By Kamloops This Week
The province will begin accepting camping reservations on March 15.
Beginning at 7 a.m. on that Tuesday, Discover Camping will begin accepting reservations for most campgrounds. Individual camping sites in many provincial parks can be booked up to three months in advance through the Discover Camping website or via the call centre.
The website is at www.discovercamping.ca. The call centre number is 1-800-689-9025, but there is a $5 surcharge for reserving through the call centre.
New for the 2016 camping season, families can now reserve campsites in Dry Gulch, Inland Lake and sxwexwnitkw (Okanagan Falls) provincial parks. There are also reservable campsites at Ruckle Provincial Park, as well as two brand-new group camping sites at Syringa and Kootenay Lake provincial parks.
For more adventurous campers, two small, rustic trapper’s cabins in Wells Gray Provincial Park are now reservable for the first time this year.
Groups can also now book their favourite picnic spots at Summit Lake, Ten Mile Lake, Lac La Hache and Green Lake provincial parks.
Although individual campsite reservations don’t open until March 15, all inventory for 2016 were visible on the Discover Camping website on Wednesday, Mar. 9 — the same date when new group sites could be booked, since all group sites are reservable up to 12 months in advance of the arrival date.
Discover Camping, the interactive reservation website, displays the availability, layout and amenities at 122 campgrounds — showing more than 5,800 campsites — throughout British Columbia. Approximately half of all BC Parks camping opportunities remain on a first-come, first-served basis.
Camping fees will be hiked in about half of all provincial parks in B.C. this year, while fees will be reduced or eliminated in some other parks.
