Campers looking forward to booking their summer excursions in Canada’s national parks will have to wait until spring to do so.

Parks Canada has announced campsite bookings, which normally open in January, have been pushed back to April due to COVID-19.

Visitor Experience Manager at Kejimkujik National Park Sophie Borcoman said they want to give campers flexibility in their planning because of the uncertainty around what the pandemic precautions may look like next year.

“This year, across the country, we’re giving visitors the opportunity to make more informed decisions for their vacation plans for 2021 by not opening the reservation system until April,” said Borcoman.

The pandemic has been a bit a boon to Kejimkujik as people looked for ways to get out of the house.

“We had a lot of people coming out, especially from Halifax, who wanted to have an experience outdoors and be outside, and for many of them, it was the first time for them to experience Keji, this summer,” said Borcoman.

That experience looked different this year as the national park's main camping area, Jeremy’s Bay, was closed for extensive renovations.

Washrooms, wastewater management and water treatment plants and the accompanying infrastructure that had been in place since the 1970s was torn down, dug up and replaced with modern facilities.

New water treatment facility at Kejimkujik National Park. Photo courtesy of Parks Canada.

Borcoman says because most of the renos were being done outside, their contractors were able to work through the lockdowns and they’re on track to re-open the campground this spring.

The number of visitors to Keji was about a third of what the park would normally see in the summer season, but Borcoman is impressed that many people came out to enjoy the national park even without facilities.

“The fact that the front-country campground was closed, it didn’t seem to affect the backcountry at all,” said Borcoman. “So we had really good visitation in our backcountry this season. People had lots of space to do their own thing in a socially distanced way.”

Borcoman said the park will close for the winter but the gates will be open and people can still enjoy the trails for hiking, skiing and snowshoeing.

The reservation system will be open for summer bookings at 8 a.m. on Friday, April 23.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson