Photo Credit: Manitoba Cabin

Kenai Peninsula Public Use Cabins

The Kenai Peninsula offers an impressive number of public use cabins, allowing visitors and locals alike to experience some of Alaska's most pristine wilderness, often for between $50 - $75 / night. These cabins are cozy but primitive. Your own sleeping pads, bags, gear, food, and fuel are required (each cabin will note its fuel source, whether wood-burning stove or other). But what they lack in "comfort amenities", they more than makeup for in "Alaska amenities"; solitude, glistening alpine lakes, fishing, miles of hiking trails, and more.

Need a ride? While some cabins are trail accessible, others require a float-plane to reach. Contact Scenic Mountain Air to arrange your transportation.

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Public Use Cabins

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Cal­lis­to Cab­in is locat­ed in the Caines Head State Recre­ation Area, approx­i­mate­ly 7 nau­ti­cal miles south of Seward in Res­ur­rec­tion Bay. The cab­in can be reached by the coastal tidal trail, or by water taxi or floatplane. 

12-by-14 rus­tic cab­in tucked away from the trail in a scat­tered spruce for­est near the more open sub­alpine zone at 2,200 feet. Sleeps 6, with table, wood stove, split­ting maul, cross­cut saw, and outhouse. 

The cab­in is locat­ed on an island of Tus­tu­me­na Lake in the Kenai Wilder­ness area.

16-x-16 log cab­in in an alpine val­ley nes­tled amid steep moun­tain slopes. Sleeps 6, with table, oil stove, and out­house. Note: You must bring #1 stove oil if you want heat. One gal­lon lasts about one hour. Devil’s Creek Trail inter­sects here, a 10-mile descent to the Seward High­way trail­head. Devi’s Pass Lake is about one mile down the trail. Check Availability  ...more

The yurt is locat­ed on the point between Sadie Cove and Lit­tle Tut­ka Bay

The yurt is on the Left side of Right Beach fac­ing the beach

Out of ideas for what to do? Check out the log books at this cab­in to see who has stayed here and what they’ve done.

The cab­in is locat­ed on the north shore of Engi­neer Lake. The cab­in is south fac­ing over­look­ing the lake sur­round­ed by spruce and birch trees. Two bunk beds, table with bench­es, wood stove, broom, shov­el, water buck­et, fire extin­guish­er, estab­lished camp­fire ring, and outhouse.

The yurt is locat­ed about ¾ the way up Tut­ka Bay on the right as head­ing up the bay. It is approx­i­mate­ly 1 mile past the Hatch­ery entrance and about ½ mile from the Sea Star state cab­in rental. The yurt is locat­ed on the promi­nence just past the beach with the state park camp­ground and the trail­head marker.

Mile 11.9 Russ­ian Lakes Trail.Handsome 12×14 trapper’s style log cab­in that over­looks the lake and a stun­ning view. With bunk space for six and sleep­ing for eight. (The For­est Ser­vice rec­om­mends space for 4, so expect close quar­ters.) Check Availability  ...more

Oper­at­ed by the non-prof­it Alas­ka Moun­tain and Wilder­ness Huts Asso­ci­a­tion, Man­i­to­ba Cab­in is intend­ed to pro­mote wilder­ness expe­ri­ence and cama­raderie in the spir­it of Euro­pean-style trekking huts. While very pop­u­lar among back­coun­try skiers dur­ing win­ter week­ends, the facil­i­ty often has open­ings dur­ing week­days. Dur­ing the sum­mer, you might have the entire place to yourself.

A 12ft x 14ft rus­tic cab­in at the north­west end of Cres­cent Lake in the Kenai Mountains.

12 by 14 rus­tic cab­in on Res­ur­rec­tion Creek in spruce-birch for­est with moun­tain views. Sleep­ing bunks for six with space for eight. Equipped with counter space, table, bench­es, wood stove, split­ting maul and hand saw. Out­house and bear locker. 

The yurt is removed from the state park camp­ground and very pri­vate. Drop off is to the right of the game mark­er about 300 yards to the left of the Humpy Creek trail head and campground.

A two-sto­ry log cab­in with a loft sleeps eight with bunk space for sev­en. It has counter space table, bench­es and a wood stove for heat. Oth­er fea­tures include split­ting maul and hand saw, an out­house — and a row­boat with oars. Check Availability 

The cab­in offers seclu­sion and good fish­ing. A row­boat and oars pro­vid­ed at the cab­in gives anglers excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ties to catch grayling on the small, adja­cent lake. The cab­in is acces­si­ble only by float­plane (15 min­utes from Moose Pass or 15 min­utes from Seward).

The West Cab­in is the third cab­in with­in Hal­ibut Cove Lagoon. It is not acces­si­ble via the pub­lic dock, and you must either take your own boat here or be dropped of by water taxi on the beach in front of the cabin.

