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Trail Fully Booked? Tips on How to Get a Reservation Anyway

If you missed reservation day and found out that BC’s most popular backpacking trails are fully booked, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, reservations systems favour planners who book well in advance. For spontaneous folks, trip planning can amount to coming upon a good weekend in the middle of summer and deciding to go somewhere. The good news is that snagging a reservation can be a little trickier, but not impossible.

BC’s Most Fully Booked Backcountry Destinations:

  • West Coast Trail
  • Rockwall Trail
  • Berg Lake Trail
  • Broken Group Islands
  • Bowron Lake Canoe Route
  • Garibaldi, Golden Ears, and Manning Provincial Parks

Note: Both BC Parks and Parks Canada reservations are non-transferable. While BC Parks enforces this strictly, Parks Canada is less strict. If you can’t make your reservation, always cancel it instead of trying to resell it. You agreed to potential penalties when booking.

Cancellations

Popular trails book up quickly on reservation day, but cancellations happen all the time due to injury, illness, and life events. Keep checking for openings. The key is to get these cancellations before someone else scoops them up, but a few tricks can help:

Hit Refresh Religiously

It might sound a little tedious, but sitting there and refreshing the page every minute for a block of time can often snag you a reservation. I’ve gotten all of my Garibaldi Provincial Park reservations this way despite it being fully booked days beforehand.

Best Time of Day

To optimize your chances of snagging that reservation, think strategically. People will often cancel reservations when they have downtime:

  • Mornings (before work)
  • Around noon (lunch hour)
  • Evenings (after work)
Be Flexible

While you might not get your exact dates, you might get one that’s close enough. The first time I did the West Coast Trail, I got my desired start date, but with a different entry point. For places like the Berg Lake Trail and the Rockwall Trail, this might mean booking a different set of campgrounds than you originally wanted, a basecamp trip, or an out-and-back instead.

You’ll also have better luck booking for a smaller group size. Most cancellations free up just one or two spots rather than multiple spots. If going solo, you may also find people in trail-specific Facebook groups looking to fill a place after someone in their group cancels.

Weather

Check the weather when looking for cancellations. Forecasts of heavy rain, snow, or wildfire smoke for the area will often cause people to cancel. While less than ideal, if you’re prepared and experienced, even poor weather can still make for a great trip.

Last Minute

A ton of reservations can open up last-minute, meaning the day before your intended start, or even the day of. Consider packing up in case a spot opens up, and having an alternative ready if it doesn’t. Just remember to leave a trip plan, so someone knows where you are.

Overall Best Strategy:
  • Be logged into your account already.
  • Refresh the page.
  • Use time strategically.
  • Act quickly: popular spots can be gone in seconds.
Notification Apps

While there are some apps out there that notify you when a camping spot becomes available, these depend on a) you checking the email in a timely manner and b) acting quickly. Apps include:

  • BC Parks Notify Me
  • Campnab
  • Schnerp

Shoulder Season

So long as you’re prepared for potentially ugly weather, shoulder season is a great time to snag a reservation. My favourite time to head out on a trip is that sweet spot between rainy season and smoke season, at the end of June, and at the end of September.

  • Late spring/early summer (May and June)
  • Late summer/early fall (Late September and early October)

If you’re still unable to get a reservation for the place you want, the good news is that most places in BC don’t require them. Consider looking into a nearby area, where you can often get the same views with a different plan and less company. Sometimes the unexpected option becomes the best trip.

First time on the West Coast Trail? Check out my tips for dealing with a fear of heights.

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