Salt Chuck East Cabin
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:12 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Salt Chuck East Cabin is located on Kupreanof Island on the east side of the Duncan Salt Chuck. It provides access to a variety of recreational opportunities, including fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing. The cabin is accessible by boat or float plane only. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
The Portage Mountain Loop Trail is a primitive trail leading from the cabin to Portage Bay (Goose Cove) and Petersburg Lake. The trail is especially primitive and hard to follow between Goose Cove and Petersburg Lake, which is why few people hike that section of the trail. Fishing opportunities abound and anglers will find abundant steelhead in April and May, coho salmon in August and September and trout from June to September. A rowboat and oars are available at the cabin, however life jackets are not provided and visitors must bring their own. Guests may also choose to bring a small outboard motor. Hunting is available as per state or federal hunting regulations; click here for more information from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Facilities
The modified A-frame cabin has two wooden bunks and a sleeping loft that can accommodate up to seven people. It is equipped with a table, benches and a clean-burning oil heater. An outhouse with a pit toilet is provided. Water for drinking, cooking and cleaning is not provided at the cabin. The nearest water source is a small creek near the cabin. Water taken from any outdoor source should be treated or boiled before consumption. Guests are encouraged to bring drinking water if possible. Guests will need to bring their own sleeping bags and pads, cook stove and cooking gear, towels, food and clothing, fire starter and garbage bags, among other necessities. Guests are advised to bring enough kerosene or No. 1 heating oil for the oil heater. It burns at a rate of approximately one gallon per day. Oil is not supplied at the cabin. A broom, dust pan, axe and splitting maul are generally available, but may be missing or damaged. Please report missing or damaged items to the Petersburg Ranger District. The cabin needs to be cleaned prior to leaving and all garbage and food must be carried out. Click here for more cabin details and maps.
Natural Features
The cabin sits within the Petersburg Creek-Duncan Salt Chuck Wilderness, overlooking a large expanse of saltwater grass flats. The terrain behind the cabin is old growth spruce and hemlock forest. A variety of wildlife can be seen in the area, including waterfowl, grouse, deer and black bears (learn about bear safety ).
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
This cabin is in a designated wilderness area; access by helicopter is illegal
Everything else this campground posts · 7
The rock-strewn rapids at the mouth of the Salt Chuck are hazardous except during high slack tide. Caution should be exercised when approaching the rapids with a boat.
Boil or treat drinking water taken from the nearby creek prior to consumption
Use of this cabin by a commercial operator, such as an outfitter or guide, is not allowed
All garbage and food must be packed out
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.
The invasive European Green Crab (EGC) has been found in southern Southeast Alaska and is suspected to be in more locations on the Tongass National Forest. Please actively look for and report EGC to help map the distribution and contribute to management.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…oil heater. An outhouse with a pit toilet is provided. Water for drinking, cooking and…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “Guests are encouraged to bring drinking water if possible.”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Coast
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wilderness access
- Wildlife viewing
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:12 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 · 17
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 16:12 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.
| AREA SALT CHUCK EAST CABIN | P04 | cabin nonelectric | 1,954 ft | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Towers Arm CabinTongass National Forest · 2.9 mi
Petersburg Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 5.7 mi
Portage Bay CabinTongass National Forest · 6.0 mi
West Point CabinTongass National Forest · 9.7 mi
Big John Bay CabinTongass National Forest · 14 mi
Castle Flats CabinTongass National Forest · 16 miFrom Petersburg, the journey is is 15 miles by float plane or 40 miles by boat. A 14-foot tide is necessary to access this cabin by boat, and the rapids at the entrance to the Salt Chuck are navigable only at high slack tide (up to 45 minutes after high tide). Please check current conditions prior to your trip. Click here for more information.
The cabin can be found on USGS topographic map Petersburg D4. Petersburg, C3, C4, D3 and D5 may also be helpful. Maps are available online or by calling the Petersburg Ranger District at (907) 772-3871.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Kupreanof, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 39°F, day 47°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 27°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 Julys are colder than the July 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
Salt Chuck East 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 →