Martin Lake Cabin
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:05 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Martin Lake Cabin offers guests a remote lodging experience in the Chugach National Forest in southcentral Alaska. Located on the northwest end of Martin Lake, 42 miles east of Cordova, the cabin offers guests year-round recreation and relaxation. Fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing are within walking distance of the cabin. Access to the cabin is by float plane only, typically 30 minutes from Cordova. Visitors are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
This cabin has some of the best fishing in the Cordova District, but it is also popular and reservations for the cabin need to be made early. The outlet stream is a good place to catch salmon and trout species. The inlet streams along the shore and at the far end of the lake are good places to fish for coho salmon. Dolly Varden follow the spawning salmon to eat any stray eggs. Cutthroat and rainbow trout hybrids are in the lakes and creeks in lesser numbers. A rowboat is available for cabin users; however, visitors may wish to rent a long shaft motor in Cordova to get to the far end of the lake. Visitors are responsible for bringing and using life vests. Hunters can take advantage of a long hunting season in the surrounding national forest. Bear season occurs during spring and fall, while deer season begins in late summer and lasts through late fall.
Facilities
The cabin is a 16-by-20 foot rustic structure equipped with wooden bunks that sleep up to six guests. It is furnished with a table, benches, wood stove, oil stove, saw, axe, splitting maul, a rainwater catchment barrel and an outdoor pit toilet. The cabin does not have running water, electricity, cut firewood or heating oil. Visitors must bring their own supply of drinking water, firewood and #1 stove oil for the oil stove. Visitors must bring food, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, a cook stove, matches, cooking gear, lanterns or flashlights, toilet paper, a first aid kit and garbage bags. All trash and food must be packed out, and visitors are expected to clean the cabin before leaving.
Natural Features
The cabin is situated at the outlet of Martin Lake. At the front of the cabin, alder and willow marsh provide habitat for waterfowl. Mountain goats navigate the ridge line of steep mountains rising from behind the cabin. Sitka black-tailed deer, moose, black and brown bear are also abundant in the area. Learn more about bear and moose safety in Alaska.
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
Inclement weather conditions may cause an extension of your trip during any time of the year and winter access can be difficult due to snow and ice conditions; bring extra supplies to last 2-5 days
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Water is not available at this facility; visitors must bring their own for drinking, cooking and cleaning
Visitors must store all food in the cabin and refrain from cleaning fish near the facility; carcasses must be thrown into the stream
All garbage and food must be packed out
Same day reservations are allowed for this cabin
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
Contact the Cordova Ranger District at (907) 424-7661 for more detailed information about safety precautions
Learn more about Chugach National Forest and Prince William Sound
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.
Martin Lake Cabin was rebuilt in 2024.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…catchment barrel and an outdoor pit toilet. The cabin does not have running water,…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “The cabin does not have running water, electricity, cut firewood or heating oil.”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
- Stay limit
- 7 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:05 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 · 12
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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:05 UTC · 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 MARTIN LAKE CABIN | C04 | cabin nonelectric | 49 ft | $65 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Softuk Bar CabinChugach National Forest · 13 mi
Childs Glacier Recreation Area and CampgroundChugach National Forest · 20 mi
McKinley Lake CabinChugach National Forest · 22 mi
McKinley Trail CabinChugach National Forest · 22 mi
Tiedeman Slough CabinChugach National Forest · 30 mi
Power Creek CabinChugach National Forest · 37 miAccess is typically by float plane, helicopter, air boat or jet boat. Flights are typically 30 minutes from Cordova. Float planes land on the lake next to the cabin. In fall, winter and early spring, the cabin may be inaccessible to float planes due to the frozen lake surface. Please contact the local Forest Service Ranger District office at (907) 424-7661 for information prior to making reservations for these periods.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cordova, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 48°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 19°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
Martin Lake 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 →