This camping season looks to be a busy one in the MD of Bonnyville, with Cold and Crane Lake seeing record numbers in reservations at this point.
Parks Manager Ashley Browatzke says Cold Lake alone had already taken 315 reservations just barely more than a week after the phones opened. Long weekends are slim pickings at this point and so are weeks in July. Labour Day Weekend still remains open for the most part and generally doesn’t book up until the end of summer.
Browatzke thinks MD policy has been able to create a culture of booking early at the sites. “Campers pay upfront to reserve their stall now, so at the popular campgrounds its created a culture where if you don’t book you don’t get in. It’s kind of perpetuated people to book earlier, so now even more people book up front.”
A few other sites are slightly slower than usual, though that may be dependent on good fishing weather and people feeling like they can get a good spot without reserving.