Bureau of Land Management · Glennallen Field Office · AK

Tangle Lakes Campground

ReservableBooking 6 months out; today unlocks April 16. Season not published.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
$20From, per site
Sites
41 on recreation.gov
2,820 ftElevation
366 ftWater · an unnamed lake
46.9 miSW of Deltana, AK
Bortle 1Night sky · 33rd darkest of 280 in AK

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices

In the agency’s own words

Tangle Lakes Campground, located at MP 21.5 of the north side of the Denali Highway, is situated within the Delta Wild and Scenic River corridor and the Tangle Lakes Archaeological District boundary where over 10,000 years of human use have been documented. The campground provides 45 accessible campsites and 4 walk-in sites and is equipped with water pumps, toilets and a boat launch. The campground rests amid a series of long, narrow lakes known as the Tangle Lakes that are connected by the Tangle River and form the headwaters of the Delta River. Keep reading

The boat launch provides access to the lakes and is also the designated put-in for the popular 30-mile Delta Wild & Scenic River float trip. The Tangle Ridge Hiking Trail (for non-motorized use only) extends out of the campground and provides a 360 degree view of the stunning landscape. Recreation https://www.blm.gov/programs/recreation/recreation-activities/alaska Facilities This recreation site provides 45 campsites (which includes a host site, picnic tables and fire rings. Other amenities within the facility include six double vaulted toilets (three accessible), numerous bear-proof trash receptacles and food lockers, parking for vehicles and trailers, a paved boat launch, potable water, accessible trails, picnic area, and interpretive panels dispersed throughout the site. Lower Tangle Lakes and Upper Delta River trip: Put-in is at Tangle Lakes Campground (MP 21 Denali Highway) and take out is north of Phelan Creek (MP 212 Righardson Highway). If continuing on to Lower Delta River past MP 212 of the Richardson highway there is no designated take-out point but the Richardson Highway parallels the river in many places.

Natural Features

This BLM-maintained campground sits amid the Tangle Lakes, a series of long, narrow lakes. This is a designated put-in for the 30-mile-long Delta National Wild and Scenic River float trip. There are moose and caribou in the area, many hunters use this as a base camp during the fall hunting season. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (907) 822-3217.

Nearby Attractions

The campground rests amid a series of long, narrow lakes known as the Tangle Lakes that are connected by the Tangle River and form the headwaters of the Delta River. The boat launch provides access to the lakes and is also the designated put-in for the popular 30-mile Delta Wild & Scenic River float trip. The Tangle Ridge Hiking Trail (for non-motorized use only) extends out of the campground and provides a 360 degree view of the stunning landscape. https://www.blm.gov/visit/denali-highway https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2021-08/PublicRoom_Alaska_Denali-Hwy-Brochure.pdf

What the agency tells you

Rule

This recreation site provides 45 campsites (which includes a host site, picnic tables and fire rings. Other amenities within the facility include six double vaulted toilets (three accessible), numerous bear-proof trash receptacles and food lockers, parking for vehicles and trailers, a paved boat launch, potable water, accessible trails, picnic area, and interpretive panels dispersed throughout the site.   Lower Tangle Lakes and Upper Delta River trip: Put-in is at Tangle Lakes Campground (MP 21 Denali Highway) and take out is north of Phelan Creek (MP 212 Righardson Highway). If continuing on to Lower Delta River past MP 212 of the Richardson highway there is no designated take-out point but the Richardson Highway parallels the river in many places.

Tents and rigs

Sites
4
Hookups
None
Accessible sites
1
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…within the facility include six double vaulted toilets (three accessible), numerous bear-proof trash…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…and 4 walk-in sites and is equipped with water pumps, toilets and a boat launch. The campground rests…”
Boat ramp
Yes
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026
Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Lake, River, Creek
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026

No reading yet, book on recreation.gov

recreation.gov lists 1 of the 4 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.

No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.

Booking window6 months outBooking opens 6 months ahead; today unlocks arrivals through April 16, 2027. The agency publishes no reservable season in the record we hold, so the window may close earlier than that.recreation.gov
A night$20plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule
A weekend$48DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itBureau of Land ManagementBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 17

What you actually pay

The sign priceBureau of Land Management
A night$20
ScanPay 1$20
ScanPay 2$20
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Apr 1, 2026 to Oct 10, 2026.
FEE DESCRIPTION: $20 per site All sites are on a first come first serve basis.
The Tangle Lakes Campground opening and closing dates are weather dependent and may vary from season to season.
May 30th Memorial Day through the first week in September (Labor Day) is typically when the site is accessible and open to the public.
No fee for Delta Wild and Scenic River use.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
One nightDerived$28
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$48

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

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 · 5

rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

4 sites

All 4 sites

Up to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 4 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the phone number

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Tonight21°Chance Light Snow30% rain
Saturday30°Slight Chance Light Snow24% rain
Saturday Night14°Slight Chance Snow Showers then Slight Chance Light Snow21% rain
Sunday28°Chance Light Snow31% rain

NWS forecast for Paxson, AK

Typical weather

Typical October night 18°F, day 35°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night -15°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

80°32°-20°

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.

Measured at: LAKE SUSITNA, AK (USC00505397), 47 miles away and 445 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

Nick Begich, official portrait

Tangle Lakes 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: Bureau of Land Management publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
Cell signal: the BLM’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Paxson, AK, 0.2 mi NW (a census designated place). Straight line.