Sawmill Creek Campground and Day Use
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 13 of the next 17 nights read 15:52 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 Sawmill Creek Campground is a recently renovated recreational facility with camping, picnicking, hiking, and bird and wildlife viewing opportunities nearby. It is 1.5 miles up Blue Lake Road, accessible by vehicles from May 15 to November 1 or accessible by foot, cross-country skis, or bikes year-round. The campground has 3 single tent sites and 1 group site with a 30-person capacity. There are also picnic tables, fire rings, garbage bins, a covered group picnic shelter, and a vault toilet. Two sites can accommodate small RVs, but hookups are not available. Keep reading
For campsites, there is 14-day overnight stay limit per calendar year that is monitored and enforced year-round. It is also advised that visitors bring their own potable water or to treat water collected from Sawmill Creek. There is no campground host on site and firewood is not available for sale. Pallet burning is not allowed. Bear safety is crucial as brown bears can be present any time; please use the bear-proof lockers provided on site. The trailhead for Beaver Lake/Herring Cove Trail is accessible from the campground. This page is for advance (future) reservations for the Sawmill Creek Group Campsite only. Unless an advance reservation is made, this campsite is free and first come, first serve. If the campsite is already reserved, the reservation dates will be posted at the campsite.
Recreation
Access to Beaver Lake Trail within campground: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/tongass/recarea/?recid=79060 Fishing opportunities in Sawmill Creek Facilities The Sawmill Creek Group Campsite has access to a vault toilet and day-use picnic shelter (only available when not reserved in advance).
Natural Features
Sawmill Creek Temperate rainforest environment Views of surrounding mountains Access to Beaver Lake Trail Nearby Attractions Beaver Lake Trail (within campground): https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/tongass/recarea/?recid=79060 Access to the Thimbleberry/Heart Lake Trails (on Blue Lake Road): https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/tongass/recarea/?recid=79142 Blue Lake Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (907) 747-4212.
What the agency tells you
This campground is only accessible with highway vehicles from May 15 to November 1
Pallet burning is prohibited. Visitors should bring firewood with them
Visitors should bring drinking water. It is recommened that water from Sawmill Creek be treated, boiled, or filtered before drinking
Everything else this campground posts · 7
An active population of brown bears inhabits this area. Be bear aware by: being noisy and properly storing food and other bear attractants (toiletries). Have a bear spray available
Food storage required. When not present at campsite or during night, store food in vehicle or the campground bear-resistant boxes.
Keep dogs leashed and under control
Tent pads are gravel; for comfort, additional padding may be needed under tent and/or sleeping bags
Additional campsites available on first-come, first-served basis
Use of recreation area by a commercial outfitter or guide is not allowed; institutional outfitters including universities, schools and clubs may require a special use permit before making reservations
Click here to learn more about the Tongass National Forest
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 16 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…a covered group picnic shelter, and a vault toilet. Two sites can accommodate small RVs, but hookups…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…It is also advised that visitors bring their own potable water or to treat water collected from Sawmill Creek.…”
- Firewood
- Sold here
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Berry Picking
- Birding
- Hiking
- Water access
Something open on 13 of the next 13 bookable nightsread 15:52 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBookedNot 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 · 14
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 15:52 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 records
All 2 records
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 2 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Sawmill Creek Campground | Sawmill Creek Group Campsite | group tent only area nonelectric | 16 ft | yes | $20 |
| Sawmill Creek Picnic Shelter | Sawmill Creek Picnic Shelter | day use | yes | $25 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Sawmill Creek Picnic Shelter0.0 mi
Church Bight CabinAdmiralty Island National Monument · 18 mi
Pybus Bay CabinAdmiralty Island National Monument · 19 mi
West Point CabinTongass National Forest · 20 mi
Big John Bay CabinTongass National Forest · 24 mi
Portage Bay CabinTongass National Forest · 24 miLocated on Baranof Island 7 miles southeast of Sitka; from downtown Sitka follow Sawmill Creek Road 5.2 miles to Blue Lake Road; turn left on graveled Blue Lake Road 1.5 miles to Sawmill Creek Campground sign and turn right to enter the campground.
The agency publishes this point for 2 campgrounds; it’s likely a district office, not the campground. Use the agency’s own page for directions.
The weather
the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
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
Sawmill Creek Campground and Day Use 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 →