Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Cabins
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:16 UTC
- Sites
- 14All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge guarantees breathtaking scenery and an unforgettable experience for visitors staying in one of the 14 rustic cabins located in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Getting to the cabin can be a thrilling adventure in itself, as most of them require the use of boats, aircraft, hiking or skiing. The grudging withdrawal of the Harding Ice Field has helped to make the lands of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge a "miniature Alaska." Today, the refuge includes examples of every major Alaska habitat type. The refuge is an Alaska in miniature in its diversity of wildlife, as well. Keep reading
Recreation
Eager anglers can pursue chinook, sockeye, coho and pink salmon; as well as Dolly Varden char, rainbow trout, and arctic grayling. The refuge is also home to brown and black bears, caribou, Dall sheep, mountain goats, wolves, lynx, wolverines, eagles and thousands of shorebirds and waterfowl, not to mention the mighty Alaska-Yukon moose that the refuge was originally established (as the Kenai National Moose Range) to protect.
Facilities
Seven of Kenai Refuge's 14 reservable public use cabins are historic log cabins built around the turn of the 20th century. The others are 16'x18' trapper-style log cabins. Each cabin includes a table with benches, plywood bunks (without mattresses) a wood-heating stove, and an outhouse. Access to cabins varies. Some can be reached by hiking-in, while others require a boat or plane to access. In winter, a snowmachine may be necessary.
Natural Features
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge spans 1.9 million acres along the western Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. The region includes the western slopes of the Kenai Mountains, forested lowlands along Cook Inlet, rivers, lakes and wetlands. To the east is Chugach National Forest and southeast is Kenai Fjords National Park. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (907) 743-9145.
Charges & Cancellations
A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. The $10.00 service fee will be deducted from the refund amount. Customers will be charged a $10.00 cancellation fee and forfeit the first night's use fee if a cabin reservation is cancelled within 14 days of the scheduled arrival date. Cancellations for a single night's use will not be assessed a service fee.
What the agency tells you
No firewood provided; bring firewood or collect down or dead wood
Bring local maps, a compass, flashlight, waterproof matches, knife, first-aid kit, space blanket, flares, and personal protection such as a gun or bear repellent
Cell phone coverage is unreliable
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Use extreme caution when accessing cabins by hiking or skiing across frozen lakes; ensure ice is thick
Leave an itinerary with friends before trip in case you do not return on time or need assistance
Rain gear and warm clothing are essential; bring waterproof boots
Poor weather may result in extended stays; be prepared with extra food and clothing
Please bring garbage bags; these are 'pack in-pack out' cabins
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 14 · 14 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed at 13 of 14 sites
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- OUTHOUSE on 14 of 14 campsite records
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
15 of 28 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:16 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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
“A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. The $10.00 service fee will be deducted from the refund amount.” · 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 16:16 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
14 sites · the site map
All 14 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 14 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 14 of the 14 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Big Bay Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 102 ftTustumena Lake | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Big Indian Creek Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 274 ftBig Indian Creek | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Caribou Island Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 111 ftTustumena Lake | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Dolly Varden Lake Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 108 ftDolly Varden Lake | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Doroshin Bay Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 29 ftSkilak Lake | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Engineer Lake Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 50 ftEngineer Lake | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Kelly Lake Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 112 ftKelly Lake | 1,855 ft | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | McLain Lake Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 34 ftMcLain Lake | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Nurses Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 166 ftTustumena Lake | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Pincher Creek Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 78 ft | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Pipe Creek Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 55 ft | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Snag Lake Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 30 ftSnag Lake | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Upper Ohmer Lake Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 49 ftUpper Ohmer Lake | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
| Kenai National Wildlife Refuge | Vogel Lake Cabin | cabin nonelectric | 35 ftVogel Lake | Outhouse listed | $45–$55 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Hidden Lake CampgroundKenai National Wildlife Refuge · 30 mi
Barber Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK)Chugach National Forest · 37 mi
Russian RiverChugach National Forest · 38 mi
Aspen Flats Cabin (Chugach National Forest, AK)Chugach National Forest · 38 mi
Trout Lake CabinChugach National Forest · 41 miCooper Creek SouthChugach National Forest · 41 miAccess to each individual cabins varies. Some can be reached by hiking-in, while others require a boat or plane to access . In winter, a snowmachine may be necessary. Please refer to each specific cabin for information on amenities and accessibility.
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge: From Anchorage, take the Seward Highway south to the Sterling Highway; the eastern refuge boundary is at milepost 55 of the Sterling Highway. Another 5 miles from the boundary is the west entrance to the Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area. Continuing on to Soldotna will bring you to the refuge visitor center and headquarters, which is found by taking a left onto Funny River Road, then turning right (before the building supply store) onto Ski Hill Road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Soldotna, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 26°F, day 42°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 5°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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Cabins 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 →