If you’re reading this post, you have heard that you need to get a day pass to visit some BC Parks. But you probably have questions. In this guide, I’ll explain everything you need to know about BC Parks day passes in summer 2023.
I’ve lived in the Vancouver area all my life and I’m an avid hiker. I also have written a hiking guidebook and done volunteer work with several local outdoor advocacy organizations. I’ve also scoured the BC Parks website and chatted with BC Parks staff so I know everything there is to know about BC Parks day passes.
In this guide to day passes in BC parks you’ll find:
- Which parks require a BC Parks day pass
- How much does a day pass cost
- Who needs to get a day pass and when you don’t need a pass
- How to get a day pass and when you can get one
- How to use your day pass
- Day passes at Joffre Lakes Provincial Park – everything you need to know
- Day passes at Golden Ears Provincial Park – everything you need to know
- Day passes at Garibaldi Provincial Park – everything you need to know
- Tips and tricks for getting a day pass
- Why do BC Parks require day passes – what problem are they trying to solve?
- BC Parks day pass FAQ – all your questions answered
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Which Parks Require a BC Parks Day Pass?
In summer 2023, you need a day pass to visit Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, Garibaldi Provincial Park, and Golden Ears Provincial Park. More details on each of these parks is below – click the links to jump to those sections.
In previous years, BC Parks day passes were required at other parks. However, in summer 2023 you do NOT need a day pass to visit Stawamus Chief Provincial Park, Mount Robson Provincial Park, Mount Seymour Provincial Park, or Cypress Provincial Park.
How Much Do Day Passes Cost?
BC Parks Day passes are totally free. There is no cost.
Who Needs a Day Pass? When Don’t You Need a Pass?
Most visitors to Joffre, Garibaldi, and Golden Ears Provincial Parks in summer 2023 will need a day pass.
However, there are a few situations where you don’t need a day pass:
- If you have booked a day trip with Park Bus to Golden Ears, Garibaldi, or Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, you do NOT need a day pass.
- If you have a front-country (drive-in) camping reservation for Golden Ears Provincial Park you do NOT need a day pass.
- If you have a backcountry camping reservation (Garibaldi or Joffre), OR a backcountry permit registration (Golden Ears), you do NOT need a day pass. (Read my guide to booking backcountry camping in BC for more info.)
- If you arrive at the park outside of the hours that day passes are required. This varies by park by is typically before 7 am or after 4 pm.
- If you plan to visit part of Golden Ears or Garibaldi Park that is not covered by day passes. (Unpopular parking lots and trailheads do not require a day pass. See park details for Garibaldi and Golden Ears below for specific information.)
- If you arrive by bike or on foot at Garibaldi and Golden Ears. Only motor vehicles need a pass at these parks. At Joffre, each person requires a pass no matter how they arrive.
- Kids do NOT need their own trail pass at Joffre as long as they are accompanied by an adult.
How to Get a BC Parks Day Pass? When Can You Get a Day Pass?
You need to book on the BC Parks Day Pass website. This is the only way to book – there are no phone bookings.
Passes are available to book starting at 7 am two days before your visit. For example, if you want to visit on July 22, you can book your pass online starting at 7 am on July 20. Be sure to book early because passes get booked up in the first few minutes for summer weekends.
How to Use Your Day Pass?
When you book a pass, it will be emailed to you. Either print it out or take a screenshot. There is no cell service or bad cell service at most parks so you won’t be able to access your email once you arrive.
When you arrive at the park, a staff member will ask to see your pass. They will confirm that it is valid for the right park, day, time slot (morning, afternoon, or all day) and parking area. For Joffre Lakes, they will confirm that you have a pass for each adult. (Kids under 18 don’t need passes.) They will also check your ID to make sure that the person who booked the pass is present.
For Garibaldi and Golden Ears, this check happens on the park entrance roads. For Joffre, this check happens at the trailhead.
Day Passes at Joffre Lakes Provincial Park
Quick facts about day passes at Joffre Lakes Provincial Park:
- Required from May 6 to October 9
- Each adult requires their own pass. Kids under 18 don’t need a pass.
- There are no parking passes for Joffre Lakes. Day passes here are per person.
- Passes are valid for an entire day.
- You can book up to 4 passes at once for the same day.
- Passes are available on the BC Parks day pass website starting at 7 am two days before your trip.
- You don’t need a pass if you have a backcountry camping reservation. (Read my guide to booking backcountry camping in BC for more info.)
Joffre Lakes Provincial Park is one of the most popular parks in BC. The small park is home to three gorgeous turquoise lakes, all accessed from the same trail. There are no other trails or destinations in the park.
