Esker Stream 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 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:22 UTC
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Built in 2002, Esker Stream Cabin is located near Yakutat, 20 miles (32 km) across Yakutat Bay in the southern coastal region of Wrangell-St. Elias Preserve, offering seclusion and relaxation. The cabin is accessible by air via beach landing in a wheeled airplane and is dependent on tide and glacial ice conditions. There is no Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identifier or landing strip, nor good tie-down area for private aircraft. The cabin is located at sea level, surrounded by mature spruce and birch, and may include opportunities to see bears, moose, wolves, whales and shorebirds. Access to the cabin requires a short but unimproved 0.34 mile (.5 km) walk with a stream crossing. Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs) are not allowed for recreational or subsistence use in the park or preserve in the Malaspina Forelands. Keep reading
Recreation
Opportunities for recreation include sea kayaking, whale watching, exploring and hiking around the cabin and the Esker Stream drainage, or walking on the beach southeast for three miles to Bancas Point. This is a remote, rugged area, dependent on tide and glacial ice conditions. Be sure you're familiar with backcountry safety before venturing out to hike. To learn more, visit the Backcountry Safety page on the park website. This cabin is located in the preserve, so sport and subsistence hunting is allowed. A State of Alaska hunting license is required, and if you are a subsistence hunter, a federal subsistence hunting permit may be required. Please refer to state and federal hunting regulations. ORVs are not allowed for recreational or subsistence use in the park and preserve in the Malaspina Forelands. Nearby Esker Stream is suitable for fishing. If you plan to fish, a State of Alaska fishing license is required.
Facilities
The cabin has no running water or plumbing. You may collect water from nearby Esker Stream, a short easy walk from the cabin. In winter, the park recommends carrying potable water since the stream may be frozen. The cabin contains four twin-sized wooden bunks (sleeps four people), a table with benches and an oil burning stove. Heating oil is not provided. The park recommends bringing your own subbly of kerosene or K1 commercial grade fuel. There is also a porch and a rustic pit toilet that is not regularly maintained. Please bring your own toilet paper. For more info, visit the Esker Stream Cabin page on the park website.
Natural Features
The cabin is surrounded by mature spruce and birch with Yakutat Bay nearby. The Malaspina Glacier is to the northwest of the cabin and other glaciers are located throughout the bay area, including the Hubbard Glacier. There are numerous streams, lakes, marshes and tidal flats in the area, and mountains of the Tongass National Forest can be viewed from across the bay. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (907) 822-5234.
Nearby Attractions
Although the cabin is remotely located, there may be opportunities to visit other attractions in Yakutat Bay, depending on your mode of transportation and experience level. The Malaspina and Hubbard Glaciers may be accessible, along with several other smaller glaciers. The Russell Fjord Wilderness of the Tongass National Forest is located across the bay from the cabin; all travel is dependent on tide and glacial ice conditions.
Charges & Cancellations
A $10 fee applies to change or cancel reservations.
What the agency tells you
- There are no on-site payment facilities at this location. All payments, changes and refund transactions will be through Recreation.gov. - The cabin is accessible by air via beach landing in a wheeled airplane and is dependent on tide and glacial ice conditions. - There is no FAA identifier or landing strip, nor good tie-down area for private aircraft. - The maximum use of a cabin per person is seven nights in a 30-day period, unless you have written permission from the superintendent. - This cabin is located in a remote, rugged area. The remoteness of this cabin necessitates being prepared to handle any emergency situation. - Excursions onto glaciers should not be attempted without prior knowledge and experience in glacier travel and safety. - The park does not stock heating oil, water, dishes, supplies, sleeping pads, bedding, or other amenities. - Cabins are not regularly maintained. There is no running water or plumbing. - Dogs are allowed but please clean up after your pet. - Be wildlife aware! Bears and moose frequent the area; be prepared for encounters. To learn more, download the park's bear safety brochure (PDF) - There are numerous insects in this area. The park strongly recommends head nets during the summer months. - You must pack out all garbage and leftover food. Burying or burning garbage is prohibited. No food is to be left behind! - Do not remove or relocate any artifacts or deface any buildings. - Please clean when you leave. It is a tradition is to leave the cabin cleaner than when you arrived!
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
- “…fuel. There is also a porch and a rustic pit toilet that is not regularly maintained. Please bring your…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…is required. Facilities The cabin has no running water or plumbing. You may collect water from nearby…”
- Stay limit
- 7 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Beach, Coast
- Beachcombing
- Berry Picking
- Birding
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Sea Kayaking
- Swimming
- Wilderness access
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 15:22 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:22 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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 16
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($25), 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.
“A $10 fee applies to change or cancel reservations.” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:22 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.
| Cabin | Esker Stream Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 198 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 · the phone number
Where it is
Situk Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 22 mi
Eagle CabinTongass National Forest · 24 mi
Raven CabinTongass National Forest · 24 miYakutat Beach Campsite 2Tongass National Forest · 26 mi
Middle Dangerous River CabinTongass National Forest · 40 mi
Italio River CabinTongass National Forest · 45 miIt is not possible to drive to the cabin. Esker Stream Cabin is located near Yakutat, 20 miles (32 km) across Yakutat Bay and is accessed by air via beach landing in a wheeled plane. There is no airstrip or FAA identifier; the fly-in access is a beach landing that is dependent on tide and glacial ice conditions. There is no good tie-down area for private aircraft. Planes generally land on the opposite side of Little Esker Stream from the cabin, and it is recommended that you bring hip boots for the stream crossing. The trail to walk to the cabin is 0.35 miles and is signed but not improved. Groups often share an air taxi on their arrival/departure day.
GPS Coordinates: -139.767237933, 59.88095201
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Yakutat, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 35°F, day 49°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 22°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
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Esker Stream 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 Esker Stream Cabin, Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve, Alaska
Dear Nicholas J. Begich III, I’m a constituent in Alaska, at-large. I tried to camp at Esker Stream Cabin, Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve, Alaska, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Esker Stream 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Esker Stream Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Esker Stream Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park 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 Esker Stream Cabin (Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve, 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 Esker Stream Cabin, Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve, Alaska
Dear Dan Sullivan, I’m a constituent in Alaska. I tried to camp at Esker Stream Cabin, Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve, Alaska, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Esker Stream 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Esker Stream Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Esker Stream Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park 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 Esker Stream Cabin (Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve, 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 Esker Stream Cabin, Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve, Alaska
Dear Lisa Murkowski, I’m a constituent in Alaska. I tried to camp at Esker Stream Cabin, Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve, Alaska, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Esker Stream 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Esker Stream Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Esker Stream Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park 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 Esker Stream Cabin (Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve, Alaska) via campanac.com