Williwaw Campground

We picked a site here and dropped the trailer rather than paying the additional toll for the tunnel and reducing the parking hassle in Whittier. It seemed like a newer forest service campground with the loop road and the site driveways paved. Sites are pretty close to one another and many are pretty tight, but they are separated by trees. The campground was less than half full in mid June. Zero bars of Verizon became three bars of 3G with the antenna and amplifier.

Whittier is a very busy port town with a very small but worthwhile museum highlighting the town's role in World War II. Well worth a stop at city hall.

We stayed here on a late-season Labor Day trip last year. The campground itself was quiet, but is the typical paved loop. The site itself was also paved, which helped cut down on mud due to late season rains.

The real highlight here is the bike/walking path that runs the length of the Portage Valley from the visitor center. We thoroughly enjoyed taking mountain bikes up and down the valley.

I am an Alaskan born resident. Most of our campgrounds are fantastic. I find Williwa an exceptional campground for the greenery, many lot choices and toilets. There is a really nice bike/walking trail that seems to be maintained and is beautifully done. We love the mountain view and it does get misty here often being so close to the mountains. We don’t mind. It adds to the beauty. However, we recently stayed here earlier in the season than usual due to mild climate so although there is a new camphost and we saw that only about 5-7 spots were filled. This was quieter than usual for us.

Someone stole our 2 new campchairs and large tarp from our spot. I have never had anything stolen from a campsite before now. We were not in the spot for 3 hours from approximately 2:30-5:30pm. I reported this to the camp host in case someone just turned them in but they seemed surprised our things were taken.

I wish to get the word out that it appears someone is stealing from campsites in this area. What a shame. We were a little disappointed that our site had broken glass and garbage that we had to clean up but again, it is very early in the season. Perhaps the hosts did not have time to clean up. We were to stay 2 nights but due to heavy rains & no protective tarp we packed up and left after only one night. We never saw the hosts come by the entire time we were there. There is no cell service here.

Sites are well spaced and for the most part there is a modicum of privacy and the surrounding area is simply beautiful. There are some lovely family friendly trails in the area and plenty of places to get off the beaten path for the more adventurous hiker. We tried fishing and assume it is likely better earlier in the season. We were delighted with the ability to watch the salmon come upstream. It is an excellent place to set up camp and then go explore Wittier for the day. We were fortunate enough to have a couple days of no rain, one of which was gloriously sunny with clear blue skies, breathtaking! All that being said, the road noise from big trucks is a definite detractor and the primary reason for not giving this lovely place a solid 5.

Just a few miles in from Seward Hwy, found one spot left in this gem at 10:30p on a Sunday night :) Spaces are good paved driveway with gravel area fire ring and table. Mostly back in, some pull throughs. Most seem good for larger rigs. Plenty of pit toilets that are clean and camp host on site. Very forested area with lovely hiking paths. Absolutely worth the few minutes detour if you are on the Steward.

I wanted to go back to Whittier to check out my memory of the best fish & chips ever (they changed their receipe :-() and once again used this campground as our basis for exploration. Paved roads, paved parking pads, level tent pads if you need them, and lots of dense greenery between sites which did wonders to reduce the impact of the wind that we experienced one day that we were there. Our $9 price reflects the senior discount. We arrived on a Sunday mid day and found a number of sites reserved but still lots to chose from. I didn't expect to find anything that was going to work with our solar panel but we did find an available one that got us several hours of direct sun on the panel.

The Blue Ice trail has an access point near the center of the figure 8 campground which provided a nice place for walking. This campground was also home to several geocaches assuming you had them downloaded in advance. Connectivity on AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile was nil at our site and sometimes a solitary bar if you held your mouth right and stood on one foot in the middle of the road. If you need connectivity without an amplifier, this is not your place.

The campground is in a beautiful area surrounded by towering mountains, lush forests, rivers and creeks (with salmon), and magnificent glaciers and ice fields. The camp sites are spaced so that in many cases you can't even see (or hear) the adjacent campsites, and they are level, they have a fire ring and a well-built picnic table at each site. There are many miles of trails to explore, glaciers to see and if you want to wander off the campgrounds there are many attractions in the area such the town of Whittier, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, and the Portage Glacier. There are no hook-ups (electric, water, sewer), but there are multiple fresh water pumping stations throughout the campgrounds as well as very clean toilet facilities and trash receptacles. For us, this was a very peaceful and relaxing environment and a relatively easy dry-camping experience. There are bears in the area and you must be cognizant and vigilant in preventing bear attraction; but we were there for 5 days and saw no sign of bears whatsoever.

Dry camping amidst the beauty of Alaska. This area is one of the most scenic. The sites are spaced apart, most are wooded, vault toilets are numerous. Very clean, well kept, fees are charged year around, reservations recommended in summer, may close when weather prohibits access.

We loved this campground. Close to trails and magnificent views. All of the sites separated nicely.

Great Campground, close to visitor center with wonderful museum and nearby Portage Glacier Tour - a quick one hour $45 tour. Close to the tunnel to Whittier ($13 for cars roundtrip). Close to Girdwood for gas and CELL SERVICE. The sites are heavily wooded and each has a picnic table and a fire ring. Vault toilets and water faucets (not threaded) spaced around the campground. Lots of hiking nearby and options for fishing, glacier sightseeing, kayaking and jet skiing in Whittier (which by the way has amazing cell service - as soon as you exit the tunnel!). Unfortunately, the location of this campground (in the Portage Valley) subjects it to tons of rain, low clouds and subsequently limited views. Each time I drove to Girdwood - it was not raining. You leave the valley and the entire weather system changes. I hiked Portage Pass Trail, ate dinner in Whittier and then the whole town shut down around 6pm. I hear its a cruise ship port - maybe they time the shop hours to coincide with the ships. Tried twice to see the Bore Tides (best viewing is between Girdwood and Bird Point after a full moon) - but they did not appear as expected. Girdwood has laundry and showers and a great little mercantile (basically a mini Safeway) and reasonable prices. I hear there are lots of little shops and restaurants, I only saw a coffee shop and one restaurant. There are several hikes, but given the wet weather, they were muddy and slippery. Also you can hike to the top of Mount Alyeska, eat in the restaurant and take the tram back down for free. There were no views - so I didn't bother. I hiked the Blue Ice Trail and Byron Glacier Trail (both easy), and even with rain gear - was soaked. Trying to make the best of it and still get out and sightsee, but the dreary gray skies and bone chilling wet rain, permeated everything making the 56 degrees feel like 36 degrees. Had to run the generator twice a day just to keep the batteries topped off. A huge improvement would be to add cell service (Verizon) or Wi-Fi at the visitor center or the Lodge. It is difficult to plan and make reservations when you have to drive 15 miles to Girdwood for cell service. I had planned to stay 7 days, but left after 5 to camp at Quartz Creek Campground, about an hour west (where it was overcast, but NO rain). The $9 rate reflects the senior pass. The campground is only about 20% full, many sites had reservations - but were no shows - which didn't impact anyone trying to find a site as they have many FCFS to chose from. If not for the extreme weather and lack of cell service/wifi, this is a great place to stay!