Campground Reservations

llberge wrote:
I know that this has been asked before, but I am trying to plan our Alaska trip and want to get this straight in my head.

We are leaving from Connecticut on June 6 and have planned our stops up to Jasper with reservations at Whistlers campground. From this point on, I want to be free to come and go as we please and stay an additional day or so in a town if we are enjoying the area. That’s the benefit of finally being retired, no schedule.

Here’s the problem. A lot of people say that you don’t need reservations for most of the trip, but you will need them to stay in the campgrounds at Denali National Park. My wife is “encouraging” me to get on with the planning so we can get those reservations. How can I possibly know when we are going to be there? Can you try to make them a couple of weeks before you arrive or should I just guess a date and make some now and hope we can adjust the trip accordingly? What have you folks done in the past? We have a 25 foot motorhome with no toad, so we will fit in most sites.

Well I went from Cabo San Lucas to Alaska last year and my ONLY reservation was at Denali Natl Park at Teklanika.

What I notice about your post is your leaving date from CT. If it was me I'd leave to arrive in Alaska near the first part or middle of May. This is one of the best times of year and your biggest chance of seeing Denali clearly. The weather is generally very good at that time.

As for the Denali reservations: I'd pick a conservative date in about the last third of my time in Alaska and then time my visits to other parts around that date. Denali is too great and important to miss.

And as for Reservations in Alaska I agree with the July 4th recommendations BUT I was at Teklanika Campground in Denali National Park on July 4th because I made my reservations far in advance. As for the rest of the time reservations were never needed.

Think hard about changing that departure date you wont regret it.

Have a good time.