Good luck getting in to Golden Ears Provincial Park this B.C. Day long weekend, unless it pours rain.
Environment Canada was predicting a 30 per cent chance of rain Friday, with a high of 23 degrees.
Still, according to park operations manager Stewart Burgess, Golden Ears was fully occupied as of Friday, Aug. 3.
“Most of them are settled in for the whole weekend. There will be a lot of checkouts on Monday and a huge number of check-ins on Monday, as well.”
The park’s 50 first-come first-serve sites are also full for the entire weekend.
“They’ve basically been full ever since late June. They’re filling every day,” added Burgess.
All long weekends are busy in the park, he said, with campers coming as early as Wednesday before long weekends start.
As for the chance of rain, Burgess said it takes more than a few raindrops to clear out campers.
“I think they’ll probably wait it out for the sun. Generally on a holiday weekend, it takes absolutely torrential rain to drive people away. Most people have been planning it for a long time and they really look forward to it, so they make the most of it despite the weather.”
Mainly cloudy conditions are also expected for Saturday, but the sun should return on Sunday and Monday.
For those wondering if they can score a day spot on the beach or a day of hiking, Burgess recommends day-users arrive before 10:30 a.m., before the park closes for too much traffic.
“On the weekends, we’ve closed so far. It’s been really busy. This past Sunday, we had more vehicles through the gates than I’ve ever seen. There was almost 3,500 cars through the gates.”
Burgess said it’s hard to predict when the gates will close for the day.
“If it’s cloudy and cool like now, I doubt it will fill. But if the clouds break and the sun comes out, we probably will. It’s really hard to predict.”