Polk Camp
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 28 of the next 30 nights read 15:49 UTC
- A night
- $45From, per site
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Polk Camp is a three bedroom cabin located in Polk Inlet on Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska. The site offers recreation, relaxation and a unique lodging experience in the Tongass National Forest. Polk Camp once served as a remote administration camp for the Craig Ranger District and is now a recreation cabin with limited amenities. The cabin is accessible by vehicle, boat or floatplane. Although the site is not as remote as others in the area, visitors are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Anglers will find that Dog Salmon Creek, which flows into the inlet, has an excellent run of coho, chum, sockeye and pink salmon, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and Dolly Varden. Crabbing, beachcombing and wildlife viewing are popular in the area as well. Dog Salmon Fish Pass is noted as a popular bear viewing site in August. A system of roads for off-road enthusiasts is also in the vicinity. Hunters can take advantage of the long hunting seasons in the surrounding national forest. Bear season occurs during spring and fall, while deer season begins in late summer and lasts through late fall. Polk Inlet also has a rich logging history. Log landings and log transfer facilities can be found on the nearby shoreline, but are not visible from the cabin.
Facilities
The Polk Camp has a large kitchen with a fully functional propane stove and oven, a sink (NO RUNNING WATER), and plenty of counter and cupboard space. There are three bedrooms with two moveable beds in each room. Running water is currently inavailable. Please bring your own water. There is a large gathering room, a great deck and exquisite views. Polk Camp is a wonderful spot for a family reunion, a wedding or a weekend with your friends.
Natural Features
The cabin is nestled in a canopy of young Sitka spruce and western hemlock. There are plenty of places to explore in the Polk Inlet area, including an estuary just south of the cabin, where wildlife is abundant, including sandhill cranes, eagles, wolves, black bears, Sitka black-tailed deer and a variety of migratory birds.
Nearby Attractions
Nearby attractions include: Dog Salmon Wildlife Viewing Area; Polk Inlet Road system; Polk Inlet all-terrain vehicle roads (trails); hunting; fishing; crabbing; wildlife viewing.
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.
A 3-day minimum rental of this facility is required year round.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
All garbage and food must be packed out.
Check in and check out are at 12 p.m.
Use of this cabin by a commercial operator, such as an outfitter or guide, is prohibited.
Discharging firearms is prohibited within 150 yards of cabins and across or on any body of water.
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
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- Shower/Bath Type states a shower on all 1 of this campground's campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…propane stove and oven, a sink (NO RUNNING WATER), and plenty of counter and cupboard space. There…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek, Beach
1 of 1 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:49 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBookedClosedNot reservable
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 lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($45), 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 15:49 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.
| POLK CAMP | POLK CAMP | cabin nonelectric | yes | 632 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 · the phone number
Where it is
Josephine Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 7.6 mi
Twelvemile CabinTongass National Forest · 8.2 mi
Trollers Cove CabinTongass National Forest · 13 mi
Karta River Cabin14 mi
Karta Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 15 mi
Harris River CampgroundTongass National Forest · 15 miPolk Camp is located 15 miles from the Hydaburg Road turnoff, approximately 45 miles from Craig. From Craig take the Craig/Klawock-Hollis Highway toward Hollis. Turn right on the Hydaburg Road (State Route 913) and travel for 8 miles. Turn left onto Forest Road 21 (Polk Inlet and Twelvemile Road). Follow Forest Road 21 for 14 miles, then turn left toward Polk Inlet. The cabin parking area is about 1.5 miles ahead on the left.
All roads are marked and the cabin is accessed through a locked gate at the end of the road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Hollis, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 40°F, day 52°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 30°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
Polk Camp 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 →