The first lake (Lower Joffre Lake) is just 0.2 km (5 minutes) from the parking lot on a flat and easy trail.
It is a much harder hike to reach Middle Joffre Lake, Upper Joffre Lake, and the campground at the far end of Upper Joffre Lake. If you hike to the campground and back you will have hiked about 10 kilometres with 370 metres of elevation gain. Allow 4 hours for the hike, and more if you want to stop for lunch or photos.
All trails beyond the campground are unofficial mountaineering trails that lead into steep terrain prone to rockfall and glacier collapse.
Day Passes at Golden Ears Provincial Park
Quick facts about day passes at Golden Ears Provincial Park:
- Required from June 14 to September 4
- Each vehicle requires a pass. You can have a max of 8 people (of any age) in the vehicle.
- You can book an AM Pass (valid 7 am to 1 pm) or a PM pass (valid 1 pm to 4 pm) to park at Alouette Lake South Beach day-use area, Gold Creek trailhead, or West Canyon trailhead.
- You can book an all-day pass to park at the Alouette Lake boat launch
- You can book one pass per time slot per day
- Passes are available on the BC Parks day pass website starting at 7 am two days before your trip
- You don’t need a pass if you have a reservation for drive-in camping.
- You don’t need a pass if you have a backcountry camping permit registration. (Read my guide to booking backcountry camping in BC for more info.)
There is one road in and out of Golden Ears Park (called Golden Ears Parkway) and all of the parking lots that require day passes are along this road. The road is open from 7 am to 11 pm. To help you decide which day pass to book, here’s a quick run-down of the areas at the park:
Alouette Lake South Beach Day-Use Area: This is a huge beach at the south end of Alouette Lake. It has a beach, swimming area, canoe rentals, picnic area, and washrooms. If you want to hang out at the beach, you want this pass. This is by far the largest parking lot in the park. You can get an AM or PM pass for this area or you can book both passes if you want to stay all day.
Alouette Lake Boat Launch: This parking lot is a short walk from South Beach day-use area. It is a smaller lot so it could be harder to get a pass. But this is the only place in the park you can get an all-day pass.
West Canyon Parking Lot: This small parking lot is a good place to park for hikes to Golden Ears Summit or the loop of Gold Creek Canyon. However, those are long hikes so will you need to get BOTH an AM pass AND a PM pass. You can also use this parking lot for the short hikes to North Beach or Lower Falls, but the Gold Creek Parking lot is much closer to those.
Gold Creek Parking Lot: This parking lot is the best place to park for the short hikes to Lower Falls (aka Gold Creek Falls) or North Beach, which you would have time to do on the AM or PM passes available here. This parking lot is also a good place to park for the loop of Gold Creek Canyon or the summit of Golden Ears. (But you will need to get BOTH an AM pass and a PM pass to have enough time to complete those hikes.)
Other parking lots (no pass required): Two other parking lots near the park entrance don’t require day passes: Mike Lake and Main Corral. Main Corral provides access to a network of horseback riding trails. The Mike Lake parking lot is a good place to park for the short hike around Mike Lake or the long and challenging hike to Alouette Mountain.
Day Passes at Garibaldi Provincial Park
Quick facts about day passes at Garibaldi Provincial Park:
- Required from June 14 to October 9
- Each vehicle requires a pass. You can have a max of 8 people (of any age) in the vehicle.
- You can book an AM Pass (valid 7 am to 1 pm) or a PM pass (valid 1 pm to 4 pm) to park at Alouette Lake South Beach day-use area, Gold Creek trailhead, or West Canyon trailhead.
- You can book an all-day pass to park at the Alouette Lake boat launch
- You can book an AM Pass (valid 7 am to 1 pm) or a PM pass (valid 1 pm to 4 pm) to park at Cheakamus Lake trailhead
- You can book an all-day pass to park at Diamondhead (Elfin Lakes) or Rubble Creek (Garibaldi Lake) trailheads.
- You can book one pass per time slot per day
- Passes are available on the BC Parks day pass website starting at 7 am two days before your trip
- You don’t need a pass if you have a backcountry camping reservation. (Read my guide to booking backcountry camping in BC for more info.)
Garibaldi Provincial Park is huge and has several access points between Squamish and Whistler. Only some of the trailheads require day passes To help you decide which day pass to book, here’s a quick rundown of the areas at the park:
Diamondhead (Elfin Lakes) Trailhead: Located up a 2WD accessible gravel road near Squamish, this parking lot is the trailhead for hikes to Elfin Lakes and beyond to the Rampart Ponds. It is a 22 km round trip hike to Elfin Lakes with 600 m of elevation gain. The hike takes 6-8 hours.
