By Troy Gillard

be aware...

Plan ahead, leave early if you hope to enjoy day use areas

Jul 31, 2020 | 2:41 PM

Patience is the key for anyone looking to enjoy the outdoors at Alberta Parks amenities this long weekend.

Day use capacity limits are in place including at Aspen Beach, Pigeon Lake and Crimson Lake.

Graham Wylde, Visitor Experience Coordinator with Alberta Parks, says they’ve seen huge influxes of people headed to these areas with all the hot weather of late.

“This has resulted in some issues of overcrowding, which does not allow for physical distancing of beaches, as well as improper parking within the parks including in front of gates which limits the ability of emergency vehicles to access these areas,” he says.

Wylde says parking at day use areas and beaches is being held to 75 per cent capacity on busy days in order to help maintain proper physical distancing. Alberta Parks employees will be on hand to monitor and enforce these capacity limits and to direct visitors to other places when needed.

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“We’re asking people to please plan ahead,” Wylde explains. “Please arrive early if you want to recreate at these places, and if we unfortunately have reached capacity we are asking that you please comply with our staff and to move on and have a backup plan to recreate elsewhere.”

Patience, Wylde suggests, will be key with more warm weather expected this weekend.

“We also ask that people check albertaparks.ca where for each location we do have advisories posted with all the information.”

Local campgrounds are also putting rules in place to help handle large crowds.

“Due to the current situation with COVID-19 and to ensure the safety of our guests and staff, we have decided to close day use access for the beach areas,” Cow Lake Campground management announced Wednesday on Facebook. “Only registered guests will be allowed beach access until further notice.”

The number of boaters on Cow Lake is not being limited, but they will not be allowed onto the beach. Campers are also asked to follow all physical distancing guidelines while at the Campground.