Crow Pass Cabin
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 15 of the next 15 nights read 15:00 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Crow Pass Cabin is located about 500 yards off the Crow Pass Trail, which follows part of the former supply route for the Iditarod Trail. The trail is popular destination for its historic sites, stunning scenery and wildlife watching opportunities. The cabin is an ideal stop for visitors hiking the entire length of the trail, which takes an estimated two to three days, or for visitors interested in a good base camp for mountain climbing or backcountry skiing in the area. The site is only available for rent from June through October due to elevated avalanche danger during the winter and spring months. Keep reading
Please note, hazardous avalanche conditions may exist in this area as early as October and well into June some years. Getting there requires a 3-mile hike from the Crow Pass Trailhead off Crow Creek Road with an elevation gain of 2,080 feet. The trail may have snow October through mid-June. There is a small stream crossings to navigate just before the Cabin. Visitors 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. More information on avalanche hazards in this area can be found at the Chugach NF Avalanche Center website (www.CNFAIC.org ). If accessing this cabin in late fall or early summer, please be prepared for winter conditions and/ or potential avalanche hazards affecting the route in along the Crow Pass Trail.
Recreation
The Crow Pass Trail is a picturesque 24-mile section (Girdwood to Eagle River) of the Iditarod National Historic Trail offering alpine hiking, trail running and sightseeing opportunities. The Cabin is ~3 miles from the Girdwood Crowpass Traihead. The section to the Cabin is a popular trail for families, but does have steep switchbacks in places. Interesting points between the trailhead and the cabin include the Monarch Mine ruins and several waterfalls. The trail continues past the cabin, revealing views of Raven Glacier and eventually the Eagle River. To continue the thru hike all the way to the Eagle River Nature Center (North Trailhead), it requires a substantial river crossing. The Eagle River Nature Center is a good resource for updated info on the river crossing. (907) 694-2108. Glaciers and peaks around the cabin offer experienced climbers a challenging adventure. Hunting is possible, but the activity is tightly regulated in this area with limited permits available from the State of Alaska.
Facilities
The cabin is a 16x16-foot, A-frame with a main floor and sleeping loft. It can accommodate 6 people and offers wooden bunks, a table with benches, fire extinguisher, snow shovel, a broom and an outside pit toilet. A (Kerosene) stove is provided as a heat source though cabin users are responsible for bringing their own supply of Kerosene. Electricity, water, toilet paper, and fuel for the heater are not provided. Guests are responsible for supplying 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. A small creek is located near the Cabin but water should be treated before consumption.
Natural Features
The cabin is situated in the Chugach Mountains near Crystal Lake at an elevation of about 3,500 feet. It sits in open tundra above the tree line with vegetation of low shrubs, grasses and summer wildflowers. Black and brown bears, wolves and moose inhabit the area ( learn about bear safety ). Dall sheep, mountain goats, marmots, arctic ground squirrels and white-tailed ptarmigan may be spotted on the rocky terrain surrounding the cabin. 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 · 8
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 2-5 days
Crow Pass Trail is in a hazardous avalanche zone and not recommended for winter use; snow storms and whiteouts are frequent above treeline, but the trail is usually snow-free by mid-June
Please pack out all trash and food
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
This cabin is by reservation only. If you do not have a reservation please respect the privacy of the cabin users that do.
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
- Not allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…snow shovel, a broom and an outside pit toilet. A (Kerosene) stove is provided as a heat source…”
- Stay limit
- 3 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, River, Creek
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 15:00 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 15:00 UTC 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.
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 15:00 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 CROW PASS CABIN | G01 | cabin nonelectric | 495 ft | $75 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Williwaw CampgroundChugach National Forest · 20 mi
Porcupine CabinChugach National Forest · 20 miPorcupine (AK)Chugach National Forest · 20 miBertha Creek CampgroundChugach National Forest · 21 miThe cabin is located near Crow Pass in the Chugach Mountains, 3 miles from the Crow Pass Trailhead. Cabin users can expect to encounter small stream crossings during wet periods.
Access: At mile 90, AK-1 S/Seward Highway (35 miles south of Anchorage). Turn left onto paved road leading to Mt. Alyeska Resort (Alyeska Highway). After 2 miles, turn left onto Crow Creek Road. Trailhead is at end of road (7 miles) and parking is available. Refer to USGS Map, Anchorage A6.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Anchorage, AK
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
Crow Pass 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 →
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 Crow Pass Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska
Dear Nicholas J. Begich III, I’m a constituent in Alaska, at-large. I tried to camp at Crow Pass Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Crow Pass Cabin 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crow Pass Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crow Pass Cabin. 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 Crow Pass Cabin (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 Crow Pass Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska
Dear Dan Sullivan, I’m a constituent in Alaska. I tried to camp at Crow Pass Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Crow Pass Cabin 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crow Pass Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crow Pass Cabin. 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 Crow Pass Cabin (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 Crow Pass Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska
Dear Lisa Murkowski, I’m a constituent in Alaska. I tried to camp at Crow Pass Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Crow Pass Cabin 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crow Pass Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crow Pass Cabin. 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 Crow Pass Cabin (Chugach National Forest, Alaska) via campanac.com