Barnes Lake Cabin
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:24 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Barnes Lake Cabin allows for a true outdoor adventure on Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska. Situated on the western shore of Barnes Lake, the cabin offers year-round relaxation and recreation. Boating, kayaking, crabbing, fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing are just steps away. The site can be accessed by float plane, boat or kayak, depending on conditions. Visitors are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own supplies. Keep reading
Recreation
The location is prime for anglers, as summer runs for coho (silver) and pink (humpy) salmon occur in the coastal waters. The nearby ocean also offers a chance for crabbing throughout the warmer months. Hunters can take advantage of a long hunting season in the surrounding national forest. Bear season occurs during spring and fall, while deer season begins in late summer and lasts through late fall. Visitors might also enjoy a day of scenic boating through Gold and Galligan Lagoon to Sweetwater Lake. Navigation of the lagoon should only occur during high, slack tide. Boaters are welcome to use the 14-foot aluminum skiff with oars, available at the cabin. Flotation devices and long shaft motor are not provided.
Facilities
The 12-by-12 cabin is a primitive, pre-cut cedar log structure ( pan-abode style ) equipped with wooden bunks that sleep four to six people. It has a table, benches, a wood stove for heat and an outside vault toilet. Other amenities include a cooking bench, shelves, cupboard space, a broom, and an axe, maul and splitting wedges for cutting firewood. The cabin does not have mattresses or cooking utensils and users must bring their own water for drinking, cooking and cleaning purposes. There is no freshwater source near the cabin. Guests must bring their own sleeping bags, sleeping pads, cook stoves, matches, cooking gear, food, lanterns and flashlights, toilet paper and garbage bags. Wood may be available, but the supply cannot be guaranteed. Guests are asked to be conservative wood and use their cook stoves for cooking. Click here for more cabin details and maps.
Natural Features
The cabin sits on the shore of Barnes Lake, a tidal saltwater lagoon. At low tide, a 50- to 100-foot tidal flat emerges in front of the cabin. The shoreline is surrounded by a thick temperate rainforest of old-growth spruce and hemlock trees, shrubs, ferns and grasses. The area is home to abundant wildlife, including migratory waterfowl, Sitka black-tailed deer and black bears ( learn more about bear safety ).
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; 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
If the lake surface is frozen, the cabin may be inaccessible to float planes; contact the Thorne Bay Ranger District office at 907-828-3304 for information prior to arrival during fall, winter or early spring
There is no source of fresh water near the cabin; visitors must bring their own
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Use of this cabin by a commercial operator, such as an outfitter or guide, is not allowed
High levels of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) have been recorded in this area
All garbage and food must be packed out
Learn more about Tongass National Forest and Prince of Wales Island
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.
The invasive European Green Crab (EGC) has been found in southern Southeast Alaska and is suspected to be in more locations on the Tongass National Forest. Please actively look for and report EGC to help map the distribution and contribute to management.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…a wood stove for heat and an outside vault toilet. Other amenities include a cooking bench, shelves,…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “The cabin does not have mattresses or cooking utensils and users must bring their own water for drinking, cooking and cleaning purposes.”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach, Coast
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:24 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
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.
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 make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
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 16:24 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 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.
| AREA BARNES LAKE CABIN | T01 | cabin nonelectric | 398 ft | $25 |
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
Where it is
Sweet Water Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 4.3 mi
Sarkar Lake Cabin9.6 mi
Honker Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 13 miHorseshoe Hole CampgroundTongass National Forest · 15 mi
Staney Creek CabinTongass National Forest · 15 miStaney Bridge CampgroundTongass National Forest · 15 miBarnes Lake Cabin is only accessible by motorboat, plane or kayak. The cabin is located on the west shore of Barnes Lake, 70 air miles from Ketchikan and 38 air miles from the city of Craig, on Prince of Wales Island. Refer to U.S. Geological Survey topographic map Petersburg A3. Maps are available online or by calling the Thorne Bay Ranger District at (907) 828-3304.
Float plane or boat access can only occur at certain stages of the tide. Use extreme care boating through Indian Creek Rapids and Lake Bay Creek, as these areas can be extremely dangerous and should not be attempted except at high slack tide â?? about 1.5 hours after high tide (local tide tables).
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Coffman Cove, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 40°F, day 52°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 30°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 Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Barnes Lake 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 →