TEK Campground - "Iced Over"

[sdfamily]

I called today to try and see why there were no reservations available for the TEK campground in Denali for June. The lady said it was 'iced over' and did not have any other information regarding what that meant or when it would open.

 

Does anyone have any information about this?

 

Thanks!

[AkSusan]

We've had quite a bit of snow in April, like 4 big storms since April 1st, so what they don't know at this time is when the road will be open and when they be able to get in and clear the campground.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[AAL]

This is from a Fairbanks newspaper article on 3/29/08:

The road crew is now clearing ice from the Teklanika River Campground at Mile 29. The river jumped its banks and deposited overflow ice throughout the campground, covering roads, campsites and most of the vault toilets with 2 to 3 feet of ice, park spokeswoman Kris Fister said.

 

 

It’s the first time in more than 25 years that the road crew has encountered that much ice within the campground. The crew will clear as much ice as possible from the roads and campsites but getting ice out of the toilets will be more problematic and could delay the opening of the campground, set for May 20.

 

 

The park service is no longer taking any reservations for the Teklanika campground until at least June and may have to move campers who have already made early-season reservations to other campgrounds, she said.

You can see the picture of the ice in the outhouse here:

http://www.nps.gov/dena/photosmultimedia/index.htm?eid=146950&root_aId=303e_146950

 

This is what the National Park Service website says:

 

Teklanika River Campground

Due to the recent discovery of a 2-3' thick covering of ice throughout the Teklanika Campground and all associated buildings, we are unable to make reservations for this campground until further notice.

For those reservations already made, we are assessing the situation and a determination will be made on the status of these visitors.

We apologize for this inconvenience.

 

Hope that helps!

[derf5585]

Proof positive that global warming has arrived

[inkmahm]

Proof positive that global warming has arrived

ROLFLMAO!

 

That picture of the iced in toilet is hilarious. I sure wouldn't want to be camping there until the ice is cleared. :D

[SweetpeaOne]

I am pretty sure no one is going to be camping their for a while.... Love the ice toilet..

[gazingm42]

Thats going be a mess for sometime. We know how fast it can take

to dry out.

[kenish]

The iced toilet is great! I'd definitely take a pan of warm water, just in case I got stuck! :D

[PennyAgain]

There are going to be a lot of disappointed tourists who believe they are going to go down the road at Denali and wont' be doing so.

 

Don't you love the cruise ship advertising?

[Cruizn Mama]

I was one of the campers who had made a reservation for June. We received a letter saying we'd been re-booked into Riley. I called and was able to at least get into Savage River, which is still only 13 miles inside the park. According to the Park Ranger, this is the 1st time in 50 years that this has happened. The river flooded 5 feet (?) and they will not do anything to speed the natural melting and since it was only 47 degrees yesterday . . . it wasn't about to be a very quick process.