Let the summer vacation planning begin: Reservations on Alberta campsites open today

Alberta's weekend warriors will wake from their winter hibernation on Monday to take part in an annual rite of passage the yearly frenzy over provincial summer campground bookings.

The race is on to book Alberta's most coveted group campsites.

Starting Monday at 9 a.m.,Albertans can "set their sights on warmer weather" and book their favourite provincial group camping sites, Alberta Parks announced in a news release.

Campers can log on to the online reservation system reserve.albertaparks.ca to book their group camping spots.

Another round of reservations begin onFeb. 12 at 9 a.m when bookings for comfort camping sites become available.

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Regular, individual campsite reservations for the May long weekend start Feb. 20.

Alberta Parks is staggering the reservation times by region for regular, individual campsites to improve public access to the online system.

Reservation time openings on Feb. 20 are:

• South region at 9 a.m.

• Kananaskis Country at 11 a.m.

• Central region at 1 p.m.

• Northwest/east regions at 3 p.m.

Last year, the province logged arecord-breaking 164,000 online camping reservations throughout the summer camping season.