Coghill Lake Cabin
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:09 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Coghill Lake Cabin offers opportunities for year-round rest and recreation near College Fiord in Prince William Sound. The cabin is nestled on a lagoon on the southwest shore of beautiful Coghill Lake, which is known for its excellent salmon fishing. The Cabin is located on Chugach National Forest lands within the Nellie Juan - College Fiord Wilderness Study Area. This remote site can be accessed by floatplane or a primitive 3 mile hiking trail that begins at saltwater just east of coghill point. Floatplane access is typically a 50-minute flight from Anchorage or an hour from Cordova. Keep reading
The 3 mile trail to the cabin can be rough and poorly marked at times. Users of the trail should be familiar with arduous Alaska backcountry travel thru thick brush and able to navigate rough terrain. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities including sleeping pads, sleeping bags, cook stove, toilet paper, pots and utensils as well as some form of water purification.
Recreation
Salmon fishing is excellent from the lakeshore and the lagoon. Anglers can fish for sockeye from mid-June through July, pink and chum in July and August, and Coho salmon in August and September. Dolly Varden trout fishing is also good from May through October. The Coghill River, which connects the lagoon to College Fiord, is also a popular spot for sockeye fishing. Recreationalists seeking a bit more adventure can elect to hike in the primitive 3 mile trail from Port Wells with packrafts and float back out the Class 1-2 Coghill River. Be aware that throughout mid summer there is a fish counting weir near the lake outlet that will need to be portaged. This portage is a short but brushy side trail found on river right. Guests can use the small rowboat and oars provided by the Forest Service; please provide your own personal floatation device. Hunting for black bear and waterfowl is available during designated seasons. Permits are available through the State of Alaska. Berry pickers will find plentiful salmonberries and blueberries near the cabin in season. Hikers have access to a challenging three-mile trail to Port Wells, but the brush is often thick and some route-finding skills are necessary.
Facilities
The cabin is a 16x16-foot A-frame with a main floor and a sleeping loft. It accommodates up to six guests and comes equipped with wooden bunks, a kerosene heating stove, a table, benches and an outhouse with a pit toilet. No water, electricity, toilet paper, or fuel for the heater is provided. Guests are responsible for bringing their own drinking water, kerosene for heater (typically ~1 gallon/ day is sufficent), a cook stove, flashlights or lanterns, bedding, mattresses, toilet paper, garbage bags, cookware, dishes and utensils. Please pack out what you bring in to leave a clean Cabin for the next visitors!
Natural Features
Coghill Lake Cabin is surrounded by rolling hills on the edge of a stand of conifer trees next to a shallow lagoon, which is connected to the lake by a passage. The cabin offers a view of most of the lagoon, with the Chugach Mountains and glaciers in the background. A large variety of wildlife lives in the area, including Sitka black-tailed deer, bald eagles, waterfowl and river otter. The Coghill Lake area is particularly known for its black bear population, so visitors are urged to practice bear safety ( learn about bear safety ). Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (907) 783-3242.
What the agency tells you
! USERS MUST SUPPLY THEIR OWN HEATING OIL ! 1-2 gallon(s) a day is the recommended amount but plan appropriately for cooler temps in Winter, Spring and Fall.
Check In 12:00 PM night of Rental until 12:00 PM the following day.
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)
Everything else this campground posts · 9
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
Inclement weather may cause an unexpected extension of the trip; bring extra supplies to last two to five days
In fall, winter and spring, the cabin may be inaccessible due to frozen lake surface (float planes cannot land); please contact the local Forest Service Ranger District at (907) 783-3242 to check conditions ahead of time
Potable water is not available at the cabin. Boil or treat all water collected from natural sources.
Please pack out all trash and food
It is advisable to pack insect repellent in the summer
A Forest Order (10-04-00-14-47) that limits occupying/renting a public use rental cabin for more than seven consecutive days by any group or person
Click here for more information 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
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…a table, benches and an outhouse with a pit toilet. No water, electricity, toilet paper, or fuel for…”
- Stay limit
- 7 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:09 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 16:09 UTC · 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.
| AREA COGHILL LAKE CABIN | G04 | cabin nonelectric | 484 ft | $60 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Harrison Lagoon Cabin13 mi
Pigot Bay CabinChugach National Forest · 25 mi
Goose Bay CabinChugach National Forest · 28 mi
Paulson Bay CabinChugach National Forest · 33 mi
Shrode Lake CabinChugach National Forest · 33 miFive Fingers Campsites39 miThis Cabin is not accessible via the road system. The cabin is located on the southwest shore of Coghill Lake, on the lagoon just before Coghill River, on the east side of College Fiord in Prince William Sound.
Accessible via float plane (50 minutes from Anchorage or 60 minutes from Cordova). The lagoon has enough water to taxi a plane near the boardwalk by the cabin.
The cabin can also be accessed by a three mile, brushy, primitive trail from Port Wells.
Boats are not provided by the Forest Service.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Anchorage, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 34°F, day 44°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 20°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Coghill 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 →