Crowds of beachgoers were temporarily trapped at a popular Halifax County park Saturday afternoon thanks to a traffic jam brought on by huge crowds taking advantage of the hot, long-weekend weather.

Vehicles were parked on both sides of the road leading to Crystal Crescent Beach Provincial Park, which made it difficult for traffic to get in or out.

CBC current affairs producer Nina Corfu—who brought her two young children to the beach for the day—says she was told it would be a two hour wait to leave.

"Two hours seems unbelievable," she said. "But [it was] a very tight squeeze to get in or out. And so it's basically a pretty serious traffic jam."

Trapped at Crystal Crescent... ppl should not be parking where it says NO PARKING <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCHfxTraffic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBCHfxTraffic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hfxtraffic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@hfxtraffic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/HfxRegPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HfxRegPolice</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sendhelp?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sendhelp</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/halifax?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#halifax</a> <a href="https://t.co/oTcLDw806m">pic.twitter.com/oTcLDw806m</a> —@MrsDunnster

First time at Crystal Crescent Beach - nobody warned us that getting out would be a standstill nightmare! —@AndersonDykema

Parking lot 'jammed' for most of the day

Crystal Crescent, located about 40 minutes south of Halifax's downtown core, is a favourite oceanside beach that attracts large crowds.

"The parking lot was jammed since we arrived in the early afternoon," said Corfu, who described the crowds this afternoon as "huge."

"Most of the people who were trying to leave the beach were turning around and returning to the beach so that they didn't have to wait it out in their cars for two hours."

Police directing traffic to get cars in and out of Crystal Crescent Beach <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/firstbeachdayinsanity?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#firstbeachdayinsanity</a> —@AndersonDykema

Police say 'no parking' signs were knocked over

Halifax Regional Police told CBC News in an email that several complaints were made about the parking situation.

Officers arrived at the beach in the afternoon to stop more vehicles from entering and to clear the traffic backlog, they said.

When they arrived at the beach, officers noticed that some 'no parking' signs along ​Crystal Crescent beach road were knocked over.

"The signage does not appear to be vandalized, but most likely from road maintenance during the winter with snowplows," said the police in the email.

Police said they didn't issue parking tickets, but have contacted the Department of Transportation to let them know the signs need to be replaced.

Despite the inconvenience, Corfu said most people around her were in good spirits.

"Thankfully it's gorgeous here. Everyone is in a good mood."