Teklanika Campground in Denali

[EmersonTT]

A few tips on Teklanika Campground in Denali. First, it's fabulous, so stay there if at all possible. We have a 21 foot travel trailer, but most of the spaces are large enough to handle much bigger rigs, and we saw several very large RV's snuggled into their spaces quite comfortably. We stayed there June 18 through June 20 and, to my surprise, it was never full-- always seemed to be a half dozen or more sites available. The spaces are well separated by vegetation. Potable water is readily available from faucets (not hand pumps), but you are not allowed to fill water tanks with a hose from those faucets, so it is necessary to fill in advance, unless you want to fill and carry water containers back and forth from the faucet to your campsite. There is no waste water dump, but I was told when we registered that excess gray water may be dispersed into the vegetation around the campsite-- which I learned is a big plus for us with our trailer on a boondock stay in excess of 3 days. There is a campfire ban in place, which likely will continue until they get rain. But when there is no bank there is no firewood available at the campground, so you must bring it with you. The Riley Campground sells firewood, but it's not cheap. All in all, a great campground in a great park!

[2gypsies1]

Our 40' motorhome fit in the campground. We spent 5 nights there and got our TEK bus pass. We rode the bus daily and sometimes 2x/day - morning and late afternoon. It's a wonderful place to stay for Denali. We only made the reservation 3 weeks prior when we could better judge where we'd be.

We also spent 5 nights in the front campground - Riley Creek and had no reservations but got a great site.

In the 10 nights in the park we saw every one of the big animals - sometimes more than once. We saw 'THE' mountain 7 of 10 days. We had gorgeous weather mid-August. There is plenty to do in both areas. Our days were full.

I hope the current smoke doesn't obscure the mountain for any of you.

[rag-ftw]

Was the single mom and her two adolescent sons hosting at Tek again this year?

Also the daily Ranger programs in the evening are informative and a good way to meet other campers staying at Tek, who can provide feedback as to best areas for animal sightings.
A walk down to the river in the early morning or late evening with a good set of binoculars could produce grizzly activity. We saw at least one every day!