How to book Garibaldi Lake, Wedgemount, Elfin Lakes and Kees and Claire Hut: BC Parks' 3-month window at 7am PT, day-use passes and refund rules.
About the park
Garibaldi Provincial Park is the big alpine park between Squamish and Whistler, with more than 90 km of established hiking trails. Its trailheads line Highway 99, and each one leads to a different world: Rubble Creek climbs to Garibaldi Lake and the Black Tusk, Diamond Head to Elfin Lakes, the Wedgemount trailhead north of Whistler to a glacier-ringed lake, and Whistler itself to Singing Pass and Russet Lake. Avalanche and glacier hazards exist all year, and Diamond Head is the main winter ski-touring and snowshoe area.
Park-wide rules from BC Parks: no fires, no dogs (accredited service dogs excepted), no camping hammocks, and no camping or lingering at the Rubble Creek parking lot in the Barrier Civil Defence Zone.
Where to stay
We watch these for cancellations:
- Garibaldi Lake: 50 tent sites 9 km from Rubble Creek, with cooking shelters
- Wedgemount Lake: 20 tent pads after a steep 7 km, 1,200 m climb
- Elfin Lakes: the 33-bunk Elfin Lakes shelter and campground, 11 km from Diamond Head
- Kees and Claire Hut: the Spearhead Huts Society's 38-bunk hut at Russet Lake
Also in the park, booked on BC Parks but not watched by us: Taylor Meadows (40 tent platforms, 7.5 km from Rubble Creek) and Helm Creek (9 tent platforms).
How booking works
Everything except Kees and Claire books on camping.bcparks.ca or by phone at 1-800-689-9025. From the backcountry reservations page:
- Reservations open three months before arrival at 7am PT, on a rolling basis, so each date has its own release morning.
- Same-day bookings are possible until 5pm PT on the arrival date.
- Tent camping costs C$25 per adult per night (C$5 youths 6–15, under 6 free). The Elfin Lakes shelter is C$30 per adult and C$10 per child. A C$6 transaction fee and, for non-residents of BC, a C$20 non-resident fee apply on top.
- Stays are capped at 14 nights per calendar year in the park.
Kees and Claire opens 60 days ahead on a rolling basis, or 90 days for BCMC, ACC Vancouver and ACC Whistler members, and takes up to six beds per booking (Spearhead Huts FAQ).
Day-use passes. In 2026, free vehicle passes were required at Diamond Head and Rubble Creek Friday to Monday and on holidays from June 12 to October 12. Cheakamus needed one daily from June 13 to September 7, then Friday to Monday until October 12. Passes are released at 7am PT two days before your visit on BC Parks' day-use site. We can't monitor day-use passes: the system needs a login to show availability (see Joffre Lakes day-use). The 2027 dates aren't announced yet; expect a similar season, based on 2026. Last checked: October 2026.
When it books out
Summer weekends at Garibaldi Lake, Wedgemount's 20 pads and the Elfin Lakes shelter are the hardest to get. BC Parks calls the shelter "extremely popular". Kees and Claire's weekends go early in ski season, helped along by the members' 30-day head start. Midweek nights and the shoulder season are where your odds improve.
Getting a cancelled spot
For the BC Parks sites, cancel more than 7 days before arrival and you get the camping fees back minus C$6 per tent pad. Within 7 days, one night's fee per person is kept, and on the arrival date two nights' (cancellation windows). Cancellations close at 5pm PT on the arrival date. Nights tend to come back just before the 7-day mark and in the last few days. At Kees and Claire the line is 30 days: beds cancelled earlier are refunded minus an admin fee, and later ones aren't.
Set a watch on the place you want with your first and last night. We'll alert you when a booked-out night opens, judging each night separately: a night counts as open when any site, pad, bunk or bed is free on it. We don't match the same site across nights or your group size, and we don't book or hold anything, so you still book it yourself. The free plan gives one watch with email alerts 15 minutes late. The season pass is C$25 once for 12 months, with no auto-renew, up to 10 watches and instant alerts by email, Telegram or web push.