RV reservations in Kenai?

[Great Sky Girl]

We are planning to do a self tour of the Kenai Peninsula after our Cruise next year. Will we need to have reservations at campgrounds or will we be able to just find one and pull in?:confused: We are going to rent an RV, so can be self reliant, just not sure of what we will find. I find myself completely absorbed by this:)

[mapleleaves]

So will you be going to Seward, Homer, Cooper's Landing? A lot depends on when. For instance it's difficult to find a space at Russian River Falls near Coopers Landing at the end of June during the salmon run. You can make reservations for the state parks via this web site if staying there on June 25 is important to you. http://www.reserveamerica.com/ Williwaw is another tough one to get into because of the spectacular glacier views and it's a handy place to stay for your first night after leaving Anchorage. Other popular places, like Seward's city run campground with 300+ sites on the harbor don't accept reservations. So you try to arrive by noon and drive around until you find someone leaving. You can always find somewhere to stay. There are lots of state parks, national forest parks, private campgrounds and if worse comes to worse with an RV you can park 'almost' anywhere, such as highway pullouts, Fred Meyer parking lots.

You might want to jump over to Tripadvisor.com and look at the trip reports. On the Alaska forum page there's a link to this summer's reports. Usually the RV folks mention the park they used.

If you have a hard and fast itinerary, there's nothing wrong with having a reservation in place. One less thing to worry about. But the beauty of an RV is that you should be able to roam about and stop when you want to. I only made reservations at Denali, because I knew I wanted to stay INSIDE the park. I didn't want to take any chance there. What's your comfort level?

[mapleleaves]

I wanted to mention that the Milepost is a great resource for a DIY trip. For each Alaska Hwy, it tells you by milepost number where there is a hotel, campground, activity, gas station, scenic vista, etc. You can buy a used one at amazon for $3 plus S&H. Used is fine since hwys and town names don't change (some vendors may have gone out of business)

I also used this web site http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Alaska

[Suzanne123]

I don't know if it's just for people staying at the Kenai Princess Lodge in Cooper Landing, but there is an RV park right at the entrance. Might be worth a call.

 

http://www.princesslodges.com/documents/KenaiFacts6.22.2010.pdf

[mapleleaves]

The RV Park at Kenai Princess Lodge is open to anyone. I stayed there in a tent many years ago, but due to bear activity they don't allow tent camping anymore. It's a perfectly acceptable place if you want to be in the Coopers Landing area and want all the hookups. (Also nice to have a drink with appetizers at the bar and enjoy the view of the Kenai River). The state parks are far superior though, and half the price.

[Great Sky Girl]

Thank you, Mapleleaves. We are going to be in Kenai June 4-8. From what you said, I don't think we will make reservations because we are a little early for the fishing. Thanks for the Cooper Landing info also. We will certainly take a look at staying there.

[mapleleaves]

If you are serious about RV'ing, watch the web sites of Great Alaskan Holidays and ABC Motorhome starting in October. I was able to get my RV for half price during a special offer by booking early. There can be cancellation penalties tho so only book if you're certain.

For such a short period of time and covering such a small area, you could tour with a car with B&B with less expense. Of course you lose the flexability. but I thought I would mention it in case you're still deciding.

[CalifCruiser1]

Mapleleaves I have a question for you. We plan on driving to Alaska from Calif next summer with our 5th wheel. What great info can you share. I have to plan a route for us- ending in Kenai (we know about the Pennisula), but I'm wondering about should we drive all the way there or ferry and what ferry? We are planning on 4 weeks thanks for any info and websites Karon

[mapleleaves]

Califcruiser, Driving to Alaska sounds like a dream trip to me! I would love to drive up through British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska. That will be my retirement trip. Haven't done it yet though so I can't offer much in the way of first hand experience. My only expereince was as a walk on passenger to Skagway.

The ferry (Alaska Marine Hwy) would be a nice trip, but costly. Although I guess you should factor in the gas savings for not driving a few thousand miles. I've attached a link to the 2010 fares so you can cost it out for yourself based on the number of passengers and length of vehicles. You would probably ferry from Bellingham to Haines or Skagway, then drive to Tok and over to the Kenai. The passenger fare alone is close to $375 per person, plus your truck, plus the camper, and a sleeper cabin if you need one. You can't stay in your camper and can only access it at specific times. (I was a frugal and slept on the deck in a sleeping bag! Some people pitched tents on the deck). The trip takes almost 3 days. We left on a Friday around 6pm and arrived in Skagway around noon on Monday.

