Riley Creek Campground

This campground is located by the entrance to Denali National Park and offers dry camping only. It is also near their one and only general store, albeit small, laundry facilities, a shower house, and a grill run by ARAMARK by the Visitor Center, which is also nearby (there is a trail to the Visitor Center from the campground).

The campground is wooded and offers decent spacing between sites. it is very quiet, and generator hours are from 8-10a.m. and from 4-8p.m. There are fire grates and picnic tables by each site and rest rooms and water spigots throughout. There is a dump station and water-fill by the general store.

The location is also close to the town of Denali Park, which has gas stations, shops and a couple of small grocery stores. All of the grocery stores, including the one onsite and the ones in Denali Park are small and have very limited products, so stock up before you come.

Although pets are not allowed on trails, you can walk them all around the campground and there is lots of grass around.

The campground is nice, the guests are quite and respectful. There’s a general store with showers and laundry and it even sells beer. There are bike paths from the campground to the nearby visitor attractions.

Great stay.

Love this beautiful park! Lots of trees and clear forest floor covered in pine needles and moss. Sites are a bit short and tight but nicely spaced. Plenty of room to swing our 5th wheel in and around all 3 loops. Easy to get reservations for next day arrival in early June. No hookups. Nice wide 3 spaces dump area with potable water. Very nice staff!

Riley Creek is a large campground with three separate loops, operated under contract. Reservations are essential during the middle of the summer season. All four days we were here the check-in desk at Riley Creek Mercantile had signs posted about no RV/Trailer sites available. Reservations are for a class of site, not a specific site. In theory, A class sites are for over 31', B class are for under 31', and C class are for walk-in tent sites. Prices vary - in 2019 the A class sites were $40, the B class were $24 with both available for 50% discount for individuals holding the Senior (or some other) pass.

Sites are NOT created equal. The classification seems a bit loose with a few B sites being more expansive than some A sites. Early arrival will work in your favorite, especially if you're sporting a larger rig and need an A site that is truely an A site. We picked up our paperwork at the Merchantile about 10 a.m. and were chatting with another molded fiberglass trailer owner who was leaving and told us to check out the site they'd had. Large (likely should have/could have been classified an A site) on a corner with NO immediately adjacent neighbors.

In my opinion, some of the best sites are on the south side of the Caribou (third) loop since they don't have any development beyond their sites. Sites on the center of the loops, OR sites backing to adjacent loops will have close neighbors. Tents seem to especially have a problem staying anywhere close to their site. When we arrived there were in excess of 20 tents scattered through the center of the Caribou loop but none on the outer edges.

The area is known for rainy weather. Even 18 hours after it quit raining, the Wolf (second) loop had the loop road flooded in a couple spots and some sites still had LARGE mud puddles. In spite of reservations, late arrivals may be the lucky recipient of such a site.

Noise control has been amazingly good. Sometimes a crowd of kids will be heard, and you will hear both the train and the aircraft which are nearby, but overall, it has been quieter than many NP campgrounds.

I was lucky to occasionally have 1 bar of "E" on my Google Fi phone, but we have surprisingly fast AT&T on our Mobley device, and the Verzion phone had adequate to good service.

While we haven't seen any animals in the campground, there was a pile of recent bear scat within 30 feet of the picnic table. You are expected to (and will want to) keep a clean camp!

We moved to Riley from Teklanika so were there early in the day and got a great spot. It was on the outside and basically a double site. We were able to park our toad beside the RV with plenty of room to spare. As noted in previous reviews, the A,B, and C designations have quite a bit of variation between them. There were some A sites that we could not have used. Level, partially shaded - we had a good angle for our solar panels and only needed to run the generator twice for specific functions.
The campground is very close to the entrance so it was easy to run out for an errand but also convenient for the bus and visitor center area. Although i didn’t use it, the laundry area was clean and only 2/each for wash and dry.
We attended a Ranger Talk which was great and right in the campground.
We did have cell service while at Riley.

Very nice campground with many trees separating campsites. Many empty sites, although I believe they are limiting the number of campers. The Mercantile store was open, but the building containing the restrooms, showers and laundry was closed. The restrooms in the campground itself were open. This is my favorite spot to go in Alaska. Masks and social distancing were the rule. Good AT&T cell coverage at the campground and facilities near the entrance, but you loose it when you go into the park.

Arrived a day before our backcountry trip and needed place to overnight. Good environment with kids playing and local critters (don't feed the red squirrels). Entrance trail network is top notch for an evening walk. Clean outhouses and sites. Some tables are strangely warped.

No hookups, but a fantastic campground. Clean, and quiet (even the week preceding July 4th weekend). We would have stayed here longer had we not wanted hookups.

We really enjoyed our time here. Check in and check out time are both at 11:00. We found a great B site after arriving at 11:00. I think it’s the best type of reservation system there is. You “reserve” a spot, but you get to pick the spot, it’s like a guarantee you will get a spot at a FCFS campground.

There were both flush and pit toilets. Sites were clean and well spaced for a NP campground. Sites were fairly level. They are very serious about you keeping your campsite bear proof, camp hosts make the rounds. Limited generator hours. You will hear the highway, the train and flight seeing aircraft during the day. Campers were quiet, everyone was out and about enjoying the park.

Lots of trails, free shuttle bus system to the visitor’s center and out to MP 15 with stops in between to access a few hiking trails. We attended the NP dog kennel show, hiked, biked and visited the village shops outside the park. Lots of rental RV’s!

Oh, and we saw Denali!

We stayed on Site B24 at the Bear Loop. I could recommend this site to everyone who is looking for a quiet place. It’s only a little walk to the Store and Showers.