Photo: Alberta Parks / Facebook

By Shane Clausing

camping season

County of Grande Prairie camping season opens Friday

May 13, 2021 | 2:25 PM

As of Friday, campgrounds in the County of Grande Prairie will open for the 2021 camping season.

Campgrounds in the County that are opening include Pipestone Creek, Bear Lake, Hommy, Kleskun Hills, and Demmitt.

County Parks and Recreation Manager Christine Rawlins says crews are expecting campsites to be busy this year.

“We are seeing an increase in our reservations during our opening weekend, and we are anticipating a very busy camping season. We are aware some people want to stay local because of the restrictions and we are aware that some of the national park and provincial park areas are already booked fully.”

Because of the busy year, Rawlins is encouraging campers to book their sites in advance.

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“We have online reservations available at Pipestone Creek campground and all of our other County campgrounds, with the exception of Demmitt, you can call ahead and make a telephone reservation.”

“You can drop in and take a chance, but we do encourage people to call ahead to avoid disappointment.”

You can call to book a campground at 780-532-6727.

Campground users at all County locations are asked to follow the following COVID-19 restrictions:

• Group camping at all County campgrounds is not available for the remainder of May. This will be reviewed for June if provincial outdoor gathering restrictions are relaxed.
• The shower house at Pipestone Creek will not be open from May 14 to 31. This will be reviewed for June if provincial indoor gathering restrictions are relaxed.
• Cookhouses and gazebos will not be available for rental bookings in May. This will be revisited in June if provincial outdoor gathering restrictions are eased.
• Outhouses will be open at all County campgrounds.
• Enhanced cleaning measures are in place.
• Campground and park visitors are reminded to practice good personal hygiene and remain responsible for their own personal wellbeing.
• Visiting other households at their campsite is not encouraged under the current health restrictions.

“We do encourage people to stay within their own campsite and not socialize with other campsites,” said Rawlins. “(We) ask people to just take care of those common-sense COVID protocols that people have been used to over the last several months.”

There have been some improvements made to the campgrounds.

Pipestone Creek has 25 new powered sites in Loop A and an additional 18 are planned for Loop D by June 25.

Pipestone will also see old trails rejuvenated and the opening of a seven-kilometer nature trail later in the year.

All other visitors at other campgrounds will be able to look forward to new information kiosks and site maps.

Bear Lake is also reporting normal water levels at the day-use area. Rawlins encourages people to get out and enjoy it.