I have been talking to campsite owners for several stories lately and it led me to thinking. One of the best memories of my childhood is of acting out stories with my family of seashells while camping on Vancouver Island.
I painstakingly picked each shell from the beach, assigned each a role, then built houses for the shells out of driftwood. I spent days coming up with storylines for my shell family. (You may have guessed by now I was a bit of a wallflower.)
Camping contributed many great memories: We ran around shoeless, spent time in the fresh air with families from near and far, and lay together in our simple burlap tent telling ghost stories until we nodded off.
If I have a creative bone in my body, it came from those times of freedom and wonder.
It is only when I bring up these memories with my parents that they remind me camping was the only vacation option for our working-class family.
That didn’t register with me as a kid. Camping was just fun.
In the early 1970s, provincial campsites were free – yes, free. And the private First Nations’ oceanside campground my family loved cost $1 per night.
Today, it costs big time to camp.
The price to reserve a spot – reservations are a must during B.C.’s busy summer season – is $18 for a weekend if done online and $23 by phone.
Overnight fees are $35 a night for Squamish’s Alice Lake or $23 a night if you leave the vehicle outside the campground and haul your camping gear and children in by foot.
Thus, a family is looking at $40 to $55 per night to camp. Even factoring for inflation, that is an astronomical increase.
Yes, the bathrooms at Alice Lake are very nice – clean and new – but how many single parents would opt for a porta-potty in exchange for lower prices and the chance to camp this summer? Current fees exclude families struggling financially, families that already can’t afford to board a plane or book a hotel.
That makes me sad. I think we can do better.
People with money have lots of options; let’s give pitching a tent and camping on the ground back to kids in families of all income levels, please.
