Yellowknife campers remain resilient after a wet start to the summer camping season.
Over the Canada Day weekend, Reid Lake and Prelude Lake territorial parks were completely booked with only Fred Henne having a small number of campsites available, said to the Department of Infrastructure, Tourism and Investment (ITI).
Department officials said there were few cancellations leading up to a long weekend that delivered on another wet forecast with intermittent showers peppering campers throughout the three-day break.
Canada Day weekend proved to be more of what the previous month had provided for Yellowknifers. The month of June saw the capital city receive a total of 114.1 millimeters of rain, more than the entire 2017 camping season.
"There hasn’t been a lot of cancellations,” said Drew Williams, a spokesperson for ITI. “It was a bit of a slow week, but I was looking and it usually is around this time.”
With the increased rain comes increased numbers of mosquitoes, meaning campers are stuck dealing with the pesks.
However, campers say that the bugs are just part of great outdoors.
“Yeah there’s a lot of bugs no doubt,” said Jeff Sleno, a Prelude camper that braved the tough conditions over the weekend. “But I’ve lived in Winnipeg before and as bad as this is, it isn’t that bad.”
Despite the rain and the bugs, Sleno said the positives of camping outweigh the negatives.
“Great friends, beautiful countryside, a few games of bocce ball and I can sneak in a few canoe trips still,” he said. “It’s not that bad out here.”
As a seasoned camper, Sleno has methods of coping with the wet weather.
“I put on the full rain suit and make sure I keep the fire going. The kids have a nap and we just wait it out,” he said.
Waiting it out is what a lot of campers appear to be doing this summer, according to Prelude warden Bruce Davidson.
“The boat launch seems to be a bit slow, but it’s always busy this time of year. People may be waiting for sunny days but they are coming out,” said Davidson.
“One thing I can tell you is that the rain hasn’t stopped people from coming out. The campground is still full. Now some people come, set up and wait for sunny days, but it’s still full.”
Over the weekend, a drive around the grounds confirmed what Davidson said. There were almost no empty lots, but there were also few faces to be seen and almost every structure, whether it be a tent or a camper, had some sort of tarp draped over it.