A Vancouver hiker is sounding the alarm after discovering that free day-use passes for Joffre Lakes Park, one of British Columbia’s most-visited parks, appear to be getting scooped up in bulk and resold online.
The CBC spoke with Ghazaleh Akhoundi who said the practice feels exploitative, turning something meant to be free and accessible into a commodity.
Joffre Lakes, in the Sea-to-Sky region, is famous for its turquoise-blue lakes, jagged peaks, icefields, and cold rushing streams. It saw nearly 200,000 visitors back in 2019. The province brought in a free, mandatory day-pass system during the Covid pandemic and kept it going once it proved effective at easing crowding and environmental strain. Passes open up 48 hours ahead of a given date, released at 7:00 a.m., with a daily cap of 500 visitors.
Akhoundi said she ran into trouble repeatedly trying to obtain passes online, watching them vanish within seconds of going live even when she was logged on right at 7:00 a.m. Suspecting a technical glitch, she instead stumbled onto outdoor-focused Facebook groups where users appeared to be systematically claiming the maximum allowed passes, day after day, then advertising them for transfer.
When she reached out to one such poster, they reportedly offered to sell her passes for $40. She declined.
The Facebook group in question, built around helping people find or trade day passes, has posted more than 50 times since late June, with nearly all of those posts coming from a single administrator account. The listings themselves don’t mention prices. Akhoundi said she’s spotted similar activity in other Facebook groups as well.
The park sits on the unceded territory of the LÃlÌ“wat Nation and N’Quatqua First Nation. LÃlÌ“wat Political Chief Dean Nelson emphasized the nation’s ongoing commitment to safeguarding the area’s cultural and natural significance.
B.C.’s Ministry of Environment and Parks told CBC it’s looking into unusual booking patterns that suggest automated bots may be grabbing more passes than allowed. The ministry said it’s aware of complaints about resale activity and is exploring ways to tighten up the reservation system. Confirmed cases of reselling or unauthorized commercial use could lead to an investigation and enforcement action, officials said.
