A group of Maple Ridge campers who want some first come, first serve campgrounds in Golden Ears Provincial Park, complain campsites are sitting empty.

Michael Babor is part of the group of 含羞草研究社渦nhappy campers含羞草研究社� who have been lobbying for three camping seasons to have at least some drive-up camping in one of the province含羞草研究社檚 busiest parks. Camping in the park is available only by reservation during peak season, from May to September.

The unhappy campers have started an online petition at that now has more than 11,000 signatures, calling for first-come, first-serve access to the park in their home community.

Babor is admittedly bitter that he can no longer get camping in the park in his home community, so when he visited family camping in the park, and saw numerous empty sites, he determined to do a complete audit.

含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 a big lie that the park is full. It含羞草研究社檚 clearly not,含羞草研究社� he said.

Babor drove through the campground for two hours on Wednesday night, between 7 and 9 p.m., and took photos of the many empty sites.

There are three campground areas in the park, and he counted 29 vacant sites in Gold Creek, and another 37 in Alouette. He did not get to the third site in North Beach before it was too dark to continue, but estimates that if he had time, he would have counted 100 empty sites in the park.

This is despite the fact that signage on 232nd Street and near the campground entrance say the campground is full.

含羞草研究社淚 was a little appalled that the signs say the campground is full, and it含羞草研究社檚 not,含羞草研究社� he said. 含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 about 25 per cent empty.含羞草研究社�

The park has 432 camp sites that are vehicle accessible, and another 20 walk-in sites.

Babor wanted to provide a 含羞草研究社渟napshot含羞草研究社� of campsite vacancies on a Wednesday night during the summer, and he believes it illustrates and ongoing problem. People who want to camp cannot, despite availability, and he says the system is not working.

含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 really disappointing for a guy who grew up here to not be able to use that park,含羞草研究社� he said. 含羞草研究社淭hey含羞草研究社檙e not managing the inventory.含羞草研究社�

含羞草研究社淒ial back the reservation and allow more first-come, first serve,含羞草研究社� he asserts. 含羞草研究社淧roblem solved.含羞草研究社�

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But Stu Burgess, operations manager for Golden Ears, said the park is fully booked.

含羞草研究社淲e含羞草研究社檙e doing the best we can 含羞草研究社� the park is completely reserved, and has been all summer,含羞草研究社� he said.

He said seeing an empty campsite one evening does not mean the site has not been spoke for. He noted campers have until 11 a.m. the next morning to show up, before they lose their reservation. If they call to notify the park operators about late arrival, that can be extended until 11 p.m. the next day.

Burgess said they do enforce the BC Parks policies regarding no-shows, and campsites are made available to be booked on the discovercamping.ca website. He advises people to check the website at 7 a.m. in the morning, to see whether sites have been made available in the park, either due to cancellations or no-shows.

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With its close proximity to Vancouver, Golden Ears is one of the busiest parks in the province, seeing some 132,000 campers.

B.C. Parks manages 10,700 campsites across the province and 55 per cent are reservable, while 45 per cent are first-come, first-serve. Golden Ears is one of 10 campgrounds that are 100 per cent reservable.