BC's Provincial Camp Grounds Rip-off

[LarryandLiz]

Another recent news article I read said the Canadian Camping Adventures has 2 staff who book/buy sites on behalf of their clients.

[LarryandLiz]

So as a newly retired BC resident looking for a project perhaps I can assist any of my out of country Escape Forum members (US) with their BC camping reservations.

Or perhaps I'll turn into the cranky retired dude who sends endless emails/letters to the elected officials and government workers within the system trying to get something changed.

(But I think I am done posting about this on our Forum. Unless I discover some real interesting tidbit of info.

I suspect not much will change, given the amount of money overseas tourists bring into BC

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Marry

Like selling your soul.....

Marry happens a lot today . Pat

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by LarryandLiz

Van der Kraats said his company is not the problem; he books sites online the same way as everyone else.

"I do realize the frustration, it's just, it's not us making this happen," he said.

"We are just like everybody else. We just make some bookings, and if we can't book them, we book them somewhere else."

This is what is called disingenuous in polite circles, and stupid in more frank terms. Yes, it's the same website that we use, but the rest of us are not speculatively booking to keep those sites from people who will actually use them, and are not blatantly violating the BC Parks rules regarding transferring reservations. If they believe what they say then they are morons; if they understand how it is wrong then they are at the very least dishonest.

One more company that I would refuse to do business with.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

This makes perfect sense to me. The weekend rush out of Toronto got so bad that the exodus was starting early Thursday afternoon. That wasn't primarily a campground issue - it was people trying to avoid traffic.

For more than two decades now similar things have been happening in Alberta. A lot of people who love to head to the Forestry Campgrounds for any long weekend, actually take the time to haul their trailer out a few days before, park it there and just pay for the extra days to hold their favourite spots. This is one thing that led to my brothers and I finding a spot where we can camp during long weekends with no hassles. Heck, we were drinking Scotch and playing guitar until 2am one night, which nary a single complaint. Heck, even the 'yotes joined in.

We do hit these Forestry, as well as some provincial CGs during the week, or on non-long weekends.

[sleepy]

The BC Provincial Parks front country camping, hasn't expanded any park (that I know of), in 20+ years. At the same time, the population has grown, and the large surge of baby-boomers is retiring. Additionally the the number of tourists never seems to decrease.
I'd like to see an increase in the number of quality front country camping spots.

We use to camp at Forest Service Sites but too often people move into them on the May long weekend and stay until Thanksgiving because they are more entitled than me.
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As for the statistics, if a private BC company is booking sites in BC Parks for foreign tourists, is the booking measured as BC residents or from elsewhere...?

[maurerl]

Today's cartoon from our local community newspaper:

[Steve Clark]

Originally Posted by maurerl

Today's cartoon from our local community newspaper:

I just did that for a three day weekend on my Mom's driveway.......complete with awning, camp chairs, BBQ, and beer.....created a lot of neighbor envy!!

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by maurerl

Today's cartoon from our local community newspaper:

When the scarcity of campsites becomes the subject of newspaper cartoons, it's time to change the system. Just an opinion.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

When the scarcity of campsites becomes the subject of newspaper cartoons, it's time to change the system. Just an opinion.

Sure, but if the province announces a plan to develop more area in parks to create campsites, and spend tens of millions of dollars on it, I expect there will be a big backlash. There is no easy answer, and no clear balancing point between the extremes of having campsites always in use but most people unable to get sites when they want them, and paying a fortune to have so many campsites that they are always available when wanted but most are empty most of the time.

[gbaglo]

Also have to factor in the tree-huggers, according to TV news the other day. They don't want trees cut to create campsites.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Also have to factor in the tree-huggers, according to TV news the other day. They don't want trees cut to create campsites.

I love trees Glenn. Their wood built my house.

[grump]

We just set our orientation and pickup for September 1st and after reading this thread I'm guessing I might have screwed up. It sounds like it's going to be mighty difficult to find a camping spot for a day or two without reservations on Labor Day weekend. We wanted to spend a day or two close to ETI. Might have to rethink our plans.

[Rossue]

Might see if you can put it off a week, however when we picked up 9/17 we found that fairly soon afterwards a lot of campgrounds were closing up loops or closing altogether during our 3 week trip home, even with good weather still.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by grump

We just set our orientation and pickup for September 1st and after reading this thread I'm guessing I might have screwed up. It sounds like it's going to be mighty difficult to find a camping spot for a day or two without reservations on Labor Day weekend.

Originally Posted by Rossue

Might see if you can put it off a week, however when we picked up 9/17 we found that fairly soon afterwards a lot of campgrounds were closing up loops or closing altogether during our 3 week trip home, even with good weather still.

Yes, the Labour Day weekend is the unofficial "last weekend of summer" in most of Canada. With kids back in school immediately after it and weather cooling off quickly in most areas, camping is done for most people and campgrounds start closing. On the other hand, I'm currently planning a trip and finding that in the one location (in Ontario) where I want to reserve, the campgrounds are open until the end of October.

[padlin]

Didn't think of Labor Day when we were traveling to Yellowstone, got stuck at Walmart. The couple sites that we did find were worse then WM, packed in like sardines. Think I'd do like Ross mentions and see if you can hold off pickup till Tuesday. Camping is great, AFTER the holiday.

[Bobbito]

Good advice. Living in the area, we would either have to book s reserved site 3 months in advance or else go up 2 days (or more) early to hopefully get a non-reservable campsite (and pay for days you aren't there). But going early isn't an option for you. The weekend after the holiday weekend should work for you.
Bob K


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[LarryandLiz]

A bit of an update
From a July 8 Maple Ridge news article

Campsites expanding - Maple Ridge News
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"BC Parks will make changes to its online reservation system. Polak wants it to suggest other parks when campers find the sites they want are full, to create more awareness of other parks.

She said Parks will also close loopholes people have found in the online reservation system that allow them to book weeks ahead.

Popular sites may also see reservations reduced from a maximum of two weeks to just one week – as has already been done in some parks.

“I’m more concerned with the perception that people have that campsites are being taken over by overseas visitors,” she said.

Polak said the parks system is still 75 per cent B.C. users and 15 per cent Albertans.

Tour operators can book sites on behalf of clients, but are not allowed to book sites “on spec” she added. Those bookings will be cancelled by BC Parks, and the operator could be barred, she said.

So far BC Parks has seen 11 reports of campground scalping. In some cases people were advertising on public sale websites, and agreed to take the ads down."

[rbryan4]

That is good news. Looks like they are aware of the problems, and are at least attempting to address them.


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[grump]

Talked to Tammy yesterday and rescheduled our pickup and orientation for the 12th of September. After calling around it didn't take long to figure out that it was going to be very difficult to find a place to camp for a couple of days.