http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/exp...pgs/garibaldi/
Please Note: As of April 2011 camping fees are applicable for all camping in Garibaldi Park including the Garibaldi Neve Traverse. Please use our new online fee payment system for all areas of Garibaldi Park. BC Parks Backcountry Registration System allows you to pre-pay your overnight fees for backcountry camping where designated.

Camping is permitted in designated areas only. Be prepared to camp in outdoor conditions if facilities are full.

All camping areas, cabins, shelters, etc. in Garibaldi Provincial Park are operated on a first-come, first-served basis. There are no reservations accepted.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/fees/
Backcountry Camping - Backcountry means an area in a park or recreation area that is not frontcountry. Backcountry campsites are primarily for wilderness hiking and backpacking. There are usually no facilities available.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/registration/
Backcountry Camping - Backcountry means an area in a park or recreation area that is primarily for wilderness hiking and backpacking. There are usually no facilities available.

Although backcountry areas in most of these parks are available year-round, this registration service is available for periods when fees are charged for overnight backcountry stays.

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Usually "backcountry" camping fees apply to use of backcountry campsites. Charging to camp out on a glacier seems like an aberration as it can hardly be seen as a campsite.

It's hard to tell what the requirement is. Perhaps the policy was written by people who have never done the Neve Traverse. Seems to me it makes sense to charge the camping fee for the nights Neve parties may spend at Battleship Islands campsite or the campsite near the Elfin Shelter. Obviously if a party uses the shelter itself, they should pay those fees.

But the idea a party has to pay $10 per person to camp on the Neve seems offensive. This is more than would be charged for a motorhome at a frontcountry campsite. Madness.

It may just lead to parties underestimating the number of people in their party. Let the parks staff try to determine how many people from which party camped where.

LOL, let's see them keep rangers at the high point of the traverse to enforce the fee collection.

If BC Parks is that cash strapped, they should tack a $50 per person per day fee onto, uhh, heliskiing within park boundaries. Or, maybe a $1 fee onto the cost of a lift ticket at any of the resorts that are on, or directly adjacent to parks.

$50-$70 to do the McBrides: "No, no we did it as a day trip with huge packs!"

There is a precedent for this in the Mountain National Parks where you have to pay a backcountry camping fee (about $10 night) regardless of where you camp or what facilities you use. I've paid it for winter camping and summer bivouacing where we are nowhere near a campground and are using no facilities - not even a trail. I've certainly paid it to camp on a glacier.

Not to mention that this is now how much it cost to camp in summer at Garibaldi Lake and at Elfin and yes you are right, many front country campsites are cheaper.

So why is it OK for our government to extort money from us for hiking in our own parks? I was under the impression that they were our parks - after all we built them and our taxes paid for them.

The BC Liberals act like the parks were some kind of prize they won during the last election. And hikers are just a source of revenue, to be bled until dry.

It is puzzling that the parks branch didn't need parking fees, camping fees, or cabin fees to build and operate the Elfin cabin for the last 30 years. But as soon as Gordon Campbell was elected, there was a parkee at every trailhead with his hand out.

I try to avoid paying any fees when using our parks - it just encourages the greedy bastards to ask for more next time.

Just my $0.02

"Camping is permitted in designated areas only."

This statement on BC Parks websites always confuses me. Is camping not allowed in all areas of Garibaldi Park? I realize it is ethical to camp in designated campgrounds and it only makes sense when in high use areas of the park, but is it not legal to camp wherever you want? Obviously the neve has no "designated areas" yet camping is allowed. I could not find a map or any legalese on the Garibaldi Park website or the Parks Act that saying or showing what a "designates area" is.

So does this mean they'll start to plow the road to Rubble Creek parking lot during winter?

Currently, no-one pays when they park on the road there during winter to stay at the Lake or head onto the Neve.

What if I camp near Burton Hut? If I stay in the Hut, is it no charge (but donation to the VOC), but fee required if I stay a few feet away in a tent?

Wow it costs money to run a parks system, what an idea. Imagine charging the users of said system a fee to use it.

Camping at Cutlas lake is $32 + resorvation fee per night BTW

Keadyn: It cost money to run the park system 30 years ago too but there were no fees until Gordon Campbel was elected. Most of the good things in our country cost money - that is why we pay our taxes. User fees are just a cash grab by right wing ideologues that believe that lower taxes are "better". For an example where that madness leads, look south of the border.

It may cost money to run a park system, but the kicker for me is that the park system isn't being maintained to a standard that will prevent needing major repairs, so what exactly am I paying for? On Thanksgiving weekend, there were half a dozen campfires going in the Garibaldi Lake campground. No rangers around to tell people not to.

Another example: the state of the lower part of the Mt. Frosty trail late last summer saddened me; it has visibly deteriorated since I first hiked it about eight years ago. Roots sticking out, erosion, etc. Not difficult compared to say, bashing through alder, but for such a popular destination I thought a bit more maintenance was in order.

I like introducing people to hiking and backpacking, and well-maintained trails to popular destinations make it much easier.

Ooooohhh fundraising/awareness idea! Charge hikers $10 to come up to rubble creek and shovel the road for a couple of hours [}] Let's see how far we get, heh heh.

I am old enough to remember when the parks were free. There were trail crews every summer maintaining the trailbeds, bridges and ditches. There were teams of park naturalists delivering lectures to tourists. And the cabins were stocked with free firewood.

That is why I try not to encourage them by handing over cash every time they demand it.

I am fine with user fees, IF, I CAN SEE AND USE A PROGRAM/MAINTENANCE/ATTEMPT SET INTO PLACE, no problem, glad to drop some extra $$
If its a mess, left to public to deal with ETC. Not interested in pay programs then.

Hey they can't even maintain their paystations. Remember that time you and I tried to shove money into the slot, and when we looked behind it we saw an open slot with all the money in it free for the taking?** (Same trip as the famous owl incident).

**and no we didn't take it, if anyone's wondering.

If BC Parks really needs more revenue from user fees then they need to charge day users, not people camping in remote undeveloped areas. Oh wait . . . that wouldn't be "welcoming for families".