Athabasca Falls at Jasper National Park. Photo Credit: dreamstime.com

By Shane Clausing

Camping

Jasper National Park campground reservations open Friday

Apr 8, 2021 | 1:12 PM

Reservations at Jasper National Park for the 2021 camping season open to the public on Friday, April 9 at 8:00 a.m.

The opening day of reservations allows campers to reserve a campsite at Wapiti, Wabasso, and Pocahontas campgrounds, which will all be open from early May until late September.

Whistlers will remain closed until later in the summer as a two-year renovation project still needs to be finished.

With reservations opening on Friday morning, Steve Young with Jasper National Park says they are expecting their website to be very busy with people eager to get out and explore the park.

“It’s going to be busy on Friday morning. We start at 8:00 a.m. Mountain Time and we can have as many as 2,000 reservations in the first hour and as many as 10,000 reservations in a single day. Day one is usually the biggest day.”

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Most of those who book their campsites on opening day are people trying to go camping for the May long weekend.

With Whistlers still closed, Young says they are prepared to serve as many campers as possible.

“When you take 781 campsites out of the equation, it does reduce the inventory of campsites. For the big May long weekend, we are putting up some overflow sites in the Snaring area, just off Highway 16.”

Before you reserve your site on Friday morning, Young encourages people to make sure their Government of Canada account is up to date. This will make it easier when it comes to checking out once you have reserved your campsite.

He also asks those booking to be patient, as there will be lots of traffic on the website.

“The system is just like a concert ticket, the first day they go on sale, that first hour can get a little bit hairy,” said Young.

With COVID-19 still a threat throughout the season, Young says he and his team will be watching the situation as it unfolds. For now, they are planning just how they did last year.

“We are playing it by ear just like everyone else. We do follow the advice of Health Canada and Alberta Health Services and use their direction as the way we operate. It probably will be a normal summer as usual.”

“The last couple of weeks we (have been) keeping a close eye on the rising numbers, but we’ll inform the public if we have to make some changes. For right now, we are sort of planning for the best and hoping for the best.”

Campers this year are also encouraged to bring their bikes down to the park to get to and from their destinations.

Jasper National Park says it has seen a large number of vehicles on the road because of COVID-19, which is causing lots of traffic and parking issues in the town.

You can reserve a campsite at Parks Canada’s website.