Photo From www.cypresshills.com

By Chris Brown

Cypress Hills Saskatchewan campsite bookings open Tuesday

Apr 25, 2022 | 1:35 PM

Saskatchewan Parks has been opening nightly campsite reservations for the past week, and tomorrow people can begin booking at the park closest to Medicine Hat.

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park is the biggest park in Saskatchewan and is one of the most popular for campers, says Sask Parks’ executive director of visitor experiences.

“You just know when you’re in Cypress Hills that it’s a special place,” Robin Campese says. “It definitely has to do with the atmosphere. The lodgepole pines are quite unique in the province so that seems to really captivate people a little bit and there’s just lots to do; there’s swimming pools and lots of in-park businesses. But I think overall it’s just a feeling there.”

Campese says a new campground will open in Cypress Hills this summer.

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“It’s called Pine Hill there’ll be 60 new sites. You can reserve them now, stays only begin mid-July because they’ll be getting the campground sort of prepared between now and then. So that’s also a good option if you’re open to sort of camping in a new area of the park as well.”

Campese says there are a few things you can do to be prepared for when reservations open at 7 a.m. on Tuesday. She says it starts with making sure your account still works and is properly set up. She adds trip planning can go a long way, too.

The booking page has a new called Favourites that Campese used to select a number of sites that would fit her needs and the other parks she wanted. When she could book at those parks, sometimes No. 1 and No. 2 were gone and she settled for No. 3.

“It is a really good feature that can help people sort of streamline their booking,” she says.

A calendar with park programs and events and a streamlined gate entry process are also new this year.

Campsite Comparison is another useful feature, Campese says.

“So you can actually pull up three sites at once and comparre them. So you might look at site length, what type of barbecue it has, if it’s sunny or shady, and then you can make a decision that way,” she says.

Flexibility with your schedule can also help you get a site, she says, noting there’s usually lots of availability in May, June and after the middle of August.

Bookings will also open for Crooked Lake, Blackstrap and Lac La Ronge provincial parks tomorrow.

For more information on Sask Parks and camping, click here.

Alberta has been taking bookings for provincial park campgrounds since earlier this year.