Goose Bay 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 16:05 UTC
- Sites
- 21 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Goose Bay Cabin is a great place for recreation, relaxation and sightseeing within the heart of western Prince William Sound. The Cabin was newly constructed in 2021 to replace the old Goose Bay Cabin which was unfortunately damaged by extreme snow loads. The A-frame cabin makes for an exceptional base camp for backcountry skiers in the spring months. A variety of activities exist in the core summer and Fall months as well, making this one of the more popular public use cabins on the Chugach National Forest. Keep reading
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 a 45-minute float plane trip from Anchorage or about a 25 mile boat ride from Whittier, depending on conditions. Given the fresh water sources feeding Goose Bay, the bay will freeze over in the winter months, making transportation to the cabin a challenge in the heart of the winter. Usually Goose Bay opens up in mid to late March, but this is very much dependant on temperatures. Cabin users are responsible for their own transportation 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
The area around Goose Bay offers year-round recreational opportunities. Hiking, kayaking and stand up Paddleboarding are popular summertime activities in and around the Cabin. The terrain on Culross Island attracts backcountry and cross-country skiers in the winter and early spring. A ski or snowshoe adventure to the high point on Culross Island offers spectacular views of Prince William Sound and the jagged, glaciated peaks of the Chugach Range to the North. Winter users: Please be aware and cognizant of avalanche hazards when recreating in snow-covered terrain. The cabin makes a good base for fishing and shrimping expeditions in and around Culross Passage. Black bear hunting in the spring and deer/ waterfowl in the Fall can be quite productive as well.
Facilities
The 16x16 foot A-Frame cabin sleeps 6-8 and comes equipped with wooden bunks, a table, several benches, an oil drip (kerosene) stove for heat and an outside toilet. No electricity or running water is available. Guests are encouraged to bring their own supply of drinking water. A fresh water source is available at low tide near the Cabin. It is recommended to treat or boil any water from natural sources. Cabin users are responsible for providing Kerosene to use in the oil drip stove. The stove uses approximately 1-3 gallons/ 24 hour period if stove is kept on low. Please plan and budget fuel consumption accordingly. Items such as a cook stove, lanterns or flashlights, bedding, sleeping pads, cooking supplies, garbage bags, kerosene and toilet paper are not provided. All food, trash and supplies must be packed out. Guests are expected to clean/ sweep out the cabin at the end of their stay in proparation for the next group.
Natural Features
Goose Bay is located on the east side of Culross Passage within the Nellie Juan - College Fiord Wilderness Study Area. The cabin is tucked into a small lagoon within Goose Bay, on the western shore of Culross Island. Fragile muskeg, tall grasses and mature Spruce and Hemlock trees surround the cabin. Views from the front porch reveal a small waterfall and the gentle, evergreen-forested slopes across the bay. Visitors to the area may see bald eagles soaring overhead, catch a glimpse of a Sitka Black tail dear or a resident black bear ( learn about bear safety ). Lucky guests may spot Humpback whales, Orcas or Dalls porpoise frolicking in the waters of Prince William Sound on the approach to Goose Bay. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (907) 783-3242.
Charges & Cancellations
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.
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
Cabin users are encouraged to bring water. There is a fresh water source near the cabin though it is only accessible at low tide. It is recommended to treat or boil all natural water sources before consumption.
Campfires: There is no dry firewood to scavenge at this site. If making a campfire, please do so well below the high tide line to prevent damage to the fragile muskeg soil.
Please pack out all trash, food and supplies.
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
Please be aware of the risks of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) before harvesting any shellfish
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
- 2 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Little
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “Facilities The 16x16 foot A-Frame cabin sleeps 6-8 and comes equipped with wooden bunks, a table, several benches, an oil drip (kerosene) stove for heat and an outside toilet.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…encouraged to bring their own supply of drinking water. A fresh water source is available at low tide near…”
- Stay limit
- 7 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Coast
- Beachcombing
- Berry Picking
- Boating
- Cross Country Skiing
- Downhill Skiing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Motor Boat
- Mushroom Picking
- Paddling
- Sailing
- Sea Kayaking
- Skiing
Full this Saturdayread 16:05 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Thu, Oct 22. read 16:05 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 · 12
What you actually pay
“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.” · 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 16:05 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 sites · the site map
All 2 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 2 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Shrode Lake CabinChugach National Forest · 5.0 mi
Paulson Bay CabinChugach National Forest · 6.2 mi
Pigot Bay CabinChugach National Forest · 11 mi
Harrison Lagoon Cabin19 mi
Williwaw CampgroundChugach National Forest · 23 miBlack Bear CampgroundChugach National Forest · 23 miThis Cabin is not accessible via the road system. Boat access: Goose Bay is approximately 25 miles southeast of Whittier in Prince William Sound. From Whittier Harbor, head east out of Passage Canal and across Port Wells. Head south into Culross Passage. Goose Bay is at the head of a narrow passage on the east side of Culross Passage directly across from Long Bay. The cabin is located near a small waterfall on the east side of the bay. Boats are not provided by the Forest Service.
Parts of Goose Bay can be more challenging to navigate in low tide, especially the area in front of the cabin, which may get too shallow. High slack tide is ideal for boating. Be sure to check local tide reports prior to your arrival.
Access via floatplane is approximately 45 minutes from Anchorage.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Whittier, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 34°F, day 45°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 21°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 · 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
Goose 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 →
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 Goose Bay Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska
Dear Nicholas J. Begich III, I’m a constituent in Alaska, at-large. I tried to camp at Goose Bay Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 1 of the 2 campsites the agency files at Goose Bay Cabin, and every one of them is booked ahead, 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. Goose Bay Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Goose Bay 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 Goose Bay 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 Goose Bay Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska
Dear Dan Sullivan, I’m a constituent in Alaska. I tried to camp at Goose Bay Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 1 of the 2 campsites the agency files at Goose Bay Cabin, and every one of them is booked ahead, 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. Goose Bay Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Goose Bay 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 Goose Bay 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 Goose Bay Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska
Dear Lisa Murkowski, I’m a constituent in Alaska. I tried to camp at Goose Bay Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 1 of the 2 campsites the agency files at Goose Bay Cabin, and every one of them is booked ahead, 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. Goose Bay Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Goose Bay 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 Goose Bay Cabin (Chugach National Forest, Alaska) via campanac.com