Best RV Parks to stay in Alaska

[primetimerver]

We will be leaving for a three month trip to Alaska from NC in early July. Once in Alaska, we will be traveling the usual routes and areas (Fairbanks, Denali, Mat-Su Valley, Kenai Peninsula, Valdez and PW Sound, etc.). Any recommendations on the best RV parks to stay at?

[hawkman541]

We are currently at the Diamond M Ranch in K Beach Road, halfway between Soldotna and Kenai. Large pull throughs, and backends to fit whatever size you need. We have enjoyed our stay here. Breathtaking views off the bluff. Its a family owned RV park with cabins. We chose this place because of the central location, super friendly staff, and my sister-in-law and crew are flying in and can stay in one of the cabins and not crowd me out of my rig. Check it out in the Mile Post. Good luck

[rbanuchi]

[
Is this something that is done on a regular basis. As a photographer, it would be a wonderful experience. Love to hear more about this !



quote=RoadLife]Beachcomber on the coast in Ninilchik was a favorite. It is especially great if you want to go clamming - you can walk to the beach. The owner keeps clam guns and buckets for use by the guests. Great fun. Enormous clams!

Another favorite was Bayside RV park in Valdez. The main attraction of this park is that the owner is one of the very few people in ALaska that are allowed to feed the eagles. Every day at 5pm she brings out buckets of fish to the hordes of waiting eagles. It is something to see. The town is mostly walkable from there. We used the car a few times to get to certain museums.

Iditarod Park in Seward is practically next door to the Sea Life Center. It is $15 a night and the sites face the ocean.

Tolsona Wilderness Campground in Glenallen is rustic, woodsy, and a true "camping" experience. A rushing stream winds through the campground. Lovely.

Hope this helps.

[noe-place]

PA12DRVR wrote:
Noe-place,

You probably had far less hassle than you would have had with a MH for a week. Nothing wrong with staying in a hotel in AK. When I lived full-time in Ewe-stun (i.e. had kids and grandkids, but no house in Anchorage) I'd stay in a hotel during at least one of my 5 "flyup to see the kids" trips.

"1, 3 and 9"....had to think about that since we think of highways as Seward, Glenn, Parks, Richardson, Denali, Edgerton Cutoff, etc.

I got the highway numbers from the Alaska travel pamphlet in the hotel otherwise I wouldn't have known where I was going! :B

[joe_b_]

I think I had lived in Alaska for 20 or more years before I knew that Alaska highways even had numbers. As PA12 says, they were just referred to by name, or where they ended up. In Nenana, where we lived the last 13 years, the Parks Hwy was often referred to as the Anchorage or Fairbanks highway, depending on which way you were headed.

I suspect the numbering started when Alaska started receiving Interstate Highway money for some of the roads. The Parks Hwy has an Interstate Highway number for funding. Some Alaska and Hawaii roads are part of the "hiden" Interstate system, funded but not signed as such and don't have to comply with all the regular Interstate requirements.

[PA12DRVR]

Noe-place,

You probably had far less hassle than you would have had with a MH for a week. Nothing wrong with staying in a hotel in AK. When I lived full-time in Ewe-stun (i.e. had kids and grandkids, but no house in Anchorage) I'd stay in a hotel during at least one of my 5 "flyup to see the kids" trips.

"1, 3 and 9"....had to think about that since we think of highways as Seward, Glenn, Parks, Richardson, Denali, Edgerton Cutoff, etc.

[noe-place]

I have to put this in and hope y'all don't mind. My mother in law had always wanted to visit Alaska but I don't have the time or inclination to take our MH. But DW "insisted" we take her Mom to Alaska!! So we flew up and stayed in a (sorry to say) hotel in Anchorage. We only had a week but I rented a 4x4 and took them up and down the 1,3, and 9 as far as I could to show them as much as I could. Really wish I'd had the MH and more time. I love Alaska!!

