Dust off the tent! British Columbians camping out in nature due to COVID-19

It had been quite a few years since Jacqueline and Maury Lum brought out their camping gear. This summer, they finally decided to dust it off.

In the past, planning a weekend at a campsite just seemed like too much work to organize with two young kids.

"At that time when they were younger, it's like, the diapers, the playpens, the whole house," said Jacqueline Lum.

But now that the kids are older and COVID-19 is restricting international travel, they thought now might be a good time to get back into it.

"It's summertime. It's beautiful in B.C. Dr. Bonnie Henry wants us to stay within our province and explore, so this is the perfect opportunity to do that," Lum said.

The Lums aren't the only ones seeking quiet evenings under the stars.

Record attendance

Stu Burgess, manager of Golden Ears Provincial Park, said it's the busiest year at the park on record.

"We're setting attendance records almost every day," Burgess said.

Last Sunday, more than 4,700 vehicles tried to get into the park. There are only enough parking spots for around 1,000.

"Unfortunately, we have to turn literally thousands of vehicles away on the weekend. There's just so many cars coming up," he said.

As for campsites, all three at Golden Ears are fully booked every day this summer, Monday through Sunday.

Meghan Hillar and her family of four were lucky to snag a spotusing the online booking system.

"I was really happy to get like a Thursday, Friday. But that's it," Hillar said.

Hillar hadn't gone camping in 20 years, but thought it's a good time to introduce it to her kids, who are four and six.

"I've been camping with my parents since I was young and we always used to come to this park," Hillar said.

She bought most of her gear back in April anticipating a few camping trips this summer. She said she's glad she did, because a lot of shops now are running low on stock.

"I went to Walmart and Canadian Tire, and it's pretty much picked over. There were certain things we couldn't get," she said.

Many of the other provincial campsites are booked up too, causing some families to get creative.

"We're going to plan to camp in our backyard for sure," said Jacqueline Lum.