have a number of first come, first serve sites available, I mean, that is something that seems to have gradually kind of disappeared,” Pederson explained.

“We’ve got, you know, significant … population growth, especially in the Metro Vancouver area, but a very limited number of camping opportunities available. ”

She also hopes that BC Parks enforces the rules when people don’t show up, so that campsites don’t sit empty.

Reserved sites are held until 11 a.m. the day after the scheduled arrival date. If no one shows up, the reservations will be cancelled. However, Pederson says many people complained of empty sites for weeks, which could have been turned over for someone else to enjoy.

“Since 2017, more than 1,700 campsites have been added to BC Parks and recreation sites in high-demand areas,” the ministry said, adding “Of the 10,700 campsites BC Parks manages, 55% are reservable and 45% are available on a first-come, first served basis (FCFS). Most campgrounds with reservable sites also offer FCFS sites.”

With files from Nikitha Martins and Azzaya Khan