Riley Campground, Denali National Park

Sunday: (08/07) We got up fairly early and were driving out from camp by 8am. It was raining lightly when we left camp.


We arrived at Riley Campground to do our tank duties then got a site at Riley CG for a couple of nights. It started raining heavy as I was finishing tank duties. We found a nice site. Lou fixed hash browned potatoes with sausage and eggs for breakfast. After long showers we relaxed inside for a while while it continued to rain.

On the drive out from Tekalnika the closet rod in my closet fell off. I reattached it. There have been several repair needs possibly due to our bouncy roads on this trip. The sink water line, the closet rod, possibly the microwave, the windshield cracks growing, the loose compartment door, and possibly the refrigerator outage. We aren't going to stop using the RV so we will just have to keep lots of glue, duct tape, tie-wraps, screws and other necessities to keep putting it back together.

Contrary to what we've heard, we've had no problems getting a campsite at Denali. We did reserve our stay at Teklanika about a week before we came up. The only reservation we've made on this trip. When we checked in the couple ahead of us had no problem changing their Riley Campground reservation to a Tekalnika stay so there were obviously open spaces there even for a drive-up visit. We had no problem getting our site today at Riley with no reservation as well. Maybe this year is unusual due to the economy or fuel prices but we haven't  seen real crowds anywhere in Alaska, and no herds of RV's anyplace we've been. Weekends are a little busy due to locals going out for their weekends.

Lou started some leek, onion, carrot, potato, spinach and sausage soup in the slow cooker. I spent the afternoon updating this blog. Lou and Dawn took off to explore the village shops. In the late afternoon the rain stopped and I finished the blog so I left. I took my computer to find a good Wifi spot to upload my photos. For some reason I can't upload them using my phone here in Alaska. The Riley Mercantile Store, our campground store, had wifi. With that mission accomplished I took a walk down to the village myself. It's about a mile or so from the campground. I found Lou and Dawn but they were through and were returning to camp for dinner. It was after 7:30. I completed my look around town then walked back to camp. Lou and Dawn had picked up the Jeep and were traveling in luxury themselves. When I got home Lou had her nice leek soup and Parmesan toast ready for dinner.
(GPS:63.73181372,-148.90044483)