Marion Creek Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $12From, per site
- Sites
- 26All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Marion Creek Campground is nestled on the south side of the Brooks Range in the Middle Fork Koyukuk River valley. It offers vistas of the Brooks Range and has access to the nearby undeveloped trail up to Marion Creek falls. The campground is a perfect basecamp for exploring Alaska’s Brooks Range. There are 27 sites, three of which are accessible. The site is located five miles north of Coldfoot. This location is available on a first-come, first-serve basis only. Visitors are required to physically arrive at the campground to claim and purchase a site. Once on-site, you can pay for your campsites(s) by scanning a QR code using the Recreation.gov mobile app. Download the free Recreation.gov mobile app on Android or iOS prior to your arrival as this is a remote area that has limited or no cellular service. More reliable cellular service can be found 5 miles south in Coldfoot. Keep reading
Recreation
The Brooks Range offers excellent recreation opportunities. Explore undesignated routes from the Dalton Highway. Hiking is plentiful up and into the mountains where ridges and drainages provide firm footing, and the forest thins to low-growing tundra. Hiking east from the highway will lead you to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while hiking west of the highway will take you towards Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Choose your route with care, let someone know where you plan on going, carry bear deterrent, and bring topographic maps, a GPS, and a compass with you. Panning for gold is allowed on a few federal stream segments along the Dalton Highway south of Atigun Pass (Milepost 244). No panning is permitted in the pipeline right-of-way (27 feet/8.2 m on either side of the pipeline) and no panning on federal mining claims without permission. Suction dredging is prohibited in the Utility Corridor. Visit the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center in Coldfoot to get more information on where you may legally pan for gold. There are several excellent river trips along the Dalton: • The Jim River and Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River: Class I-II, several access points along the highway. • Atigun and Sagavanirktok (the Sag) Rivers: Class III-IV+ whitewater, access Atigun at Milepost 271; Sag at MP 306. For expert boaters only. • Ivishak Wild and Scenic River: Class II, access by chartered air service from Deadhorse or Coldfoot. Other recreational activities include, bird watching, wildflower spotting/identifying, fishing, bicycling and hunting. More detailed information on all these activities is available at the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center. State statute prohibits off-road vehicle use within 5 miles either side of from the highway from the Yukon River to the Arctic Ocean.
Facilities
The roads, tenting areas, and parking aprons have a gravel surface. There are 27 sites, one of which is designated accessible. Fourteen sites are pull-through, allowing easy access for RVs. The campground has potable water, vault toilets, and trash receptacles. Each campsite has a fire ring and picnic table. There is no electricity and no dump station. A camp host is onsite, and firewood is available.
Natural Features
The campsites are situated in a spruce forest with wide views of the Brooks Range. Namesake Marion Creek is only a short walk from the campsites. The area provides habitat for squirrels, voles, marten, lynx, wolf, moose, and grizzly and black bears. A variety of birds migrate north to breed in the area and further north. Some of the year-round resident birds include ravens, grouse, chickadees, hawk owls and Canada jays. Campers can experience 24-hour daylight during a period of about 30 days around June 21, and abundant light the rest of the summer season. In late August and into September bright, fall colors in trees and tundra extend for hundreds of miles. Late August and into September, sky gets dark enough that you have chances to see the aurora borealis.
Nearby Attractions
The original gold rush town of Coldfoot was located on the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River near the mouth of Slate Creek. It got is name in 1900 when early prospectors reportedly got “cold feet” and left before winter set in. Today it is small community serving truckers who drive the “haul road” to Prudhoe Bay, as well as visitors. There is a cafe, lodging, a post office, diesel and gasoline fuel, and limited repair service. Coldfoot is a transition point for people accessing the backcountry via small aircraft. The Arctic Interagency Visitor Center in Coldfoot introduces visitors from around the world to the unique and extreme environment of the Arctic. Explore interpretive exhibits, walk the nearby nature trails, and talk with knowledgeable staff to learn more about the region’s history, natural environment, and recreation opportunities. The visitor center is a partnership between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the National Park Service (NPS), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The Visitor Center is currently open daily from 11:00 a.m. until 9 p.m. from late May to mid-September, with nightly programs at 8:00 p.m. The historic mining village of Wiseman is a few miles to the north. Just after crossing the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk Bridge #1, take the turnoff to the west and follow the signs three miles (5km) to Wiseman. Established in 1907 when miners discovered gold in nearby Nolan Creek, the town was once a bustling community. Many residents today continue to subsist by hunting, trapping, and gardening. They enjoy sharing their stories with visitors. Note that all buildings in the Wiseman area are private property unless noted. Please stay on the roads. Travel further north, over Atigun Pass, onto the north slope and coastal plain to experience the dramatic difference from the boreal forest of the Marion Creek Campground area. Landscape is more open, affording chances to see mammals such as Dall’s sheep, muskoxen, caribou, Arctic fox, and Arctic ground squirrels. Also look for birds such wagtails, wheatears, golden eagles, jaegers, longspurs, shore birds, in breeding plumage. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (907) 474-2200 for general information.
