U.S. Forest Service · Tongass National Forest · AK

Alsek River Cabin

ReservableBookable through October 31; an off-peak season follows January 1 to August 31.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
Sites
1All of them booked ahead
50 ftElevation
379 ftWater · an unnamed pondOcean · 2.7 mi · to the Gulf of Alaska
103.3 miW of Haines, AK
0%Tree cover
Bortle 1Night sky · 9th darkest of 280 in AK

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices

In the agency’s own words

Alsek River Cabin is located on the Yukutat Forelands about a mile from the Alsek River, a large river known for its many glaciers. This cabin is open year-round and offers relaxation as well as excellent hunting opportunites. The site can be accessed by wheeled plane, depending on conditions. An airstrip is adjacent to the cabin. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading

Recreation

Moose hunting is available in the surrounding area, and mountain goat hunting is excellent in the Brabazon Range 2 miles to the east. Hunters must have the proper licenses and hunt only in designated seasons.

Facilities

This 14x16-ft. hunter-style cabin sleeps four people with four single wooden bunks. The cabin has a table and benches, broom, an oil heater and food preparation space. An outhouse, picnic table and 12x12-ft. meat shed are located outside. Water, heating oil and electricity are not provided. Visitors must supply their own drinking water as well as #1 diesel oil or kerosene for the heater. One gallon can last 2-10 hours, depending on the heat setting. Other items to bring include sleeping bags, sleeping pads, food, a cooking stove, cookware, plates, utensils, lanterns or flashlights, toilet paper, garbage bags, a fire extinguisher and fire starter. Visitors are expected to pack out trash and clean the cabin before leaving. Click here for more cabin details.

Natural Features

The terrain is flat and very wet, and the cabin sits on predominantly open muskeg with dense patches of alder, cottonwood and willow. The snow-capped peaks of the Brabazon Mountain Range loom over the surrounding area. Brown and black bears are common here, and moose can often be found in the willow thickets. Sandhill cranes stop in this vicinity during spring and fall migrations. Wild strawberries are available for picking around the airstrip.

What the agency tells you

Rule

This facility is located in an extremely remote and wild area; before making a reservation, become aware of bear, water, and weather safety (including cold)

Rule

Recreating in Alaska can present both obvious and hidden dangers; please be aware of your surroundings and be prepared for extended stays due to occasionally poor weather

Rule

Water is not available at the cabin; visitors must bring their own water supply or filter water from the creek

Everything else this campground posts · 4
Rule

Please pack out all trash and food

Rule

Hip boots are recommended for walking in surrounding area

Rule

Users must bring their own #1 deasil heating fuel for the stove

Rule

Click here for more information about Tongass National Forest

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
1 · 1 cabin
Hookups
None
Accessible sites
None listed
Pets
Allowed
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Drinking water
Yes
“…provided. Visitors must supply their own drinking water as well as #1 diesel oil or kerosene for the…”

Around the campground

On the water
River
Hunting
Wildlife viewing
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

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.

Booking windowThrough October 31Bookable now through October 31, 2026, the end of the peak season. The off-peak season that follows runs January 1, 2027 through August 31, 2027; recreation.gov releases it on its own schedule, so check there before counting on those nights.recreation.gov
Max stay10 nightsthe facility record
Sites, a night, from$45From the rate schedule matched to 1 of its 1 sites. U.S. Forest Service publishes no campground-level rate we can read.derived by CAMPANAC
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked 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.
Tell me when the season opens

Watch for the season to open

One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.

We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.

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’ll write once, when the season that starts Fri, Jan 1 2027 is open for booking.

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 · 15

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Sites, a night, from$45
Derived by CAMPANAC from the rate schedule matched to 1 of its 1 sites. U.S. Forest Service publishes no campground-level rate for this campground that we can read, only per-site rate templates its own record matches to each site’s own type.
Group area, a night$45
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Sep 1, 2026 to Oct 31, 2026.
Only one change per reservation for all Alaska cabins is allowed.
Change is defined as a modification to the start or end date of the reservation
after one change has been made, if additional changes are desired, the customer must cancel the current reservation and re-book the new dates.
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
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s nothing to add the $8 booking fee to. We won’t total a receipt with a number missing from it.
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

1 sites · the site map

All 1 sites

1 of 1 sites located
Cabin or shelter1
Aerial · Esri World Imagery
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 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

AREA ALSEK RIVER CABINY07cabin nonelectric299 ft$45

OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Coordinate59.19928, -138.45106
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Tonight36°Showers And Thunderstorms88% rain
Saturday45°Showers And Thunderstorms100% rain
Saturday Night33°Showers And Thunderstorms77% rain
Sunday44°Rain Showers Likely74% rain

NWS forecast for Yakutat, AK

Typical weather

Typical October night 35°F, day 49°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 22°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

70°32°10°

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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.

Measured at: YAKUTAT STATE AP, AK (USW00025339), 48 miles away and at about the same elevation

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 16, 2026

Who answers for this land

Nick Begich, official portrait

Alsek River Cabin 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: U.S. Forest Service 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 Forest Service’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: Yakutat, AK, 42.9 mi ESE (a census designated place). Straight line.