Rubble Creek (Garibaldi Lakes) Trailhead: Located on a short paved road between Squamish and Whistler, this trailhead leads to Garibaldi Lake, Taylor Meadows, and beyond to Panorama Ridge and Black Tusk. The hike to Garibaldi Lake is an 18 km round trip with 820 m of elevation gain. The hike takes 6-7 hours.
Cheakamus Lake Trailhead: Located on a 2WD accessible gravel road at the south end of Whistler. From here you can hike the flat and easy 7 km round trip to Cheakamus Lake which only takes 2-3 hours so you could do it on a single AM or PM pass. Or you can continue further down the lake to Singing Creek for a total round-trip distance of 16 km. You can also hike up to Helm Creek campground (17 km round trip with 700 m of elevation gain) or beyond to Helm Pass. You will need BOTH an AM pass and a PM pass for Singing Creek or Helm Creek.
Singing Pass Trailhead (no pass required): This trailhead is right in Whistler Village and you don’t need a day pass. It is a 31 km round trip to Russet Lake with 1280 m of elevation and will take 9-10 hours. You can also pay to take the Whistler Gondola up, then hike to Russet Lake via the High Note or Musical Bumps trails.
Wedgemount Lake Trailhead (no pass required): This trailhead is on a somewhat rough (but 2WD-accessible) gravel road just north of Whistler and you don’t need a day pass. The hike to the lake is 13 km return with 1160 m of elevation gain. Allow 7 hours.
Tips and Tricks for Getting a Day Pass
On sunny summer weekends, especially long weekends, it can be tough to get a pass. Here are a few tips and tricks for getting a BC Parks day pass.
- Visit the day pass website in advance so you can get familiar with how it works.
- Be online at 7 am two days before your trip and click right away.
- Have everyone in your group try to get passes at the same time to increase your chances. Use a text thread to coordinate so you don’t end up booking more passes than you need.
- If possible, use a computer instead of a phone as the system works a bit better on desktop.
- If you didn’t get passes, keep checking back as sometimes people cancel and passes become available again.
- Check back at 7 am on the day of your trip – sometimes BC Parks releases more passes at that time.
Why Do BC Parks Require Day Passes?
The short answer is that BC Parks website says that day passes are needed to manage large numbers of visitors who have negative impacts on the environment and the enjoyment of other visitors. But the long answer is much more complicated than that.
BC Parks says that the Day Pass system is a “Pilot Program”. That means it is not permanent. They have changed it a little bit each year, and removed it in some areas.
I volunteer on the advocacy committee for the Friends of Garibaldi Park Society and the Southwestern British Columbia Recreation and Conservation Committee of the Federation of Mountain Clubs of British Columbia. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to parks staff, politicians, and other outdoors folk about day passes. Below is a summary of what I’ve learned.
BC Parks introduced the day pass system in summer 2020 as a response to the pandemic and a way to promote social distancing. That year, the BC government spent $900,000 to implement the day pass website software and hire staff to check passes at parking lots and trailheads.
In 2021 and 2022, BC Parks changed the wording around day passes, saying they were needed to protect park environments and reduce large crowds. In summer 2021 and winter 2021/2022, the cost of implementing day passes was $1.3 million. BC Parks hasn’t released costs for the summer 2022 and winter 2022/23 season, but we can assume they are similar.
The reality is that BC Parks is grossly underfunded and has been for decades. That means that trails are in terrible condition because they have not been maintained. It also means that even though the population of the metro Vancouver area has grown by about 1 million people since 1990, almost no new trails have been built in provincial parks near Vancouver in that time.
It’s not surprising that our trails are busy if there hasn’t been any money to build more trails so that more people can get outdoors.
As well, almost no money has been spent on upgrading trails to handle more traffic (or even to withstand the traffic they already see.) If BC Parks were so concerned about the environmental degradation of increased traffic, they would spend money on long overdue trail maintenance to prevent erosion and reduce trail braiding. But they just don’t have the budget.
BC Parks also does not have the budget to upgrade gravel parking lots to install parking stall lines (which would allow for more efficient parking), or to increase parking lot size.
Yes, in a few places, trails in BC’s provincial parks truly are overcrowded. But in most places, BC Parks day passes are not about crowding or environmental impact – they are about parking lots being too small. Once you leave the crowded parking lot and go for a hike, there is plenty of room on the trails for everyone. In fact, BC Parks acknowledges that the reason they stopped requiring day passes at Stawamus Chief Provincial Park was that it has enough parking.
