U.S. Forest Service · Chugach National Forest · AK

Granite Creek

ReservableOut of season, no booking; November 29 opens May 29.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
A night
$19From, per site
Sites
19All of them booked ahead
53 ftLongest rig
640 ftElevation
1,059 ftWater · Granite CreekOcean · 11.5 mi · to the Pacific Ocean
8.8 miS of Anchorage, AK
55%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices

In the agency’s own words

Granite Creek Campground is set in the captivating Kenai Mountains on Turnagain Pass, surrounded by wildflowers and spruce forests. The campground, about 1 hour south of Achorage, AK on the Seward Highway, boasts prime fishing, hiking, packrafting, and wildlife watching. Keep reading

Recreation

Biking is a popular activity at Granite Creek Campground. There is a paved bike path along the Seward Highway that extends for five miles south to the Hope Higway and Johnson Pass North Trailhead just north of the campground offers a 23 mile mountain biking or hiking opportunity. For the packrafters, Granite and Six-Mile Creeks offer world class opportunities. Whatever recreation activity you choose, look for raspberries to pick and wildflowers to smell. Fishing is considered intermediate, and Dolly Varden trout are among the tasty fish you might catch. Look for wildlife like moose, snowshoe hare, black and brown bears, marmots, and mountain goats, or sit back and listen to water rushing through the glacier-fed Granite Creek.

Facilities

Granite Creek Campground is a loop with 19 sites are nicely seperated and most sites are right beside the creek. There are pinic tables and fire rings at each site and vault toilets, a water spigot, and trash services located in the campground durring the summer months. Bears frequent the area, so please make use of the provided bear boxes.

Natural Features

Set in the Chugach National Forest, Granite Creek Campground nestled among the spruce near the confuluence of Granite Creek and Six-Mile Creek. These roaring glacier-fed creeks provide wonder recreational opportunities. From many place in the campground, one can see the towering Kenai mountains and other spectacular sights that await.

Nearby Attractions

A mile east of Granite Creek Campground is the Johnson Pass North Trailhead with a well-maintained 23-mile trail with breathtaking vistas. Parking for Turnagain Pass trail is located 6 miles north of the campground entrance. Also nearby is Six Mile Creek, with Class V whitewater for rafting and kayaking. Consider spending the day in Portage Valley visiting the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, Portage Glacier, the town of Whittier, or Byron Glacier. Contact Info For local information, please call (907) 522-8368 or call (907) 228-3178 for general information.

What the agency tells you

Rule

Be bear aware; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating. Bears frequent the campground.

Rule

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.

Rule

For more informaiton on the Chugach National Forest, click here.

Tents and rigs

Sites
19
Hookups
None
Longest rig
53 ft
Accessible sites
None listed
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…tables and fire rings at each site and vault toilets, a water spigot, and trash services located in the…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…rings at each site and vault toilets, a water spigot, and trash services located in the campground…”
Bear boxes
Yes
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026
Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Creek
Biking
Fishing
Hiking
Mountain biking
Rafting
Wildlife viewing
Night sky · 258th darkest of 280 in AK
Bortle 3
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

No reading yet, book on recreation.gov

Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.

No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On November 29, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through May 29, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
Max stay14 nightsthe facility record
A night$19plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule
A weekend$46DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itAlaska Recreational Management, Inc.A private concessionaire under permit from U.S. Forest Servicethe operator link
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
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’ll write once, when the season that starts Sat, May 29 2027 is open for booking.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 12

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night$19
Standard Nonelectric$19
These are next season’s rates, May 29, 2027 to Sep 13, 2027. The campground is between seasons now.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
One nightDerived$27
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$46

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $19 a night, 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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

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 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

19 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 19 mapped sites
146 ftbetween you and the next site, typically
Least room002 122 ft003 122 ft004 128 ft

All 19 sites

19 of 19 sites located
Standard19
SleepsTakes aUp to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 19 of the 19 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

AREA GRANITE CREEK001standard nonelectric29 ft134 ft439 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK002standard nonelectric45 ft122 ft305 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK003standard nonelectric38 ft122 ft217 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK004standard nonelectric50 ft128 ft150 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK005standard nonelectric32 ft128 ft275 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK006standard nonelectric40 ft146 ft283 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK007standard nonelectric30 ft146 ft222 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK008standard nonelectric44 ft220 ft115 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK009standard nonelectric39 ft145 ft108 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK010standard nonelectric40 ft174 ft140 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK011standard nonelectric52 ft133 ft97 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK012standard nonelectric53 ft133 ft33 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK013standard nonelectric40 ft154 ftunder 10 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK014standard nonelectric48 ft156 ft120 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK015standard nonelectric35 ft158 ft171 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK016standard nonelectric38 ft158 ft80 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK017standard nonelectric32 ft189 ft187 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK018standard nonelectric35 ft189 ft94 ft$19
AREA GRANITE CREEK019standard nonelectric37 ft225 ft326 ft$19

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 weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon42°Scattered Rain Showers41% rain
Tonight31°Scattered Rain Showers then Chance Light Rain41% rain
Saturday41°Chance Rain And Snow35% rain
Saturday Night28°Chance Rain And Snow Showers then Chance Rain And Snow31% rain

NWS forecast for Anchorage, AK

Typical weather

Typical October night 31°F, day 43°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 16°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

70°32°10°

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.

Measured at: PORTAGE GLACIER V C, AK (USW00026492), 16 miles away and 537 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

developing
Chugach National Forestlogging, rollback
Roadless
Johnson Pass152,508 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Roaded Donut968 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 3, 2026

Who answers for this land

Nick Begich, official portrait

Granite Creek 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service’s own recreation database flags it not open and publishes no reason and no date. That’s a flag, not a notice.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.