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

Berg Bay Cabin

ReservableBookable through April 16; today opens April 17.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:08 UTC
Sites
1All of them booked ahead
180 ftElevation
2,062 ftWater · an unnamed streamOcean · 429 ft · to the Pacific Ocean
In townWrangell, AK
61%Tree cover
Bortle 1Night sky · 78th darkest of 280 in AK

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices

In the agency’s own words

Berg Bay Cabin's location on saltwater and close to the freshwater and tideflats of Aarons Creek provides for a variety of recreational activities, including fishing, crabbing, hunting, paddling and hiking. Its secluded location within Alaska's Inside Passage makes it an ideal retreat for those in search of a back country experience, while being only 22 miles by boat from the town of Wrangell. The site can be accessed by float plane or boat, depending on conditions. Visitors are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading

Recreation

Hikers have access to two trails. The 0.4-mile boardwalked Aaron Creek Trail extends from Berg Bay to Berg Creek and provides access to the grassflats. Berg Creek Trail is an unmaintained 4-mile trail that leads from the mouth of Berg Creek to Berg Basin. Aaron and Oerns Creeks offer opportunities to fish for pink salmon from mid-July to mid-August, silver and chum salmon from August to September, and steelhead in April and May. Crabbing is possible in Berg Bay and in saltwater in front of Aaron Creek tidal flats. Hunting is also available in the area during designated seasons. The tideflats are a popular waterfowl hunting area. Guests can bring canoes or kayaks to explore around Berg Bay. The entrance to Berg Bay is shallow and may dry out at low tide, so local tide charts should be consulted before taking any boating excursion in the area.

Facilities

This 16-by-16 cabin (A-frame style) was built in 1965 and has two single bunks (one with a trundle bed) and a second-floor loft, to accommodate up to seven people. The cabin also has a table with benches, oil stove (No.1 oil required), a fire grill, broom, mooring float and outhouse toilet. The partially covered front porch has a wooden cooler box for food storage. Water and electricity are not provided. Water is available from a small stream next to the cabin, but guests should be sure to treat water before drinking or cooking with it ( water safety tips ). It is recommended that guests bring their own water supply. Heating oil is not supplied by the Forest Service. In addition to bringing a supply of #1 stove oil, guests should pack sleeping bags, sleeping pads, a cooking stove, lanterns or flashlights, cookware, plates, utensils, food, toilet paper, garbage bags, a fire extinguisher and matches, among other necessities. Guests are expected to pack out trash and clean the cabin before leaving ( click here for more cabin details ).

Natural Features

The cabin sits on a gentle slope overlooking Berg Bay, Blake Channel and the mountains beyond. The surrounding rainforest is primarily Sitka spruce and western hemlock with scattered cedar and muskeg. The nearby Aaron Creek tide flats have extensive grass sedges and wildflowers. This area is habitat for brown and black bears, moose, sea otters, grouse, ptarmigan and waterfowl (bear safety information). Mountain goats can sometimes be spotted on the surrounding ridges.

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

Tides affect access to the cabin

Everything else this campground posts · 7
Rule

There is no cell phone service at the cabin

Rule

Water is not available at the cabin; guests must bring their own water supply or treat water from natural sources

Rule

Please pack out all trash and food

Rule

High levels of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) have been reported in this area

Rule

Click here for more information about Tongass National Forest

Rule

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.

Rule

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.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
1 · 1 cabin
Hookups
None
Accessible sites
None listed
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
“The cabin also has a table with benches, oil stove (No.1 oil required), a fire grill, broom, mooring float and outhouse toilet.”
Drinking water
None, bring your own
“It is recommended that guests bring their own water supply.”

Around the campground

On the water
Creek, Coast
Boating
Crabbing
Fishing
Hiking
Hunting
Paddling
Wildlife viewing
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:08 UTC

Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.

OpenBooked

Booking window6 months outBookable now through April 16, 2027. Today at 10 AM ET, availability opens through April 17, 2027.recreation.gov
Max stay7 nightsthe facility record
Sites, a night, from$40From 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 Sat, May 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 · 18

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Sites, a night, from$40
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$40
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Oct 1, 2026 to Dec 31, 2026.
Reservations can be made the day of arrival or up to 180 days in advance of cabin arrival.
Cabin reservations are restricted to a maximum stay of 7 consecutive nights per party for any one reservation between May 1 and September 30, and 10 consecutive days from Oct. 1 through April 30.
There are no discounts for Alaska cabin rentals with Golden Age and Golden Passports.
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

recreation.gov availability, read 16:08 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 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
SleepsUp 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 BERG BAY CABINW15cabin nonelectric2,062 ft$40

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
Coordinate56.36444, -132.00472
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

This cabin is located on the mainland along the north shore of Berg Bay, east of Blake Channel and near the mouth of Aaron Creek.

The cabin can be accessed by boat (22 miles) or by float plane (15 miles) from Wrangell. If arriving by boat, please be aware of the shallow entrance into the bay and arrange to arrive at high tide ( click here for local tide tables). A 25-foot mooring float anchored in the bay is for use by cabin guests only.

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight40°Chance Rain Showers37% rain
Saturday45°Rain Showers100% rain
Saturday Night42°Rain Showers100% rain
Sunday44°Rain Showers100% rain

NWS forecast for Wrangell, AK

Typical weather

Typical October night 39°F, day 47°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 27°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

70°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: PETERSBURG 1, AK (USW00025329), 47 miles away and 73 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

Roadless
East Wrangell7,630 acres · 3 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Aaron78,719 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Southeast Wrangell18,377 acres · 7 mi · inventoried roadless area

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

Berg Bay 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: recreation.gov is offering sites on 30 of the next 30 nights, which isn’t something a closed campground does.
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.