Vehicle traffic in Golden Ears Provincial Park hit a record high on B.C. Day.
On Monday, 3,700 vehicles passed through the traffic counter at the park’s main gate in Maple Ridge.
Sunday was almost as busy, with the traffic counter recording approximately 3,400 vehicles entering the main gate.
Both campers and day-users contributed to the count.
The park also had to close its gates by 11:30 a.m. on both Sunday and Monday, as it was full.
Stewart Burgess, parks operations manager, said so many visitors were coming in to the park Monday that all of his staff had to assist at the main gate and in the campground area.
“Campsites were full all weekend, we had a huge number of checkouts at the end of the long weekend and an equally huge number of check-ins,” Burgess added.
Throughout the long weekend and currently, campsites remain fully booked. However, there’s a chance a few quick campers could score a spot mid-week.
“All the sites are full through probably Wednesday, and then there will be a couple of unbooked reservable sites probably available Wednesday and Thursday evening, but there’s just a handful of them and they’ll be available for one to two nights only,” Burgess said.
Environment Canada issued another heat warning for the Lower Mainland on Tuesday, and predicts sunny skies and highs of 27 degrees until Thursday, so campers will have to act fast if they want to unwind and cool down for the night in Golden Ears this week.