Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK)
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- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read Oct 15
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 14 notices
In the agency’s own words
Aspen Flats Cabin is a rustic cabin along the Upper Russian River of south-central Alaska. The rustic cabin has few amenities, but provides access to the great outdoors. There is great fishing in the adjacent Russian River and hiking and biking trails abound. Wildlife viewing is good in the area as well, though visitors should watch out for bears. The site can be accessed by hiking, biking, skiing and horseback. Visitors are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Dolly Varden and rainbow trout can be found in the Russian River. Fishing for salmon upstream of Russian River Falls is not permitted. Click here to learn more about Alaska Department of Fish & Game regulations. Sockeye and coho salmon run the river from June to September. The rivers in Alaska are extremely cold, so be prepared with dry clothing. A variety of trails and unexplored areas exist near the cabin. Hikers and bikers can explore varying terrain, including muskeg, meadows and high-canopied forest along the 21-mile Russian Lakes Trail. The trail is closed year-round to motorized vehicles from Russian River Campground to Upper Russian Lake Cabin; the remainder of the trail, between Cooper Lake Road and Upper Russian Lake Cabin, is open to motorized vehicles only from Dec. 1 to April 30. There is a high avalanche hazard on Russian Lakes Trail in winter; learn about avalanche safety .
Facilities
The cabin has bunk space for six and a maximum occupancy of eight people. It is equipped with counter space, table, benches, a wood stove for heat. A splitting maul and hand saw are available. An outhouse is provided. There is no electricity, potable water, mattresses, bedding, cooking utensils or cut firewood at the cabin. Visitors should bring sleeping bags and pads, cook stove, cooking gear and food. Water taken form the lakes or streams should be treated or boiled before consumption. All garbage and food must be packed out.
Natural Features
The cabin is south of the Sterling Highway on the Russian Lakes trail along the Russian River, between the Lower and Upper Russian Lakes. The surrounding area is flat to hilly with scattered spruce and cottonwood, and abundant mountain views. A variety of wildlife makes its home in the area, including moose, black and brown bears and wolves. Abundant berries in the area ripen in late July through September. For information on access and regulations pertaining to this cabin, trail conditions, safety precautions and outdoor safety and ethics , please contact the Seward Ranger District.
What the agency tells you
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)
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
High avalanche hazards exist on Russian Lakes Trail in winter.
Everything else this campground posts · 11
Brown bears frequent the area; all food and garbage must be kept in appropriate containers
There is no source of fresh water near the cabin; guests must bring their own, or boil or treat water taken from lakes or streams.
Use of this cabin by a commercial operator, such as an outfitter or guide, is not allowed.
All garbage and food must be packed out.
It is unlawful to use a public recreation cabin without a valid cabin reservation.
Occupying a Public Recreation cabin with more than eight individuals per cabin for each permitted day is prohibited.
Camping, pitching tents, or staying overnight within 300 feet of any public recreation use cabin is prohibited unless you have a valid cabin reservation.
It is prohibited to hitch, tether, or hobble any saddle or pack animal including dog teams, within 200 feet of an established trail, water source, or developed recreation site, including Forest Service recreation cabins.
Camping and/ or occupying any one Public Recreation Use Cabin for a period longer than seven consecutive days by any person or group including but not limited to family members, members of the same household, and members of the same camping party within a 30 day period, and three consecutive days May 15 to August 31.
Learn more about Chugach National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by purchasing firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “An outhouse is provided.”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread Oct 15
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read Oct 15 Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 19
What you actually pay
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
recreation.gov availability, read Oct 15 · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
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.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| AREA ASPEN FLATS CABIN | S05 | cabin nonelectric | 89 ft | $60 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Upper Russian Lake CabinChugach National Forest · 3.0 mi
Barber Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK)Chugach National Forest · 4.7 mi
Russian RiverChugach National Forest · 7.9 miCooper Creek SouthChugach National Forest · 8.5 mi
Hidden Lake CampgroundKenai National Wildlife Refuge · 9.7 miQuartz Creek CampgroundChugach National Forest · 11 miAccess to the cabin is via the Russian Lakes Trail, 12 miles from the Russian Lakes Trailhead on Snug Harbor Rd. or 9 miles from the trailhead located in Russian River Campground To get to the cabin follow the short cabin access trail, off the main trail.
Refer to USGS topographic maps Seward B8 and Kenai B1. Maps are available online or by calling the Seward Ranger District at 907-288-3178.
Winter travelers need to be able to evaluate conditions and should be prepared for over-ice travel conditions. For current travel conditions call the Seward Ranger District at 907-288-3178. Motorized access is prohibited in the winter and summer. The trail is closed to horse/pack stock from April 1 to June 30.
Learn more about the Russian Lakes Trail .
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cooper Landing, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 41°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 16°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
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK) 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyNicholas J. Begich IIIU.S. Representative · Alaska, at-large
- Your senator, on the same appropriationDan SullivanU.S. Senator · Alaska
- Your senator, on the same appropriationLisa MurkowskiU.S. Senator · Alaska
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK), Chugach National Forest, Alaska
Dear Nicholas J. Begich III, I’m a constituent in Alaska, at-large. I tried to camp at Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK), Chugach National Forest, Alaska, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK) (Chugach National Forest, Alaska) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK), Chugach National Forest, Alaska
Dear Dan Sullivan, I’m a constituent in Alaska. I tried to camp at Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK), Chugach National Forest, Alaska, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK) (Chugach National Forest, Alaska) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK), Chugach National Forest, Alaska
Dear Lisa Murkowski, I’m a constituent in Alaska. I tried to camp at Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK), Chugach National Forest, Alaska, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK) (Chugach National Forest, Alaska) via campanac.com