Let the sunburns begin! Victoria Day long weekend marks start of Canadian camping season

Canadians who have been suffering cabin fever will emerge en masse this May long weekend, celebrating the start of camping season.

But the camping muscles can be a little stiff after sitting idle all winter. Perception of the proper beer-to-sun ratio is off. Judgment may be marred by months of shoveling snow and scraping the car windshield.

“People often try and be a little to exuberant on the May 24^th weekend,” says Bruce van Staalduinen, manager of operations for Ontario Parks and 40-year veteran of the Victoria Day holiday.

“It’s the first time you’re getting outside. You get together with friends around a case of beer and alcohol is a catalyst to loud talking, bigger parties, later nights.

“Radios get turned up, guitars get turned up and the alcohol basically just loosens people’s tongues and they just get a little too boisterous, unfortunately.”

Ontario put a temporary alcohol ban in place in about half of its parks almost four decades ago and provinces including Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta have since followed suit.

The ban remains in place until midnight on Monday, when the witching weekend ends. The Ontario ban was originally in place until the end of June but that was deemed excessive.

“There was no need to have an alcohol ban after the May 24^th weekend,” van Staalduinen tells Yahoo Canada News.

“The May 24^th weekend is unique that way. Other weekends are not the same.”

Dr. Kersti Kents, emergency physician & president of the medical staff at Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare says this weekend marks the beginning of tourist season in Muskoka.

“People are finally getting outside after a long winter to work on outdoor chores and to play outside. Seasonal residents are opening up their cottages,” she says.

ER visits jump about 35 per cent in the summer months. Long weekend visits are generally double that of a regular weekend.

In 2014, emergency departments at the agency’s two hospitals in Bracebridge and Huntsville had more than 530 patients over the four days of the Victoria Day weekend. During the July and August long weekends, they had nearly 700 and 800.

“In our emergency departments we see broken bones from falls off ladders, accidents with power tools, fish hooks in interesting places, bug bites, campfire incidents and the occasional trauma from car or boating accidents, for example,” Kents says.

In B.C.’s popular Kootenays region, RCMP in Cranbrook and Kimberley responded to more than 100 calls for service last May long weekend, mostly noise disturbance complaints but at least one firearm discharged in travel trailer. And the mountain outdoor mecca of Whistler? Well, just pity Whistler RCMP.

There are an estimated 1,700 vehicle crashes in B.C. over this single weekend and the provincial Environment Ministry says there will be additional conservation officers, natural resources officers and park rangers on enhanced patrol.

Alberta parks have received 5,000 more online camping reservations for this weekend this year than last and Manitoba’s campsite reservations are up 20 per cent.

Ontario has about 9,500 – a 50 per cent hike from last year and more than half the province’s 18,000 campsites.

“Within our provincial parks, we absolutely see Albertans coming out in droves,” Tim Chamberlin, spokesman for Alberta Parks, tells Yahoo Canada News.

Their temporary liquor ban is in effect until 6 p.m. Monday in nine of their most popular parks where “historically the parks we have identified have had incidents of alcohol-related misbehaviour,” Chamberlin says.

Alberta Parks says an additional 23 enforcement agents will be out this weekend.

Though June 21 marks the start of summer, Mother Nature is looking co-operative in many places across the country - though not all.

Van Staalduinen urges Victoria Day revellers to check their camping equipment before hitting the road – he’s seen more than one awning or tent held up with a tree branch – and, for goodness sake, remember mosquito repellent and sunscreen. It’s been a while.

“I’ve seen my fair share of sunburned people on the May 24th weekend over the years,” he says.