Last Chance Campground
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 15 of the next 15 nights read 14:46 UTC
- A night
- $10From, per site
- Sites
- 18All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Last Chance Campground is located in the Ward Lake Recreation Area, 9 miles north of downtown Ketchikan and about 4 miles north of the State ferry terminal. This campground straddles Last Chance Creek and lies next to Ward Creek with easy access to fishing, hiking and wildlife viewing. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking is a popular option, as the Ward Lake Recreation Area boasts seven trails. The Ward Lake Nature Trail meanders 1.3 miles around the lake. A large day-use complex with picnic sites and shelters is also available. Freshwater fishing, wildlife viewing and scenery are favorite draws at Ward Lake.
Facilities
Last Chance Campground is designated to be fully accessible. Each campsite contains a picnic table, a campfire ring with grill and a gravel parking spur. Two hand pumps for drinking water and three vault toilets are provided. Firewood may be provided but is not guaranteed. Firewood and other assistance may be obtained from the campground host located 2 miles away at Signal Creek Campground.
Natural Features
Last Chance is surrounded by an old-growth temperate rainforest comprised primarily of western hemlock and Sitka spruce. Last Chance Creek flows through the campground, and Ward Creek runs alongside. At nearly 17 million acres, the Tongass National Forest covers most of Southeast Alaska and is the largest forest in the national forest system. The Tongass surrounds the Inside Passage, the network of waterways that buffers the jagged Alaskan Coast and a cluster of coastline islands. The Tongass offers visitors a chance to view wildlife, including eagles, bears and spawning salmon. Expansive vistas, including fjords, glaciers and mountain peaks abound.
What the agency tells you
Check in time is 4 PM. Check out time is 2 PM.
There is a 14 day stay limit in 60 consecutive days within the Ward Lake Recreation Area campgrounds and cabin.
Black bears frequent the area, especially during August and September; all food should be stored inside closed vehicles or bear boxes.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
No hookups available
Nearest dump station is at the Ketchikan City Public Works department on Tongass Avenue, just north of the ferry terminal
Firewood may be available but is not guaranteed
Use of the campground or road spurs by commercial operators, outfitters or guides is not permitted
Click here to learn more about Tongass 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
- 18
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Paved pads
- 1 of 18
- Accessible sites
- 15
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…hand pumps for drinking water and three vault toilets are provided. Firewood may be provided but is not…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…grill and a gravel parking spur. Two hand pumps for drinking water and three vault toilets are…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Coast
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 257th darkest of 280 in AK
- Bortle 3
18 of 18 sites open on Sat, Oct 17read 14:46 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.
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $10 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.
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 14:46 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
18 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 18 mapped sitesAll 18 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. 18 of the 18 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| LAST | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 148 ft | under 10 ft | $10 | |
| LAST | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 51 ft | 128 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 003 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 51 ft | 90 ftWard Creek | $10 | |
| LAST | 004 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 119 ft | 128 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 108 ft | 19 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 006 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 108 ft | 84 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 007 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 111 ft | 194 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 008 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 68 ft | 187 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 009 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 65 ft | 132 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 010 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 65 ft | 87 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 70 ft | 119 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 70 ft | 49 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 014 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 60 ft | 62 ftWard Creek | $10 |
| LAST | 015 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 50 ft | 79 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 016 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 64 ft | 79 ftWard Creek | $10 |
| LAST | 017 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 50 ft | 66 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 71 ft | 73 ft | $10 |
| LAST | 019 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 98 ft | 101 ftWard Creek | $10 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
S'igeidí Aas Hídi CabinTongass National Forest · 1.8 mi
Signal Creek CampgroundTongass National Forest · 1.8 miLast Chance CampgroundTongass National Forest · 5.0 mi
Southeast Heckman CabinTongass National Forest · 12 mi
Heckman Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 12 miFrom the Alaska State Ferry Terminal, take Tongass Highway north 4.8 miles. At milepost 7, turn right on Revilla Road and drive for 3 miles. The campground is on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ketchikan, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 43°F, day 52°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 32°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
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Last Chance Campground 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 →