FILE PHOTO

(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

Some users of the newly revamped B.C. Parks reservation website were happy it didn't crash while using it to book campsite.

In 2020, driven by the pandemic demand, the B.C. Parks site couldn’t handle the roughly 50,000 people that tried to access its site at one time and it crashed.

This year, things went a lot smoother with the new booking system, which launched at 7 a.m. today, March 21.

READ MORE: Opening day for B.C. Parks online reservation system goes smoothly this time

Abbotsford resident Matthew Beard gave it a solid 7.5 out of 10 rating when he booked campsites this morning, March 21.

Beard and his fellow campers used 15 different electronic devices to get campsites in the Fraser Valley but didn’t get their preferred spots.

Jennifer Sangster, an avid camper from Maple Ridge, said on the old reservation site she knew the exact keystrokes necessary to snag a spot.

"You had to be the fastest in the west… it was so stressful whereas this experience was completely different,” she said. “It was really interesting this morning trying to navigate the new system.”

She managed to book spots at Rolley Lake Provincial Park.

READ MORE: You'll need to re-register in order to access new B.C. Parks reservation system

There were 23,000 people in the queue at 7 a.m. today and it was cleared within the first 45 minutes, said Ministry of Environment communications officer David Karn, via email.

By noon, more than 17,000 reservations had been made and some parks were still available for the May long weekend with 97% of bookings made within the first three hours from within B.C.

Maximum wait times were reported at 45 minutes, Karn said, via email. A queuing system is only in place for the peak hour of opening day. People on the site were randomly placed in a virtual waiting room where they could see their place in line, mitigating system overloads during the peak hour of opening day.

Since 2017, more than 1,700 campsites have been added to B.C. Parks and recreation sites in high-demand areas. Of those, 500 are in the Lower Mainland parks, including Cultus Lake, Golden Ears, Chilliwack Lake, Stawamus Chief and Garibaldi.

You can find the new B.C. Parks campsite reservation system here.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Carli Berry or call 250-864-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.

News from © iNFOnews, 2022