Campground help needed for June trip to Alaska by RV

Don't make reservations, especially if you're willing to pull off at a scenic spot for the night without hookups.

The only reservations we made for our whole summer were for the July 4 weekend (Alaskans like to camp, too) and for Denali's farthest campground you can drive - Teklanika for 5 nights. For these we only made them as we were traveling and about 3 weeks prior when we could better judge when we'd be there.

As it turned out we were near Denali early so on a whim we boondocked nearby at a lovely spot and the next morning drove into the park and easily secured an additional 5 nights in the front campground, Riley Creek.

We spent 10 nights in Denali and saw every one of the big animals more than once and viewed 'the Mountain' in full glory 7 of 10 days.

I'd also advise getting the above-mentioned camping book by Mike and Terry Church. The Milepost is great for history and maps but not for campgrounds. This book also includes Canada and the Yukon. It's great.

Roads? Yes, there will be stretches of gravel and construction/repairs - just like in the lower 48. Just drive slow. We had no issues.

accsys wrote:
While the Milepost can be very useful and informative, we found the Traveler's Guide to Alaskan Camping to be the bible for finding camping spots while in the Yukon or Alaska.

+2 for this book. We too found it much more helpful than the Milepost (which we did use also).

We only found it necessary to book a reservation at Denali. We were turned down at Whitehorse due to a large caravan had booked all the available sites and we had to park in a motel parking lot one night.

We would look at the Church's book as soon as we pulled out for the morning for a likely place to stop that afternoon. Only at Whitehorse did we have a problem.

As for the person asking about the roads....yeah, depending upon how rough the winter was, the only time you'll find all the roads in good condition is in September after they've all been fixed. Just watch for the frost heave signs along the side of the roads, watch for construction signs and keep you speed down with plenty of space between you and the vehicle in front of you. Many times we would only make a 100 miles a day.

Ron

The only issue would be Canadain long weekends ( stats)

Nation wide : Friday July 1, Canada Day, Monday September 5, Labour Day
Civic Holiday on Friday August 1 in Alberta and BC
Discovery day Yukon, that is the 3rd Monday in Agust and is a stat holiday in the Yukon.

If your going to be traveling around those dates I would " try" and book a place just in case the campgrounds get filled up by us locals that have thawed out from the long great white north winter and are ready to eat some Canadain back bacon and tip a few frosty beers and roll out the RV's
I know the campgrounds around here are mostly booked up already for the long weekend in July.
However there are tons of spots to dry camp / boon dock on the way to Alaska and the book Mile Post is a must if that is something you would do.

Soup

For you Alaska vets. I have read that some road conditions are challenging. Can you include insight on that? Sorry RMJ, I don't mean to take over your thread.

While the Milepost can be very useful and informative, we found the Traveler's Guide to Alaskan Camping to be the bible for finding camping spots while in the Yukon or Alaska.

Just go you will find places to camp.

We have never found the need for advanced reservations along the Alaskan Highway. We use The Milepost Milepost 2016 and ALLSTAYS ALLSTAYS to find and evaluate stopping points. When we are within a couple hours of stopping my navigator (DW) breaks out the I-Pad, fires up ALLSTAYS, and starts looking for something that looks good to us. We usually don't call ahead as we don't get the Canadian plan for cell phone calls, we only do the $2. a day for Canadian data on our Wi-Fi. As long as we stop by around 3:00pm we don't have trouble finding available spots. That being said we boondock 3-5 nights in a row before we want hookups. Many of the pulloffs along the Alaskan Highway are really large and back off the road and some offer spectacular views. We kind of like being alone in paradise!
The one place we always stop is Pioneer in Whitehorse. Large pull through sites with excellent power, friendly people, fuel discount, and good car wash.

Even this May when everyone in the lower 48 was heading North we didn't need reservations.

We are planning a trip for next year to Alaska, along the same lines, in our Class C. I would appreciate this info as well.