Alaska camping in early May

Hear told that a lot of the campgrounds don't open till Jun in some areas.

mscg,

I'm planning to visit in May as well, and I found this website to give me historical data on the temperatures:

They have a disclaimer on there about accuracy, but hey, better than nothing.

Weather History for Talkeetna, AK

We only wish we could be there in May. We have a wedding for our daughter on June 29 so we won't be leaving till July 1.
Have a great time.

Visited Alaska/Yukon 4 years ago in late May. Maybe we just lucked out, but one week it was 15 Celsius in Yukon. Campgrounds were open along the highway. Good time to visit as there were no Mosquitos or flies!!!

You might want to call the private CGs but the SPs will be open. Done Alaska twice. Both times crossing on the TOW shortly after the ferry started running.

May is great. Snow on the mountains. Few state birds (mosquitos). Cooler temps. Very few RVers.

GordonThree..Great website. Thanks.

Lakeside

Third week in May they had a blizzard in Tok and Valdez last year. Tok CG opened 4 days before we got there and that was because the water had finally thawed. When we got to Valdez June 1, there was 3" of ice over half the CG and we backed up to 4' snow piles in the places that were clear. Last year was cold, late, but there's no way to tell. About 5-6 years ago we had an acquaintance that was stuck in Yukon for two weeks in a blizzard in mid May.

I'm not trying to be a wet blanket here, but just be aware that things up north can be extremely variable. CG folks are usually on site or close even if they are not "open". A good list of phone numbers would be well worth your trouble. We've been up early and later in 06, 07, 09, 11, and 13.

Its 45 degrees F in Homer, AK right now. Could actually be colder in May.

Early May can be quite variable. No direct experience, but even for those private CG's that are open, there may still be quite a bit of snow and certainly mud on the ground.

I'd suggest (as others have) calling ahead. I think the weather will be good enough that you should plan on your trip, just plan each day when you need a spot to stay.

40's - 50's is probably the likely range of temps. Could be bright sunshine or grey crud. A lot of the ground issues depend on the snowfall the winter before and it's been relatively light this year in the SC area...although heavier in spots.

Here a couple of graphs for temperatures in May for Kenai and Homer. As you can see the normal low in early may is right around freezing, but the extreme lows can get down into the teens. Snow in May usually doesn't stick around for more than a few days, but it happens occasionally. We camp quite a bit in May with no problems. We are aware of the temperatures and where we go to protect things from freezing.