Thanks to Fred and Suzi for the reviews of Chugach NF. Early in the year, when you were doing your planning, you asked for planning tips. Now that you have done the trip, I'd like to see you post some "do's & don'ts" and things that worked well (or otherwise)

I was surprised to see that of the eleven campgrounds in Chugach NF, only three of them do not take reservations. Personally, I'm not a reservation fan....I like to travel at my own pace and we usually try to spend the whole summer without a single deadline. Do you know if there are set numbers (or percentages) of non reservable sites in those campgrounds? On our last trip to Alaska in 1994, we found that the average stay in most campgrounds was very short, meaning that it was always possible to get in by getting there early in the day. Do you feel that this is still a practical approach? We are thinking about making the trip in 2009.

Ed

OK, Ed, a reasonable request. The softcover we will publish for Alaska will cover the do's and don'ts. In fact, because of the complexities of traveling to and in Alaska, our book for Alaska will take on a different look than the other nine we've already published. Because we have two new books (on the Pacific Northwest) and two updates to publish, all before June 2009, it is doubtful we'll get Alaska published before 2010.

In the meantime, we'll be happy to try and answer forum questions on a case-by-case basis. Plus, doing it that way gives other forum members the opportunity to respond with their answers/questions. This is probably not what you wanted to hear, but . . .



As to your question about reservations in the Chugach, I feel you won't have any problems finding a site that is not reserved. But, you should follow your philosophy of getting their early or preferably by Thursday if you plan on spending the weekend. Of course, getting to a campground between Sunday PM and Thursday is always a good idea whether the CG accepts reservations or not. In the Tongass, making a reservation could be essential. This is because you get to most CGs initially by ferry. Arriving on the boat at midnight and then later at the CG and not finding a campsite might just tend to, well you know . . .

Hey, talk with you later . . . Fred

We spent the summer of 2003 in Alaska. Much of late July and August in and around Chugach. We found Quartz Creek and Russian River almost impossible to get into on week-ends. The locals out of Anchorage had each fri and sat booked for fishing. Easy to get in the rest of the week. Like so many reservation parks, only a few were first come. We were never able to spend a weekend in either. Maybe that has changed. Bill