Laughton Glacier Cabin
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Laughton Glacier Cabin is located 2 miles west of the Canadian border on the north side of the Sawtooth Mountains. The site can be accessed by train, followed by a 1.5-mile hike. The White Pass and Yukon Railroad operates from May 1 to September 30. The cabin is closed to reservations in the off-season, since the surrounding area is owned by the railroad. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
The access trail to the cabin follows the Skagway River and leads hikers through lush rainforest. The trail continues beyond the cabin along the rocky banks of Laughton Creek to Laughton Glacier. The total distance for this trail is three miles round-trip, with an elevation gain of 200-600 feet. Mountain goat and bear hunting is possible in designated seasons with the proper permits.
Facilities
This 12 ft. by 14ft. cabin is pan-abode style and sleeps six people with two single and two double bunks. The cabin also has a table and benches, a broom, oil heater and an outhouse. A wooden cooler box for food storage is attached to the outside of the cabin and a fire ring is located out front. Water and electricity are not provided. Water is available from the Skagway River, but visitors should be sure to treat water before drinking or cooking with it ( water safety tips ). It is recommended that visitors bring their own water supply. Heating oil is not supplied by the Forest Service. Visitors must provide their own #1 stove oil (one gallon lasts a day on the lowest heat setting), in addition to sleeping bags, sleeping pads, a cooking stove, lanterns or flashlights, cookware, plates, utensils, food, toilet paper, garbage bags, a fire extinguisher and fire starter. Visitors are expected to pack out trash, empty the cabinets and clean the cabin before leaving ( click here for more cabin details).
Natural Features
The area around the cabin is mountainous and covered with spruce and subalpine fir forest. Wildflowers bloom around the cabin in summer. The cabin overlooks the Skagway River and the Laughton Glacier is located nearby. Moose, brown bears and black bears are common in this area ( bear safety information ). Mountain goats can sometimes be spotted on the surrounding mountains.
What the agency tells you
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)
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
Water is not available at the cabin; guests must bring their own water supply or treat water from natural sources
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Please pack out all trash and food
Use of this cabin by a commercial operator, such as an outfitter or guide, is not allowed
Cabin cannot be reserved when the railroad is not operating
Heavy snows in winter with high avalanche danger on railroad tracks and hiking trail
Click here for more information 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
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- Toilet on all 1 of this campground's campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “It is recommended that visitors bring their own water supply.”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Backpacking
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
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.
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 · 15
What you actually pay
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
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.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| AREA LAUGHTON GLACIER CABIN | J01 | cabin nonelectric | 13 ft | $45 |
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
Where it is
Denver Caboose CabinTongass National Forest · 5.7 mi
Finnegan's PointKlondike Gold Rush National Historical Park · 8.9 mi
Canyon CityKlondike Gold Rush National Historical Park · 9.4 mi
Dyea CampgroundKlondike Gold Rush National Historical Park · 9.6 mi
Chilkoot Trail Camping PermitsKlondike Gold Rush National Historical Park · 9.6 mi
Pleasant CampKlondike Gold Rush National Historical Park · 9.7 miAccess is via a 14-mile ride on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad between May 1st and September 30th to the Glacier whistle stop, followed by a 1.5-mile hike on a Forest Service trail. Make reservations at least 24 hours in advance for train transportation. Rate information and reservations are available by calling the railroad at (800) 343-7373.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Skagway, AK
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
Laughton Glacier 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 →