Evening Trip to Alouette Lake

Tuesday July 15, 2008 

Last night we decided to take a drive out to Alouette Lake in Maple Ridge, hoping that it wouldn’t be too crowded, as we were in the mood for a little peace and quiet. 

As it turns out, it wasn’t busy at all, considering how hot the weather’s been lately.  There weren’t even a whole lot of boats out on the lake, which really surprised me - usually it’s full of boats at this time of year, but there were just a couple, along with three or four jet skis. 

Alouette Lake
Credit: rodtempleton on Flickr

The one beef that I had with the whole thing last night was the parking.  Not that it’s pay parking - I’m resigned to that.  Essentially the pay parking works out to $1 for the first hour, $2 for two hours, or $3 for all day.  It was already 6:30, so we weren’t going to be all that long, but probably more than an hour, so I decided to pay for two.

The ticket machine is one of the older style ones were you put the money into the coin slots, push the lever in, and it spits out your ticket.  There were slots for three loonies, or a loonie and a two dollar coin.

I put the twonie in, and pushed the lever.  Nothing happened.  Tried putting two loons in.  Nothing.  I hoped the answer wasn’t what I thought it was.  I put a twonie and a loon in.  That worked just fine.  So essentially they’re saying that you’re going to pay the full day rate regardless of how long you’re going to stay.  Not cool.  I don’t remember if there was a phone number on the machine or not, but it wouldn’t have mattered much, because I don’t have cell service in the park anyway.

It’s like those great parking machines that BC Ferries put in that don’t give change.  If you pay your $10 parking fee with a $20, you’ve just tipped them 10 bucks.  Except this was like a machine that claimed, “Parking is 50 cents, but the machine doesn’t take coins, and doesn’t make change.”

Yeah, I know, it’s only a buck, but considering the number of people that visit Alouette Lake on a daily basis, it sure works out to a nice little profit for them.

Just something to be aware of.  By all means, go to the park, it’s a great time.  But make sure you don’t leave your change at home. 

You’re going to need it.

Filed Under Miscellaneous

Comments

3 Responses to “Evening Trip to Alouette Lake”

  1. Tyler Ingram on July 15th, 2008 8:41 am

    According to the Provincial Website parking ranges from $1 -> $3 per day. I remember Golden Ears was $5/day.

    You could buy an annual pass for $25 which allows you to park at any of the Provincial Parks. I agree with the parking fees. It were introduced because the Government removed funding (or large amounts of funding) from the Provincial parks and they were not enough for the upkeep of the parks.

    Paying is supposed to help pay for maintenance of the park facilities, trails etc. So I am all up for it.

    http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/fees/fees.html#dayuse explains the Vehicle parking fees.

  2. OzBro on July 18th, 2008 10:17 am

    I haven’t been to Alouette Lake in years: Since when did they enforce pay parking?

  3. Rod on July 18th, 2008 10:22 am

    It must be awhile. BC Parks put the pay parking into effect in 2003.

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