Taku Glacier Cabin
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:08 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
Taku Glacier Cabin is open for year-round relaxation and recreation in Alaska's beautiful Inside Passage. The cabin is in a prime location for glacier viewing and wildlife watching, offering access to many recreational activities. The site can be accessed by float plane, motor boat or kayak, depending on conditions. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors can explore the area in a canoe or kayak in deeper tides ( local tide charts ). The Forest Service does not provide boats or flotation devices. Salmon fishing is possible in Taku Inlet. Hiking is possible, but there are no developed trails around the cabin. The terrain offers opportunities for novice and experienced hikers. Guests can pick fresh blueberries around the cabin during the summer. Hunting for bear, moose or mountain goat is allowed in designated seasons with a permit.
Facilities
This 14 ft. by 16 ft. cabin is pan-abode style and sleeps six people with two single and two double bunks. The cabin also has a table and benches, a broom, an oil heater and, food preparation space. A picnic table is provided on the large front deck. The cabin is fully accessible and features wheelchair ramps between the beach, cabin and outhouse. It requires a 16' tide to directly access the wheelchair ramp from the beach Water and electricity are not provided. Water is available from a nearby stream, but visitors should be sure to treat water before drinking or cooking with it ( water safety tips ). It is recommended that visitors bring their own water supply. Heating oil is not provided. Visitors must bring a supply of #1 diesel oil or kerosene (a gallon per day on lowest setting), in addition to sleeping bags, sleeping pads, a cooking stove, lanterns or flashlights, cookware, plates, utensils, food, toilet paper, garbage bags, a fire extinguisher and fire starter. Visitors are also expected to pack out trash and clean the cabin before leaving ( click here for more cabin details).
Natural Features
The terrain surrounding the cabin site is a marsh estuary and sand beach with old-growth spruce immediately adjacent to the cabin. The background area is a lightly forested bedrock hillside with steep canyons and cliffs. The cabin offers views of Taku Inlet, nearby snow-capped peaks and both the Taku and Norris Glaciers. This area is home to grizzly and black bears, moose and mountain goats. Eagles nest near the cabin every year.
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
High winds often prevent access in Taku Inlet
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Water is not available at the cabin; guests must bring their own water supply or treat water from natural sources
Please pack out all trash and food
Use of this cabin by a commercial operator, such as an outfitter or guide, is not allowed
During summer months, the area is a travel corridor for boats and aircraft, so cabin users should expect some noise
Due to the proximity of an eagle nest, cabin permit holders are not allowed helicopter access to the immediate vicinity of the cabin from March 1 to August 31
High levels of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) have been reported in this area
Click here for more information 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
- 1
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- Toilet on all 1 of this campground's campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “It is recommended that visitors bring their own water supply.”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:08 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.
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 16:08 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 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 TAKU GLACIER CABIN | J11 | cabin nonelectric | yes | 176 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
Where it is
Turner Lake West CabinTongass National Forest · 5.8 mi
Turner Lake East CabinTongass National Forest · 12 mi
Dan Moller CabinTongass National Forest · 18 mi
Mendenhall CampgroundTongass National Forest · 20 mi
Sítʼ Yá Hítʼ CabinTongass National Forest · 21 miMendenhall Lake Campground21 miThe cabin is located 26 miles northeast of Juneau on the east shore of Taku Inlet. Access is by motor boat or float plane. Access with an inboard/outboard boat is possible but requires a high tide approach during a large tide cycle. A tide of at least 12 feet is recommended for shallow draft boats to reach the cabin; please check tide charts in advance. The cabin is approximately a mile south of Taku Point and 2.2 miles north of Davidson Creek, directly across the inlet from Grizzly Bar.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Juneau, AK
Typical weather
Typical October night 37°F, day 46°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 22°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

Taku Glacier 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 →