Salmon Lake Cabin Thorne Bay
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:13 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
Salmon Lake Cabin offers guests recreation, relaxation and a unique lodging experience on Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska. The remote site offers a scenic wilderness setting for fishing, hiking and wildlife viewing, all within the vicinity of the cabin. The site can either be accessed by float plane or a combination of boating and hiking in. Visitors are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Anglers will find the forested shoreline and sandy beach extending from the front of the cabin to be quite scenic while fishing for rainbow and cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden, pink, silver and sockeye salmon. Guests should contact the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for fishing regulations as catch and release orders may be in effect. Swimming and beachcombing at the large sandy beach outside the cabin during the warmer summer months is popular among visitors. An aluminum skiff with oars available for use, however, guests are responsible for bringing and using their own personal floatation devices. Hikers may enjoy the 5-mile Karta River Trail, which follows the Karta River up from Karta Bay to Salmon Lake, allowing excellent access to the river for steelhead, sockeye and coho salmon runs. Hiking to McGilvery Creek and Anderson Creek is possible as well, but there are no developed trails. Hikers should be well prepared with maps and developed orienteering skills.
Facilities
The cabin is a 15 x 20 foot single story, one-room structure with a gabled roof, built entirely of cedar. Hand hewn beams, wooden door hinges, and a shake floor combine to make a uniquely attractive wilderness cabin. The structure is furnished with wooden bunkbeds (without mattresses) that can sleep up to four people. The cabin is equipped with a table, benches, a wood stove for heat and an outside toilet. Other amenities include a cooking counter, shelves, cupboard space, axe, splitting maul, fire extinguisher and a broom. The cabin does not have running water or electricity. Guests must bring their own food, water, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, cook stove, stove fuel, fire starter, cooking gear/utensils, light source (lantern), toilet paper, first aid kit and garbage bags. Firewood may be available, but the supply cannot be guaranteed. Guests are asked to be conservative with wood. Water is available from the lake, but must be filtered, boiled or chemically treated before drinking. Click here for more cabin details.
Natural Features
The cabin sits on the northern shore of Salmon Lake in the Karta River Wilderness area on east-central Prince of Wales Island. The Karta River Wilderness is best known for large salmon runs and the scenic quality of the large river drainage system. Wildlife fills the area, including wolves, black bears, Sitka black-tailed deer, beavers, otters, minks, martens, and weasels. Trumpeter swans and various other waterfowl are commonly seen on the lakes and rivers in the area. Learn more about bear safety in the Tongass National Forest. Native Alaskans, particularly the Haida, historically lived around the bay and utilized the rich food sources of this area.
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 this facility; visitors must bring their own for drinking, cooking, and cleaning; water from natural sources must be filtered, boiled or chemically treated before drinking
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Guests must bring their own cooking stove and fuel
All garbage and food must be packed out
Click here for a map of cabins on Prince of Wales Island
The person holding the reservation must be 18, and must be a member of party using the cabin
Use of this cabin by a commercial operator, such as an outfitter or guide, is prohibited
Same day reservation are available for this cabin
No discounts for Golden Age and Golden Passports for Alaska cabin rentals
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
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “The cabin is equipped with a table, benches, a wood stove for heat and an outside toilet.”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…fire extinguisher and a broom. The cabin does not have running water or electricity. Guests must bring their own food,…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach, Coast
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Wildlife viewing
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:13 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 · 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:13 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 SALMON LAKE CABIN THORNE BAY | T10 | cabin nonelectric | 15 ft | $25 |
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
Karta Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 2.7 mi
Karta River Cabin3.9 miLake No. 3 CampgroundTongass National Forest · 5.9 mi
Black Bear Lake Cabin (Tongass National Forest, AK)Tongass National Forest · 7.9 mi
Eagles Nest CampgroundTongass National Forest · 10 mi
Harris River CampgroundTongass National Forest · 11 miSalmon Lake Cabin is accessible by float plane, or by boating 10 miles from Hollis to Karta Bay, and hiking 5 miles on difficult terrain to reach the cabin. Click here for local tide reports prior to arrival.
By plane, the cabin is located approximately 42 air miles from Ketchikan and 14 air miles from Thorne Bay. However, guests should be aware that in fall, winter, and early spring, the cabin may be inaccessible to float planes due to a frozen lake surface. This cabin is in a designated Wilderness area, and access by helicopter is illegal. Refer to USGS map Craig C-2 and C-3.
Click here for information about reaching Forest Service Cabins.
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. Guests should bring extra supplies to last 2-5 days Please contact the Thorne Bay Ranger District at 907-828-3304 prior to arrival for more detailed information about safety precautions.
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
Salmon Lake Cabin Thorne Bay 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 →