More than 10,000 nights already booked for Gatineau Park campsites
About 3,000 camp nights are typically sold after first day of reservations
There were more than three times the usual number of bookings for campsites at Gatineau Park this summer on the day reservations opened, according to the National Capital Commission (NCC).
Visitors can only camp with other members of their household this season but that didn't stop thousands of eager campers flooding the park's website on Monday morning, when bookings opened up.
Alain d'Entremont, senior manager of visitor services and recreation at Gatineau Park, said usually about 3,000 nights are sold after the first day. By noon, he said more than 10,000 nights were sold.
"People are not travelling. They have learned from last year that camping and either travelling in your area and your region or your province or at least in Canada is the option. So people are looking for outdoor activities," d'Entremont said.
Park website overloaded
The rush led to some technical challenges for people trying to make a reservation on the park's website, including for Sandra Beaubien, who bikes every summer from Ottawa to a campsite at Lac Philippe.
Beaubien said she wanted to try and book her spot early following the demand for campsites last summer.
"Having a couple of these little normal things to do, even something simple like a couple of nights of camping, it's something just to look forward to as the weather starts to improve," she said.
It took multiple tries to get a reservation Beaubien said, after she watched her first choice of dates slip away because of the overloaded server.
"Luckily two weeks later I could get those campsites, so super happy that I booked in and got the campsite I wanted," she said.
'The sooner the better'
Seasonal operators in the area are expecting a similar rush this summer.
"Last year kind of caught us by surprise," said Jodi Bigelow, who owns a paddle boarding company in Chelsea, Que. "We went from really not knowing how we were going to operate at all to having a really successful summer season."
Bigelow suspects that the upcoming season will be no different, based on the number of orders already in for paddle boards, he said.
For those looking to get into the great outdoors for lack of other options this year, d'Entremont said there are still plenty of weekdays and some popular weekends left available for camping at Gatineau Park.
"They will go fast this year as we see, so the sooner the better," said d'Entremont.