Charges & Cancellations
No refunds.
What the agency tells you
Drinking water is available.
Firewood is available for campground use.
Camping is limited to 14 days.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
Campground season from mid-May through end of September.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 26
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…RVs. The campground has potable water, vault toilets, and trash receptacles. Each campsite has a fire…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…easy access for RVs. The campground has potable water, vault toilets, and trash receptacles. Each…”
- Firewood
- Sold here
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek, Coast
- Auto Touring
- Backpacking
- Biking
- Birding
- Gold Panning
- Scenic drives
- Wilderness access
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $12 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“No refunds.” · this campground’s own terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
27 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 26 mapped sitesAll 27 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 27 of the 27 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 26 of the 27 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Inner Loop | Camp Host | host pad | 1,125 ft | 167 ft | |||
| Inner Loop | Site 10 | standard nonelectric | 78 ft | 761 ft | 305 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 11 | standard nonelectric | 109 ft | 740 ft | 382 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 12 | standard nonelectric | 93 ft | 687 ft | 215 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 13 | standard nonelectric | 102 ft | 617 ft | 259 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 14 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 637 ft | 115 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 2 | standard nonelectric | 90 ft | 1,081 ft | 229 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 3 | standard nonelectric | 116 ft | 1,162 ft | 220 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 4 | standard nonelectric | 77 ft | 1,011 ft | 317 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 5 | standard nonelectric | 625 ft | 97 ft | 570 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 6 | standard nonelectric | 77 ft | 934 ft | 391 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 7 | standard nonelectric | 117 ft | 991 ft | 392 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 8 | standard nonelectric | 78 ft | 834 ft | 375 ft | $12 | |
| Inner Loop | Site 9 | standard nonelectric | 101 ft | 852 ft | 459 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 15 | standard nonelectric | 106 ft | 1,097 ft | 126 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 16 | standard nonelectric | 90 ft | 999 ft | 217 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 17 | standard nonelectric | 131 ft | 984 ft | 178 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 18 | standard nonelectric | 90 ft | 932 ft | 306 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 19 | standard nonelectric | 125 ft | 858 ft | 314 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 20 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 873 ft | 428 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 21 | standard nonelectric | 132 ft | 771 ft | 436 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 22 | standard nonelectric | 96 ft | 828 ft | 512 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 23 | standard nonelectric | 128 ft | 759 ft | 542 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 24 | standard nonelectric | 96 ft | 737 ft | 584 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 25 (Accessible) | standard nonelectric | yes | 124 ft | 743 ft | 637 ft | $12 |
| Outer Loop | Site 26 | standard nonelectric | 114 ft | 646 ft | 531 ft | $12 | |
| Outer Loop | Site 27 | standard nonelectric | yes | 117 ft | 530 ft | 491 ft | $12 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 27 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Coldfoot Cabin4.4 mi
Arctic Circle CampgroundCentral Yukon Field Office · 55 mi
Galbraith Lake CampgroundCentral Yukon Field Office · 81 miFive Mile CampgroundCentral Yukon Field Office · 97 miMarion Creek Campground is located at mile 180 of the Dalton Highway. It is 5 miles past the village of Coldfoot, on the east side of the highway.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Coldfoot, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 14°F, day 28°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night -19°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Marion Creek Campground is in Alaska’s at-large congressional district. Its representative, Nick Begich (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…to your arrival as this is a remote area that has limited or no cellular service. More reliable cellular service can be found 5 miles south in…”