This National Park Campground is located inside Denali near the entrance at mile 0.3. Riley Creek is split into three loops (bear loop, wolf loop and caribou loop) with plenty of trees (mainly spruce, but also some aspen) between sites and between loops. Each loop has nice vault toilets, a potable water spigot and a bus stop.
Our site at Riley Creek (sans motor home)
Our pull through site had ample space for the RV on one half and Jeep in the other half
The sites are split into two categories, ‘B’ for RVs less than 31’ or tent camping and ‘A’ for RVs over 31’. Much like Teklanika, a reservation only guarantees your requested site type, ‘A’ in our case, is available somewhere, but does not reserve a particular site. Not all ‘A’ sites are created equal, and there are some a 40’ motorhome is just not fitting in. Again, an early arrival is your best bet and we managed to find a perfectly large site arriving exactly at the check-in time of 11 am.
The picnic table and fire ring area of our site
Denali Entrance Area Trails
The park did an excellent job of creating a large network of trail systems to connect the campground with the visitor center, the post office, the wilderness activity center, a bunch of hikes and the town. You could easily spend a few days exploring the area by foot or bike and never need a car. We hiked the Savage Alpine and Mountain Vista Trails in the Savage River area; Mt. Healy Overlook Trail; and Horseshoe Lake Trail. We also took an ATV tour with Denali ATV Adventures just outside of the park. There are also companies that offer rafting, flight-seeing; ziplines, and jeep tours.
If you want to range further afield a bus will take you there, with a bus stop on every loop. We used the bus system for a day trip to Wonder Lake. Don’t miss the Demonstration program and a visit to the working Sled Dog Kennel.
