Teklanika (Tok: camping, bus, cabin)

[ArcticState]

We've planned a 3-night excursion into Denali and for the first time are staying at the Teklanika campground (we bought a "Tek Pass"). Anybody stayed there? Curious what your thoughts are.

[Chilkoot]

We tented there two years ago and got a Tek pass as well. I would like to do it again.

There's a bus stop next to the campground entrance where you can catch the shuttle bus. The earlier the better. The wildlife tends to bed down if it gets too warm later in the day. It's at mile 29 and park service studies have shown the majority of wildlife sightings are from mile 30 and beyond.

I have a couple of campground photos near the bottom of this album.
https://picasaweb.google.com/AlaskaT...liNationalPark

[ArcticState]

Originally Posted by Chilkoot

We tented there two years ago and got a Tek pass as well. I would like to do it again.

There's a bus stop next to the campground entrance where you can catch the shuttle bus. The earlier the better. The wildlife tends to bed down if it gets too warm later in the day. It's at mile 29 and park service studies have shown the majority of wildlife sightings are from mile 30 and beyond.

I have a couple of campground photos near the bottom of this album.
https://picasaweb.google.com/AlaskaT...liNationalPark

Thanks Chilkoot, appreciate the pictures. My son is a precocious 4 year old - I'm hoping he will be able to get his wigglies out tromping around. Good trails nearby for hiking?

[Chilkoot]

The good and bad of it is that there are a ton of places to hike and there are areas that are better suited for hiking but they are not well marked as any signage kind of defeats the wilderness purpose.

There's a nice hike across and down the road from Tek that follows a ridge with some nice views. The neat thing about the shuttle busses is that you can hop of and on just about anytime you want. Another hike was when we got off the bus just prior to Polychrome at the East Fork Toklat River at the bridge and then went down to where the artists cabin was near the river.

There is some info online that gives you some idea of where to hike but most of it is based on landmarks with no signage.

We used this site and then searched further for additional info on hikes. Check out 46 dayhikes.
Denali National Park Hiking, Photography and Camping

We're headed up next month for a couple days and will be hiking around the Eielson Visitor Center.