In the last few years, the BC government has made a few big announcements about funding for BC parks. However, only a small fraction of that funding is going towards trail maintenance. And so far, none of the funding has gone towards new trails in the Vancouver area.
In general, many news stories have demonstrated that hikers in Vancouver are not in favour of day passes. As well, a survey of hikers and outdoor folks from the Friends of Garibaldi Park Society concluded that 67% of respondents did not support day passes.
Day passes also have other knock-on effects. They push trail users out of provincial parks into other areas where trails are volunteer maintained or in many cases, have no maintenance at all. Day passes also mean that many hikers may choose trails that are outside their ability, increasing search and rescue call-outs.
The money spent on the day pass system could fund so much trail maintenance and build so many new trails. It could also expand parking lots to increase capacity at many locations. BC Parks doesn’t have enough money to do basic trail maintenance, so it is a shame that the little money they have is being used for a system that shuts people out of parks.
If you agree with me that the money spent on the day pass system should be used for trail maintenance and building new trails, make your voice heard. Send an email or a voicemail to Premier David Eby at [email protected], Minister of the Environment George Heyman at [email protected], Deputy Minister of the Environment Kevin Jardine at [email protected], and Parliamentary Secretary for Environment Amandeep Singh at [email protected]. You can also email or call your local MLA.
BC Parks Day Pass 2023 FAQ
In summer 2023 you need a day pass at Joffre Lakes, Golden Ears, and Garibaldi Provincial Parks. You do not need a day pass at any other provincial parks.
Go to the BC Parks day pass website and sign-up. Passes are available starting at 7 am two days before your trip. Passes run out very fast for summer weekends, so book early.
Passes are free. There is no cost to reserve a BC Parks day pass. It is free to visit BC Parks for the day.
Yes. You need to book a day pass for the Rubble Creek (Garibaldi Lake) Trailhead in Garibaldi Provincial Park to hike to Panorama Ridge in summer 2023.
Yes. You need to book a day pass to visit Joffre Lakes Provincial in summer 2023.
No. There are no parking passes for Jofffre Lakes. BUT you do need a day pass for each adult in your group.
Yes. You need to book a day pass to hike to Gold Creek Falls, also known as Lower Falls. The best pass to book is Gold Creek parking lot in Golden Ears Provincial Park. You can also hike there from West Canyon parking lot, but it is a little further.
Yes. There is a link in your day pass reservation email to cancel. If you can’t use your pass, please cancel it so that someone else can go.
No. Changes to the date or time slot are not permitted. You have to cancel your pass, then book a different one.
No. Changes to the pass holder are not allowed. Parks stay may ask to see ID when you check in to ensure that the pass holder is present.
There are a few ways to visit Joffre Lakes without a day pass: 1) Book a trip with Park Bus. 2) Make a backcountry camping reservation. 3) Arrive before 7 am or after 4 pm. 4) Go in the fall, winter, and spring when passes aren’t required.
There are a few ways to visit Garibaldi Park without a day pass: 1) Book a trip with Park Bus. 2) Make a backcountry camping reservation. 3) Arrive before 7 am or after 4 pm. 4) Go in the fall, winter, and spring when passes aren’t required. 5) Go to the Singing Pass or Wedgemount Lake trailheads, where passes aren’t required. 6) Arrive on foot or by bike.
There are a few ways to visit Golden Ears Park without a day pass: 1) Book a trip with Park Bus. 2) Make a backcountry camping permit registration. 3) Arrive after 4 pm. 4) Go in the fall, winter, and spring when passes aren’t required. 5) Park at the Main Corral or Mike Lake parking lots, where passes aren’t required. 6) Arrive on foot or by bike.
No. While you used to need a day pass for the Stawamus Chief in 2020 and 2021, you do not need one in summer 2023. However, the parking lot fills up fast, so go early on weekends.
No. While you used to need a day pass for Mount Seymour in winter 2022/23, you do not need a day pass in summer 2023.
No. While you used to need a day pass for Cypress in previous years, you do not need one in summer 2023.
No. While you used to need a day pass for the Berg Lake Trail in previous years, you don’t need one for summer 2023. However, keep in mind that the Berg Lake Trail will only be open as far as Kinney Lake in 2023 because the upper part of the trail is damaged and trail work is ongoing. My Berg Lake Trail guide has more details.
Yes. BC Parks have set up gatehouses at the entrances to Garibaldi, Joffre, and Golden Ears Parks in summer 2023 and staff will check your pass. If you arrive before 7 am or after 4 pm, there will be no one there to check your pass. As well, sometimes there is no staff to check passes on weekdays.
So now you have all the info you need about BC Parks day passes. If you have more questions, leave them in the comments – I’m happy to help!
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