Twelvemile Cabin
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:27 UTC
- Sites
- 1In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Twelvemile Cabin is a fully accessible cabin located on Twelvemile Inlet on Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska. The site offers recreation, relaxation and a unique lodging experience in the Tongass National Forest. Construction of this cabin was made possible through mitigation funds from Alaska Power and Telephone and the Federal Energy Regulatiory Commission. The cabin is accessible by vehicle and a short gravel trail. Although the site is not as remote as others in the area, visitors are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Anglers will find that Twelvemile Creek, which flows into the inlet, has an excellent run of coho, chum and pink salmon, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and Dolly Varden. At Old Frank's natural area, located east of the cabin, visitors can find streams supporting cutthroat and Dolly Varden. Crabbing, beachcombing and wildlife viewing are popular in the area as well. Dog Salmon Fish Pass is located approximately 10 miles from the cabin, and is noted as a popular bear viewing site in August. A system of roads for off-road enthusiasts can be found about 4 miles south of the cabin. Hunters can take advantage of the long hunting seasons in the surrounding national forest. Bear season occurs during spring and fall, while deer season begins in late summer and lasts through late fall. Twelvemile Inlet also has a rich logging history. Remnants of an abandoned camp, log landings and log transfer facilities can be found on the nearby shoreline, but are not visible from the cabin.
Facilities
The 16x20-ft, one-story, fully accessible cabin can sleep up to six people on wooden bunkbeds without mattresses. The cabin is equipped with a table, benches, a wood stove for heat and a fully-accessible outdoor toilet, located 40 feet from the cabin. Other amenities include a cooking counter, shelves, cupboard space, axe, splitting maul and a broom. Firewood is available, though the supply is not guaranteed. The cabin does not have running water or electricity. Visitors must bring their own food, water, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, cook stove, stove fuel, fire starter, cooking gear/utensils, lantern or flashlight, toilet paper, first aid kit and garbage bags. Water is available from a stream south of the cabin, but must be treated before being used. A primative boat ramp is located .25 miles north of the cabin, and an accessible gravel foot trail from the parking area to the cabin entrance is located on-site. Click here for more cabin details.
Natural Features
The cabin is nestled in a canopy of young Sitka spruce and western hemlock. There are plenty of places to explore in the Twelvemile area, including an estuary just south of the cabin, where wildlife is abundant, including sandhill cranes, eagles, wolves, black bears, Sitka black-tailed deer, and a variety of migratory birds. Across the inlet from the cabin is a view of Twelvemile old growth reserve. This area is managed for old growth characteristics and provides a pristine forest setting.
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 the cabin; visitors must bring their own for drinking, cooking and cleaning, or treat all water from natural sources
Everything else this campground posts · 6
All garbage and food must be packed out
Check in and check out are at 12 p,m.
Use of this cabin by a commercial operator, such as an outfitter or guide, is prohibited
Discharging firearms is prohibited within 150 yards of cabins and across or on any body of water
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
- 1
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “The cabin is equipped with a table, benches, a wood stove for heat and a fully-accessible outdoor toilet, located 40 feet from the cabin.”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “The cabin does not have running water or electricity.”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:27 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
OpenBookedClosed
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Twelvemile Cabin closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
recreation.gov availability, read 16:27 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.
| TWELVEMILE CABIN | Cabin | cabin nonelectric | yes | 711 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
Polk CampTongass National Forest · 8.2 mi
Harris River CampgroundTongass National Forest · 8.6 mi
Josephine Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 11 mi
Black Bear Lake Cabin (Tongass National Forest, AK)Tongass National Forest · 13 mi
Karta Lake CabinTongass National Forest · 14 mi
Karta River Cabin15 miTwelvemile Cabin is located 6 miles from the Hydaburg Road turnoff, approximately 35 miles from Craig and 18 miles from Hydaburg.
From Craig or Klawock, take the Craig/Klawock-Hollis Highway toward Hollis. Turn right on the Hydaburg Road (State Route 913) and travel for 8 miles. Turn left onto Forest Road 21 (Polk Inlet and Twelvemile Road). Follow Forest Road 21 for 5 miles, then turn left toward Twelvemile Inlet. The cabin parking area is about 1.5 miles ahead on the left.
From Naukati or Thorne Bay, drive south on the Klawock-Control Lake Highway (State Route 929) to Klawock, and follow directions above.
From Hydaburg, drive north approximately 11 miles and turn right onto Forest Road 21 (Polk Inlet and Twelvemile Road). Follow Forest Service Road 21 for 5 miles, then turn left toward Twelvemile Inlet. The cabin parking area is about 1.5 miles ahead on the left.
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
Twelvemile 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 →