Online Booking Rolled Out for Some State Park Campgrounds

PALMER — Two Alaska State Parks campgrounds in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough are among a handful of pilot sites selected to test a new online campsite reservation system.

And extra fees.

Finger Lake in Palmer and the new K’esugi Ken campground near Denali started accepting online reservations this season, said Ethan Tyler, division director for state parks and outdoor recreation at the Division of Natural Resources (DNR).

The new system brings with it cost increases for all campers who book online, including disabled veterans who otherwise are able to camp for free through the state’s disabled veterans pass. To cover the cost of the Reserve America online booking system, campsite reservations carry a $2 per night transaction fee, capped at $8.

That increased fee is already common practice for the state’s public use cabins, which are reserved online and carry an $8 fee, Tyler said.

Finger Lake and K’esugi Ken, as well the other two pilot locations at Chena River near Fairbanks and Johnson Lake on the Kenai, were selected as pilot sites because they are under closer supervision by state parks officials working nearby. Finger Lake, for example, is also home to a state parks office.

The rollout hasn’t been without a few hiccups. At Finger Lake, for example, a few sites have been accidentally double-booked while others had reservations mixed up. Tyler said those are the kinds of glitches they want to work out before expanding the system to the rest of the state.

Although each park will also maintain a handful of day-of reservation campsites, the majority have been shifted to the online reservation system. Sites that have not been reserved online can be booked in person on a day-to-day basis.

Officials hope to eventually expand the system to the rest of the state’s 75 campgrounds, Tyler said.

While some of the campgrounds, including Finger Lake, already had electronic pay stations, most of the state’s campgrounds still utilize a cash-only system and brown pay boxes, known as iron rangers. Moving to the online system would allow a credit card option even at locations without pay stations.

DNR officials believe the new system makes the campgrounds more attractive to long haul visitors in RVs who don’t want to risk not landing a site because they didn’t arrive early enough.

“People have been asking for online reservations for a long time,” Tyler said. “It is really meeting a demand.”