[alaska_dennis]

When you get on the Kenai peninsula don't bother with Johnson Lake rec. area in Kasilof. They are closing half of the campsites. Hidden Lake is good and Swanson lakes canoe trail is good but only about 20 places to camp in whole area. Check out centeninial park in Sterling.
Homer is kind of under construction The whole town is getting natural gas.
I am going to Kasilof this weekend.

dennis

[primetimerver]

Thanks everyone for your input. Yes, I do have the Church's Alaskan Camping Guide, the Mile Post, and lots of other maps/guides, but I was wanting to hear from folks who have actually camped at sites in AK, Yukon, BC, and AB to get first hand recommendations on specific campgrounds. You all have given us several to consider and some we had actually checked out on line already. Thanks again for all of your suggestions. I really like the more primitive cgs like ones you suggested and will try and stay at some of those. They tend to be more scenic and definitely less costly. We don't have a generator so not sure if that will limit us with primitive camping. I guess as long as we don't need the AC we should be fine. We'll be leaving on July 8 so are pretty excited. Plan on spending about 3 weeks in SE AK, then the rest of our time will be in YK, AK interior (and Kenai Pen), BC and AB, before heading back home in mid to late September.

[sue_t]

We prefer the rustic government & park campgrounds.

One of the most scenic was Blueberry Lake State Recreation Site, about 25 miles outside of Valdez.




Byers Lake Campground in Denali State Park was also very nice with many good hiking trails. Also an easy hike up to the Veterans Memorial rest area/viewpoint to see Mt McKinley from the Parks Highway.




Williwaw Forest Service campground, on the way to Whittier, was also very nice. Again, good trails. Lots of glaciers to see all around.




Trail River USFS campground on Kenai Lake was also very scenic!

[2gypsies1]

You definitely need to purchase Mike and Terri Church's book, "Alaskan Camping" - Google it. It gives very accurate descriptions of all types of camping - public, private and boondocking spots - and not just in Alaska. It includes the Yukon and Canada, also. They are from Alaska and travel back & forth all the time. It's the most accurate reference out there.

The Milepost is a great resource to have for the history and siteseeing for your trip but don't rely on it for campgrounds. It does NOT have all of them available and the information is not accurate. The ads in the book for campgrounds are paid ads.

Have fun!

[hollyb96]

Im from the UK and travelling to Alaska in August for 2 weeks travelling in an RV - very excited.

We are driving from anchorage up to Faribanks and then onto Tangle Lakes, Glenallen, Valdez and back to Anchorage,

If there are any specific places to pull up, eat, sightsee etc PLEASE let me know! Really don't want to miss a thing.

My partner wants to see huskies - anyone know of anywhere offering tours in August?
Or Kayaking the Glaciers company that is good??

THANKS!

[sljohnson1938]

primetimerver wrote:
We will be leaving for a three month trip to Alaska from NC in early July. Once in Alaska, we will be traveling the usual routes and areas (Fairbanks, Denali, Mat-Su Valley, Kenai Peninsula, Valdez and PW Sound, etc.). Any recommendations on the best RV parks to stay at?

I assume you have the "milepost" magazine - if not get one. All Rv parks (private and gov.) are listed there.

[Monello]

Scenic view RV park in Ninilchik. The place lives up to it's name. Incredible views. It appears they are now ADULT ONLY. They are up on a bluff and I guess they were worried if some kid wandered to close to the edge of the cliff.

SVRV


I have no financial interest in giving this opinion.

[RoadLife]

Beachcomber on the coast in Ninilchik was a favorite. It is especially great if you want to go clamming - you can walk to the beach. The owner keeps clam guns and buckets for use by the guests. Great fun. Enormous clams!

Another favorite was Bayside RV park in Valdez. The main attraction of this park is that the owner is one of the very few people in ALaska that are allowed to feed the eagles. Every day at 5pm she brings out buckets of fish to the hordes of waiting eagles. It is something to see. The town is mostly walkable from there. We used the car a few times to get to certain museums.

Iditarod Park in Seward is practically next door to the Sea Life Center. It is $15 a night and the sites face the ocean.

Tolsona Wilderness Campground in Glenallen is rustic, woodsy, and a true "camping" experience. A rushing stream winds through the campground. Lovely.

Hope this helps.