Campground help needed for June trip to Alaska by RV

[RandMJacobs]

We are making our long-promised pilgrimage to Alaska in June. We are having trouble getting good info on campgrounds. Our concern is whether it is critical that we move on a strict time-scheduled timeframe, in which case we would have to have solid reservations if we want to be sure we can find a place to stay...or if we can travel on a more fluid time-frame and be flexible, which would mean that it would be likely we COULD find a place to stay with no preexisting reservation. In other words, will all suitable campgrounds be booked well in advance such that without a reservation, it will be highly unlikely to find a place last minute?

We are long (42 foot 5th wheel toy hauler). Our preference would be to just go...and when we get tired, be likely we can find somewhere to overnight...or is this just wishful thinking? If we don't have reservations, don't expect to find any vacancies?

[RandMJacobs]

Rokslinger wrote:
apologies

All's good.

[stickdog]

We spent 6 weeks touring Alaska last year. Only once did we not get a site as a walk in. As others have said stop early or call ahead before you leave for the day.

[Rokslinger]

apologies

[c_traveler2]

RandMJacobs wrote:
We are making our long-promised pilgrimage to Alaska in June. We are having trouble getting good info on campgrounds. Our concern is whether it is critical that we move on a strict time-scheduled timeframe, in which case we would have to have solid reservations if we want to be sure we can find a place to stay...or if we can travel on a more fluid time-frame and be flexible, which would mean that it would be likely we COULD find a place to stay with no preexisting reservation. In other words, will all suitable campgrounds be booked well in advance such that without a reservation, it will be highly unlikely to find a place last minute?

We are long (42 foot 5th wheel toy hauler). Our preference would be to just go...and when we get tired, be likely we can find somewhere to overnight...or is this just wishful thinking? If we don't have reservations, don't expect to find any vacancies?

Summer of 2015 we travel in a TC through Canada into Alaska, we never made reservations for any RV park and the RV parks that we did stay at rigs of your size made, very few of them made any reservations. There are some unusual places to stay overnite in both Canada and Alaska Where do you plan on entering Canada? If I can be of some help..PM me.

[RandMJacobs]

2gypsies wrote:
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.

We do have our Denali reservations, so good on that score and have now ordered the Travelers Guide to Alaskan campground book by the Churches.

[RandMJacobs]

Rokslinger wrote:
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.

With all due respect, but not so good...you clearly understand what taking over a thread is about...and then go ahead and do so.

[2gypsies1]

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.

[lanerd]

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

[SideHillSoup]

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

[Rokslinger]

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.

[accsys]

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.

[lucy6194]

Just go you will find places to camp.

[rag-ftw]

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.

[Rokslinger]

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.