Swan Lake Cabin Petersburg
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:10 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
Swan Lake Cabin is located on mainland Alaska along the southeast shore of Swan Lake. It is available for reservation year-round and provides access to a variety of recreational activities, including hiking, fishing, hunting and viewing wildlife. The cabin also provides spectacular scenic views of the surrounding area. The cabin can be accessed only by float plane or helicopter. The adjacent lake is normally frozen from November through early June, further limiting access. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Favorable rock, ice and glacier climbing conditions are found throughout the area. The Cascade Creek Trail can be reached by boat from the cabin. Beginning at the west end of the lake, it leads to Falls Lake and a three-sided shelter about a mile away. The trail terminates at the Cascade Creek Cabin, 5 miles out, in Thomas Bay. Fishing and boating are also popular activities. Two rowboats with oars are available at the cabin, however, life jackets are not provided and guests must supply their own. Guests may also wish to bring a small outboard motor. Anglers may find rainbow trout in the lake. A sand bar for tent camping or picnicking is also available. Wildlife viewing and hunting are also popular pastimes. 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 A-frame cabin was rebuilt in 2005-06 and has two wooden bunks and a sleeping loft to accommodate up to seven people. It is equipped with a table and benches and a clean-burning oil heater. An outhouse with pit toilets is provided. Water for drinking, cooking and cleaning purposes is not provided at the cabin. Water taken from the lake and the nearby stream should be treated or boiled before consumption. Guests are encouraged to bring their own 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. Click here for more cabin details and maps.
Natural Features
The cabin is situated on the alpine Swan Lake, east of Thomas Bay, at an elevation of 1,524 feet. It is surrounded by the steep peaks of the Cosmos Range. Swan Lake offers some of the most spectacular scenery and photographic opportunities in the region. The steep talus slopes are home to mountain goats, and rainbow trout are plentiful in the lake. Alpine wildflowers are abundant in the area. The region is also home to a variety of wildlife. Click here to learn more 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 is the Swan Lake Cabin near Petersburg, in the Tongass National Forest of southeast Alaska, not the Swan Lake Cabin near the Resurrection Pass Trail on the Chugach National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Poor weather (fog and high winds) can cause travel delays; cabin guests should be prepared with extra food and clothing for a potential extended stay
In fall, winter and early spring, the cabin may be inaccessible due to frozen lake surface (float planes cannot land); contact the Petersburg Ranger District office for information prior to making a reservation during these periods
Firewood at the cabin is supplied only for heating the cabin, it is not for outdoor campfires; collect dead and down wood from the forest for your outdoor campfire
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.
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 pit toilets is provided. Water for drinking, cooking and…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “Guests are encouraged to bring their own drinking water if possible.”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Coast
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:10 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 16:10 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 SWAN LAKE CABIN PETERSBURG | P16 | cabin nonelectric | 179 ft | $35 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cascade Creek CabinTongass National Forest · 4.2 mi
Spurt Cove CabinTongass National Forest · 7.0 mi
Ravens Roost CabinTongass National Forest · 20 mi
Petersburg Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 21 mi
Portage Bay CabinTongass National Forest · 23 mi
Mallard Slough CabinTongass National Forest · 23 miThe cabin is accessible only by float plane or helicopter, 18 miles from Petersburg. Refer to USGS topographic map Sumdum A3. Sumdum A2 may also be useful. Maps are available online or by calling the Petersburg Ranger District at (907) 772-3871.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Kupreanof, AK
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
Swan Lake Cabin Petersburg 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 →