Now is the time to book for the May long weekend at B.C. parks

Looking out the window at the cold, snow covered vistas in Kamloops and the Okanagan today, it’s possible your mind isn’t on summer camping trips, but maybe it should be.

Online reservations can be made up to four months in advance, which means reservations can now be taken for B.C. Parks for the May long weekend.

B.C. Parks media spokesperson David Karn said yesterday, Jan.15, the reservation line was busy all day.

“The system was busy but there were no major slowdowns,” he said, adding the day’s traffic was the first major test of the reservation system this year.

Looking at British Columbia Parks reservation system this morning, Jan. 16, it appears there are still vacancies for popular parks such as Bear Creek, Kekuli Bay, Okanagan Lake, Kentucky-Alleyne, North Thompson River and others but they probably won’t last long.

Online reservations can be made 24 hours a day. Additional features this year include advanced search and display features that show campsites available in nearby parks if the first choice is full, and notifications if previously booked sites become available at a certain park during a specific time.

Last year, nearly 231,000 reservations were made through the Discover Camping website.

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