At this time, we’re working with locals in British Columbia to provide a safe way to enjoy the outdoors. The outdoors and exercise is crucial, especially after 2 months of physical isolation. Increasing our social circles and its positive effect on mental health is also one of our main goals. Both of these can be done safely and gradually, without making the past 3 months fruitless. Remember, even though BC has done a remarkable job of ‘flattening the curve’, we need to be mindful of future waves of this pandemic. With recent announcements to ‘loosen’ our restrictions and enjoy the outdoors more, scenes of crowded beaches and trails glaringly point out the need for better efforts by everyone. There has been an uptake in outdoor groups like ours organizing hikes recently, albeit not very responsibly.
British Columbia, Canada, home to Nature PhotoHikes’ tours, is setting the bar for Covid-19 management in Canada, the US and western Europe. Given the low rate of increase and relatively low percentage of active cases in BC, there is a good likelihood that this low death rate will continue. Therefore, B.C. will relax COVID-19 rules after the May long weekend (17th).
We’d like to provide alternatives while better adhering to the health advisories. We’ll start with two hikes a month, complying with all physical distancing and health advisories. Only in the case where there’s significant improvements in BC’s health numbers will we consider additional hikes. Outside of our events, we’d encourage everyone to still go outside and enjoy nature responsibly, within your community parks. Personally, I haven’t left my community in over 2 months and still enjoyed daily walks while physically distancing.
May & June: Transit-accessible trails only; maximum 6 attendees; strict adherence to physical distancing rules and wearing masks. Carpooling with strangers is an absolute no-no in these times.
July & August: Carpooling possible provided health officials’ advisories change; maximum 10 attendees (2 cars). We’ll check on our attendees prior to these events to ensure they’ve been following advisories to their level best and will not be accepting brand new members.
September & October: Adding possible camping trips within BC (focusing on local communities). Currently (as of May end) BC Parks has limited campers to local residents, and registrations underway are already soaring. We don’t want to burden the system with camping trips until the September long weekend and even then we’ll avoid popular spots.
Check out upcoming community hikes as they’re posted but in the meantime, please stay safe and enjoy the outdoors responsibly.