Denali National Park, Front Section - Riley Creek Campground

Denali National Park, Front Section - Riley Creek Campground

*We made our reservations for Denali National Park on January 5. We stayed at Denali in July. If you want to stay at Denali, we encourage you to make reservations early.

The first of this video is a map getting you acquainted with Denali National Park. You enter the park from Hwy. 3. The check in and laundry are shortly after you enter the park. If you are just at the park for the day, you can drive out 13 miles to Savage River. There is a manned post at mile 13 to see if you have a Teklanika camping pass. If not, you will need to turn around, The only way you can go farther in a private vehicle is with the camping pass. Buses will take you further into the park. The campground is at mile 29. A landslide closed the road shortly beyond the campground.

Just down the road from the check in is the Visitor Center Campus. Tons of information about the park is at the visitor center. Also, that area has restrooms.

One of the coolest things near the Riley Campground is the Dog Sled Kennel. You can ride a bus or bike or there is limited parking if you drive. The Savage River turn around is 11 miles further.

We had a one night reservation at the Riley Campground and three nights at the Teklanika Campground because Teklanika requires a three night reservation.

Coming into the park, the first thing you see is a mercantile. Right after that is the dump station. You probably won't find many dumps set up as nicely as the one at Denali. You drive up and have 4 lanes to choose from. Each lane has non-potable water at the dump and fresh water at the end of the lane.

After we selected our campsite, we went to the Visitor Center Campus. That includes the visitor center, a store, a grill (restaurant), showers. The visitor center is ADA accessible. The two story building does include an elevator.

After seeing the Visitor Center Campus, we went to the Dog Sled Kennel. By the way, Denali is the only national park in the US with dog sled teams. In the winter, dog sleds are about the only way into the backcountry of the park.

As of 2024 the Dog Sled Kennel has ranger led programs at 10:00, 2:00, and 4:00. The dogs are Alaskan Huskies, not Siberian Huskies which are larger. The dogs are working dogs. Pulling the sled is what they do; they are excited to get to do that.

Once we left the Dog Sled Kennel, we went to Savage River. Sharon almost landed an Arctic Grayling, but it wiggled off the hook.

That evening Sharon went to a ranger led program on scat. In the video she will tell you more about scat than you ever wanted to know.

Видео Denali National Park, Front Section - Riley Creek Campground канала Two Tired Teachers