Greenstone & Thimbleberry's Blog: Camping in Denali's Interior

The Alaska Railroad coming thru Denali NP with a stop at the park and Princess Lodge just outside

We wanted to camp at the farthest campground inside Denali that allows RV's. It is almost 30 miles inside the park and vehicles are usually just allowed to drive 15 miles in to the Savage River. To camp at Teklanika campground you must reserve at least 3 nights in a row. We were not able to find 3 open days in a row until at least the 3rd week of August. We stayed at Riley Creek, near the entrance, the night before we drove in. We enjoyed going for a nice hike from the campground that ended up along a stream that the railroad bridge went over. We had seen this bridge from the road several times and joked about how it would be great if we could get picture of it with the Alaska RR train on it. While walking along on a trail we see the bridge and decide to Google the train schedule. Amazingly we see that it is coming thru in about 5 minutes, so we hang out and are able to get several pics. We quickly e-mailed the pics to Gary our train buddy who had seen the bridge empty earlier in the summer several times. The next morning we broke camp early and headed into the park. A few miles before we reached Savage River we were treated to the best views of Denali that we have had since we have been in Alaska. We stopped at Savage River and hiked a 2 mile trail that goes up one side and back the other after crossing a bridge. There was a cold breeze blowing down the river with temps not too far above freezing. Needless to say we hiked at a brisk pace and didn't stop for long along the way.

Mt Denali in all of it's splender

Denali with fog in the foreground over the river

This is a far as you can drive your own vehicle unless you are camping at Teklanika or 2 other tent only campgrounds at mile 22 & 35

Hiking the Savage River trail

A pretty hike inside the cold shadow of the mountain

We drove on in towards our campground slowly, stopping often to enjoy views of Denali and looking for wildlife. In addition to the amazing views of Denali we did eventually see a few caribou grazing in a meadow near the road.

Another amazing view...Thank you God for your beautiful creation!

We finally arrived at Teklanika Campground and found our campsite. We had 3 days to explore the river basin that was behind our campsite. The first afternoon we hiked a mile or so down the river exploring and found a large pile of bear scat. We were hoping to see a bear along the river but never did. We did see a few caribou on a mountain side across the river one evening. We enjoyed our stay at Teklanika, relaxing and exploring up and down the river basin.