Campgrounds Busy this Long Weekend?

lannie · #1 05-20-2019, 08:40 AM

Looking locally it appears the campgrounds and hwy 3 have much less traffic than previous May long weekends. Curious to other peoples experiences/ opinions.

ETOWNCANUCK · #2 05-20-2019, 10:05 AM

I think the wind has had a big impact on things.

Prairiewolf · #3 05-20-2019, 12:42 PM

Camped for two nights down at Castle Falls campground. We got the last booking online when access opened but were one of only two occupied sites.

Rain/sleet and +2 scared quite a few away it seems.

liar · #4 05-20-2019, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prairiewolf

Camped for two nights down at Castle Falls campground. We got the last booking online when access opened but were one of only two occupied sites.

Rain/sleet and +2 scared quite a few away it seems.

this is the crappy part of " reserved " camping . it creates artificial shortages .
last time we went to pearce lake we got one of the two last spots . the campground was full . full of lawn chairs , small pup tents , and other such things to " reserve" spots . meanwhile people that are there and want to use the stalls are out of luck .

went out early for a ride before the wind got bad and saw lots of rv's heading home . i dont think it was a stellar weekend for camping

bat119 · #5 05-20-2019, 02:09 PM

There are still those that show up at 11:00 on Friday night expecting to find a spot.
A few years back we had one of 12 seasonal sites at Peck lake despite a large CAMPGROUND IS FULL sign at the entrance there was a parade of campers and 5th wheels all night driving through just to check if the sign was lying.

facepalm x2

jdwilson · #6 05-21-2019, 09:09 AM

I read somewhere on Albertaparks.ca when I was booking a site that if someone no shows for their reservation, the site is supposed to be released the next day for use again. So, if someone books for a Fri/Sat/Sunday and they do not show up by 12 (or maybe 2 pm) on Saturday, the site is supposed to be made available to someone else. How you are supposed to know that though is tough, they do not update the website as far as I know on the weekends. I guess if the campground has a host, they might release the site to drop ins.

I only booked one weekend for this summer. Unless I am going somewhere specific, I usually try to stick to first come, first serve campgrounds and leave work early on Friday...or take Friday off. If I get there and nothin is available, I boondock on crown land. Not ideal, but I try to make it work.

And the reason why I say boondocking is not ideal is I have had a couplof not so great experiences with bad neighbours in the past. Otherwise I would do it all the time.