Community Forums

RandyLee · 03-30-2018, 01:24 PM

Question for twogypies,

We are headed to AK this summer and since you stayed at both Tekanika and Riley Creek would you do the same again? What are the pros and cons of each campground? I have been to the Website and have the basic info as far as locations, amenities and must leave our toad at the main parking lot, not a concern. What about tour buses and the shuttle bus system. Any other info on the park would be greatly appreciated.

Randy

Wundertaker · 03-30-2018, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandyLee

Question for twogypies,

We are headed to AK this summer and since you stayed at both Tekanika and Riley Creek would you do the same again? What are the pros and cons of each campground? I have been to the Website and have the basic info as far as locations, amenities and must leave our toad at the main parking lot, not a concern. What about tour buses and the shuttle bus system. Any other info on the park would be greatly appreciated.

Randy

Good luck Randy...we are going for 4 months next year 2019....hope you have a good safe trip!

twogypsies · 03-30-2018, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandyLee

Question for twogypies,

We are headed to AK this summer and since you stayed at both Tekanika and Riley Creek would you do the same again? What are the pros and cons of each campground? I have been to the Website and have the basic info as far as locations, amenities and must leave our toad at the main parking lot, not a concern. What about tour buses and the shuttle bus system. Any other info on the park would be greatly appreciated.

Randy

We thoroughly enjoyed both campground stays but it wasn't so much the campgrounds but how our days were filled. The general areas are completely different.

Riley Creek has great ranger programs including a terrific sled dog demo. There are nice easy hiking trails and the Visitor Center to explore. It close to be able to leave the park for a restaurant if you wish. There's a nice store, laundry, restrooms, showers and a good water fill and dump station. It's a busy area.

Teklanika is naturally more remote so none of the amenities are there. They do have a nightly ranger program. You go there for the experience of getting deeper into the park where your chance of seeing animals is greater. A big perk is to purchase the TEK bus pass. You can then pick up the bus right at the campground and take it as often as you want during your stay and as far as you want. We did all day trips and also just a few hours in the morning and late afternoon. On those days we'd get off the bus wherever we wanted and walked until we were ready to go back to the campground. The buses pass often so you just stand on the road and take the next one that passes. Teklanika is just a quiet, relaxing place to stay.

There are no trails in this remote part of Denali. You just head out on the tundra on your own and the tundra is difficult to walk on because it's spongy... not wet, it just wobbles. Most often we just walked along the road for a few miles and then picked up the next bus. Once the bus leaves you cannot believe the silence and expanse out there. It's an awesome experience!

I'd highly recommend any way you do Denali to take the school bus tours rather than the 'professional' bus which includes a box lunch. The school bus drivers are very experienced at spotting the animals and they'll creep along the road as not to disturb them. When you get closer they'll stop the bus, turn off the motor and give ample time for pictures to be taken. Sometimes if the bears weren't too close we even got off the bus for better photos. Since there are many buses running at the same time and spread out they aren't on a strict schedule so they are able to do this. As stated, they'll also pick up folks who have been hiking and are just waiting for a bus. Pack the cooler and enjoy the day.

The park has a good parking lot near Riley Creek where you would park your towed vehicle. We then dumped and filled with water. Since we had a 40' motorhome we made it a point to get to the gate to continue to Teklanika when it first opened, thereby giving us a better chance for a big site. Specific sites aren't reserved. We easily found us a site and on the way saw a grizzly family and smaller critters... the first of many.

We had no trouble filling in the time of 5 nights at each campground.

Superslif · 03-31-2018, 06:47 PM

Quote:

We are headed to AK this summer and since you stayed at both Tekanika and Riley Creek would you do the same again? What are the pros and cons of each campground? I have been to the Website and have the basic info as far as locations, amenities and must leave our toad at the main parking lot, not a concern. What about tour buses and the shuttle bus system. Any other info on the park would be greatly appreciated.

Here is my review of Riley Creek campground on Campgroundviews.com (2016)

Here is my review of Teklanika Campground from the same trip. (with pictures)

I would take Tek hands down....

Some of my pic of Denali in the IRV2 photo section. ( I have about 150 pictures from the trip. I tried to put them in order starting on picture page #1 to page #14) Trip was 14k miles over 110 days.

If you want the "wilderness" experience, Tek is hands down the one. 56 sites just about all will fit a 35' to 40' rig. It's located 29 miles inside the park. You mst reserve for at least 3 nights. Once there you can't move. Tow vehicle stays put. From mile marker 13 onward one can only use the national park shuttle buses, except the people that have a reservation to Tek. Very level sites.

Riley on the other hand is rather "tight". many of the sites are reserved for the people from the RV rental companies. Yes, it is a much larger campground, but only about 1/3 of the sites are large enough for RV's over 30'. Many sloped sites.

We'll also be returning in 19'.

twogypsies · 03-31-2018, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superslif

Riley on the other hand is rather "tight". many of the sites are reserved for the people from the RV rental companies. Yes, it is a much larger campground, but only about 1/3 of the sites are large enough for RV's over 30'. Many sloped sites.

Wow... we certainly must have been in a different loop than you were at Riley. We were in Bear Loop & I just looked at our trip notes and I wrote there were about 15 sites in that loop for our 40' motorhome. Our site was huge and very level.

rtcadman · 05-01-2018, 08:47 PM

Like that handle - looked into "The Triangle" when I went to school in West Palm Beach. Headed to AK now from LA. (slowly).

Superslif · 05-02-2018, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twogypsies

Wow... we certainly must have been in a different loop than you were at Riley. We were in Bear Loop & I just looked at our trip notes and I wrote there were about 15 sites in that loop for our 40' motorhome. Our site was huge and very level.

It was just a observation from walking thru the campground (Late July). I did find that some of the flat / level sites at Riley Creek (Denali NP) were saved for the people renting RV's out of the Anchorage rental companies. Unless you have a small class B or C, people with 25' + RV trailers would careful to reserve a site to fit. I don't believe you reserve individual sites. As a walk up, and looking for a site, very few "that" day I would have been able to get a site large enough.

Ramets · 05-08-2018, 05:25 AM

We went up the AK. Hiway, but came back on the Cassier because we wanted to stop off at Stewart/Hyder to watch the bears feeding on Salmon. If you do this route to Stewart/Hyder, I highly recommend taking the towed on up to Salmon glacier. It's pretty spectacular since you'll be high above the glacier looking down on it. I think the only other way to see a glacier like this is by plane.

bfisher003 · 05-08-2018, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramets

We went up the AK. Hiway, but came back on the Cassier because we wanted to stop off at Stewart/Hyder to watch the bears feeding on Salmon. If you do this route to Stewart/Hyder, I highly recommend taking the towed on up to Salmon glacier. It's pretty spectacular since you'll be high above the glacier looking down on it. I think the only other way to see a glacier like this is by plane.

Man, we started up the road to the Salmon Glacier from the bear viewing spot and turned around and went back. The road was really washboard and beating us to death and that was in our F150 Platinum!

Superslif · 05-08-2018, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramets

We went up the AK. Hiway, but came back on the Cassier because we wanted to stop off at Stewart/Hyder to watch the bears feeding on Salmon. If you do this route to Stewart/Hyder, I highly recommend taking the towed on up to Salmon glacier. It's pretty spectacular since you'll be high above the glacier looking down on it. I think the only other way to see a glacier like this is by plane.

If you want a real close up of a Glacier, stop at Worthington Glacier just outside of Valdez AK. A 10 minute walk from the parking lot to the head-wall (Thumb) of the glacier.