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/routes.shtml

This is the general information link for the ferry:

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/documents/fares/winter_10/W10_SETariffs.pdf

 

Instead of getting off the ferry in Haines you COULD take a series of smaller ferries all the way up to Whittier but that would take some planning and some travel time.

I looked in my trusty Milepost and they have a few routes laid out for an Alaska drive. You really should get a milepost if you're serious about this trip. New is about $25 at a bookstore or order a used 2007 at amazon.com for $3 plus S&H. It's invaluable. Hope this helped a little ... I sure envy you that trip !

[CalifCruiser1]

Thanks Mapleleaves, I bought the Milepost last year but haven't looked at it. I also bought a book titled RVing Alaska by Land and Sea and its starting off pretty well. I had taken a sneak peek at the ferry rates and its something you really need to weigh up due to the cost between our 24 ft 5th wheel and the extra long truck we are considered to long and would have to pay even more but I still need to work it out on paper and time. Thanks again for the other websites. I can't wait to go next year! Karon

[Cruisin Kay D]

I have a GREAT IDEA for you IF you can leave in mid-May to go to AK is to drive a new RV (Class C motor home) from the factory in Iowa up to Great Alaskan Holidays RV rental in Anchorage (instead of putting those miles on your own RV). We did that this spring!!! Each spring the RV rental company buys a quantity of new Class C Winnebagos and this year they bought 150. So we rented the brand new RV for an extremely low rate ($1100) for 18 days & 3900 miles to get it to AK & do some sightseeing out-west. Check out http://www.greatalaskanholidays.com/spring. It was a wonderful trip and we will do it again!!! We left Iowa May 15 and dropped it at GAH on June 2.

Then after you turn in the RV, you could take cruise back to Vancouver or Seattle or fly back to your home. We flew to Minneapolis where GAH had buses to pick up us and other couples doing same thing. They took us down to Winnebago factory in Forest City and next AM 50 RVs left for Alaska, each on their own route. The day before 50 had left and day after we left the last 50 headed to AK. Along the way at various campgrounds, grocery stores, etc. we met other people doing same as us!!

We stayed at the Kenai Princess campground 2 nts. over Memorial Day weekend and then on Memorial Day itself about noon or 2 PM went to Seward's city-owned waterfront campground -- all the "locals" camping there had gone back home. That was an amazing place to camp!!!! We also stayed in Palmer and Tok and 2 nights in Valdez, which we LOVED.

 

I used the Milepost, Good Sam directory, that RV park website referred to earlier, Trip Advisor, etc.

 

For the OP coming in early June, you are not as likely to need campground reservations as one would later in June or July or August. Also at that time or year, GAH was still renting RVs for about half-price or nearly half-price, because there aren't so many tourists/travelers.

 

If you need to get more info or discuss where we camped, email me at m k d e t w at h o t m a i l dot com (of course take out spaces!)

 

We found prices of ferry quite expensive. A way to get a taste of the ferry is to go from Alaska Highway down to Skagway, cross on ferry to Haines and then drive back up Haines Highway to Alaska Highway. We wanted to go to Whitehorse so we did not do this on this trip. Another idea I investigated was taking the ferry from Valdez to Whittier, but for some reason didn't seriously pursue this option.

[CalifCruiser1]

Cruisin Kay D thanks for the great info, I'll check into it. At this point we are wanting to go end of July into Aug (we're meeting friends at a fishing lodge)hopefully. Karon:)

[mapleleaves]

That's the downside of this offer; the RV's must be delivered to Anc BEFORE the end of May. That's a little too early for most people.

[pspercy]

Cruisin Kay D

 

I'm eyeing this deal too, couldn't find anyone who'd go along this year :( but wife is now retired !

 

I'm wondering if there's any fishing or whether it's too early (I'm thinking Rainbows, Dollies etc not salmon).

[mapleleaves]

Cruisin Kay D

 

I'm eyeing this deal too, couldn't find anyone who'd go along this year :( but wife is now retired !

 

I'm wondering if there's any fishing or whether it's too early (I'm thinking Rainbows, Dollies etc not salmon).

 

 

http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/StateWide/runtim/runtim.cfm

[frugaltravel]

That's the downside of this offer; the RV's must be delivered to Anc BEFORE the end of May. That's a little too early for most people.

 

Another downside is that it really is not cheap. They give you a break on the per-day price for the first week or so. But that basically just gets you to Anchorage. You pay a higher rate after that initial time period. And if you are not interested in seeing Canada as well, you can do an Alaskan trip much cheaper than driving GAH's RV's to Alaska for them.

 

But I must admit, they have a pretty good plan - get PAID by tourists to drive their RV's to Alaska that have to get there anyway!