Childs Glacier Recreation Area and Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $10From, per site
- Sites
- 41 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
This location is available on a first-come, first-served basis only. Visitors are required to physically arrive at the campground to purchase and claim a site. Eleven maintained campsites are available at $10 per night. Payment can be made at a self-serve fee box located at the main pavilion. Visitors to Childs Glacier Campground and Recreation Area are instantly captivated by spectacular views of Childs Glacier, famous for its calving icebergs that once put on a great show. Other must-do activities in the area include hiking along the river and fishing for salmon. Childs Glacier was once accessible by road. In 2011 the dynamic nature of the Copper River washed out a section of highway at mile 36. Additional road damage occurred in 2018, washing out part of the road at Mile 44. Outfitters now provide tours and transport to the site. Keep reading
Recreation
The Copper River boasts plenty of salmon. Wildlife watching opportunities include moose, grizzly and black bears. Lucky campers may spot bears fishing on the opposite side of the river. Recommended trails include Copper River and Childs Glacier North. Copper River Trail connects Childs Glacier Recreation Area to the historic Million Dollar Bridge following the shores of the Copper River. Childs Glacier North Trail begins north of the Million Dollar Bridge and leads hikers to the face of Childs Glacier.
Facilities
The campground is now suited for tents only. A portion of the campground and associated recreation area continues to be maintained, though trash must be packed out. There is a large covered viewing platform and covered pavilion, information boards, picnic tables, vault toilets, and a hiking trail. Drinking water is provided at hand pumps.
Recreation
Sites • Standard Nonelectric • Tent Only Nonelectric • Overnight Natural Features Childs Glacier Campground is nestled in the Chugach Mountains on the south coast of Alaska. Alder, willow, devil's club and fern make up much of the campground understory. Tall cottonwoods dominate overhead. The campground is about 300 feet from the Copper River, a wide, glacier fed river that creates the extensive Copper River Delta and flows into the Gulf of Alaska. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (907) 424-7661.
Nearby Attractions
The historic Million Dollar Bridge, constructed in 1910, is nearby. The bridge over the Copper River was used to transport copper from the old mining town of Kennicott to the port of Cordova.
What the agency tells you
From Cordova, the campground is 48 miles east on the Copper River Highway just before the Million Dollar Bridge. Two sections of the highway at mile 36 and mile 44 are washed out, and access to the site now requires a boat ride or travel by air. Several outfitters provide transportation to the campground.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 4
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…information boards, picnic tables, vault toilets, and a hiking trail. Drinking water is provided at…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…vault toilets, and a hiking trail. Drinking water is provided at hand pumps. Recreation Sites •…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Coast
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
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.
Watch for a cancellation
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Every line of the receipt · 10
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($10), 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.
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 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
4 sites · the site map
All 4 sites
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
McKinley Lake CabinChugach National Forest · 20 mi
Martin Lake CabinChugach National Forest · 20 mi
McKinley Trail CabinChugach National Forest · 22 mi
Power Creek CabinChugach National Forest · 27 mi
Tiedeman Slough CabinChugach National Forest · 30 mi
Softuk Bar CabinChugach National Forest · 32 miFrom Cordova, the campground is 48 miles east on the Copper River Highway just before the Million Dollar Bridge. Two sections of the highway at mile 36 and mile 44 are washed out, and access to the site now requires a boat ride or travel by air. Several outfitters provide transportation to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cordova, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 48°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 19°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Childs Glacier Recreation Area and 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 →