We went to Alaska last summer without a single reservation before we left, even at Denali National Park and on the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry. That was because we never knew how far we could travel in a day--road construction, frost-heaved pavement, flat tires, wildlife encounters, and photo stops determined that distance. Only place we didn't get the first campground we tried was on the Kenai Peninsula on the weekend before dipnet season for reds opened. And there we got the second campground we tried.
We did get on-line reservations for Denali-Riley Creek campground 4 days before we got there and for the Jasper-Lake Louise-Banff NP campgrounds about the same length of time in advance. We were in RV parks about half the trip, public campgrounds 1/3 of the trip, and boondocking-dry camping the rest of the time.