Mile 29.2 Res­ur­rec­tion Pass Trail. This cab­in sits at the south end of Juneau Lake. A rus­tic cab­in with counter space, a table, bench­es and a wood stove for heat. Sleeps eight with bunks for six. Oth­er fea­tures include a split­ting maul and saw, an out­house — and a canoe with pad­dles for explor­ing the lake. Check Availability  ...more

This 1616 cab­in is locat­ed on the north bank of Big Indi­an Creek. This cab­in offers seclu­sion and the oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore the remote north­east inte­ri­or of the Refuge. Wildlife includes moose, black and brown bears and wolves. Hunt­ing and trap­ping is allowed. In the win­ter there is cross-coun­ty ski­ing and snow­shoe­ing. Review Alas­ka depart­ment of Fish and Game hunt­ing and fish­ing regulations. 

A 12ft x 14ft rus­tic cab­in over­look­ing the south­ern shore of Cres­cent Lake. It is a 7 mile hike via Carter Lake Trail and an 11 mile hike via Cres­cent Creek Trail. 

Cab­in in the Kenai Nation­al Wildlife Refuge. The trail­head to the cab­in is locat­ed on the Ski­lak Lake Road, mile 7.5 from the east entrance junc­tion with the Ster­ling High­way. The cab­in is locat­ed .2 miles from the road on the Upper Ohmer Lake Trail. 

This cab­in is a real treat! If you spend the night here you are stay­ing in what was the orig­i­nal Park Ranger Head­quar­ters for Kachemak Bay State Park.

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The Sea Star Cove pub­lic-use cab­in is locat­ed in Tut­ka Bay, about three-quar­ters of the way in, on your right, on the south side. The cab­in is sur­round­ed by large, old-growth Sit­ka spruce. By far, this is the best Pub­lic Use Cab­in in the park, and it has many hik­ing and kayak­ing options if used as a base.

Rus­tic Cab­in, approx­i­mate­ly 16′ x 20′, locat­ed on North­east­ern shore of Hol­gate Arm in Aia­lik Bay.

Der­by Cove Cab­in is 14′ X 18′. This cab­in sits with­in a spruce and hem­lock for­est behind a grav­el beach. At the head of the Caines Head trail sys­tem, Der­by Cove is a quar­ter mile from the ranger sta­tion. Use the creek that runs in front of the cab­in as a water source.

Small Rus­tic Cab­in Sleeps Two

Locat­ed at the top right hand side of the entrance of Sadie cove. The site is over­look­ing the cove and out to the Kachemak Bay and Eldred Passage.

16-by-16 rus­tic log cab­in on Fox Creek in the Res­ur­rec­tion Creek val­ley near the edge of by spruce/​birch for­est with views of near­by moun­tains. Sleeps 6, with table, wood stove, split­ting maul, cross­cut saw, and outhouse.

A rus­tic log cab­in with counter space, a table, bench­es and a wood stove for heat. Sleeps eight, with bunks for six. Oth­er fea­tures include split­ting maul and saw, out­house — and a row­boat equipped with oars for explor­ing the lake. Check Availability   ...more

The cab­in can sleep up to six and has two latrines close by, a fire ring over­look­ing the dock, a wood stove, table and oth­er cab­in neces­si­ties. Dur­ing the height of the sum­mer, you should be able to get water close by. This cab­in is close to the Ranger Sta­tion, hik­ing trails, safe kayak­ing and King salmon fish­ing in June.

Mile 2.3 Russ­ian Lakes Trail. This rus­tic cab­in in a flat area along the east­ern shore of Low­er Russ­ian Lake fea­tures a row­boat with oars. It sleeps eight, with bunks for six, and includes cook­ing counter, table, bench­es, wood stove, spit­ting maul and saw, and an out­house. Check Availability   ...more

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Mile 8.6 Russ­ian Lakes Trail. Rus­tic cab­in with bunks for six and sleep­ing space for eight. Fish­ing for Dol­ly Var­den and rain­bow trout in the near­by Russ­ian Riv­er. Fea­tures counter space, table, bench­es, a wood stove, split­ting maul and hand­saw, and out­house. Check Availability  ...more

The yurt is acces­si­ble by water. The Grace Ridge Trail makes it access­able by Alpine hike from the Kayak Beach trail head at the head of Lit­tle Tut­ka Bay. 

Hal­ibut Cove is a lit­tle jew­el tucked away in Alaska’s first state park, Kachemak Bay State Park. The park area is a total of 400,000 acres of moun­tains, glac­i­ers, forests, coast­line and ocean. Vis­i­tors fre­quent­ly observe sea otters, har­bor seals, por­poise, and a vari­ety of whale species.

This cab­in is sit­u­at­ed along east shore of Juneau Lake. A rus­tic cab­in with counter space, a table, bench­es and a wood stove for heat. Sleeps eight with bunks for six. Oth­er fea­tures include a split­ting maul and saw, an out­house — and a canoe with pad­dles for explor­ing the lake.

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