Mat-Su Valley Area Public Use Cabins

Cen­tered on a park-like island with wind­ing trails through the brush, Red Shirt Lake Cab­in 1 is a big cab­in that’s an easy pad­dle from the launch point at end of the three-mile Red Shirt Lake Trail. From its sprawl­ing front porch, you can glimpse water on two sides, but no major vis­tas. Sit­u­at­ed in the mouth of the lake’s pro­tect­ed north­west­ern lobe, the cab­in is a great launch point for explo­ration by canoe when the main lake becomes windy and  ...more

12′ x 28′ road acces­si­ble cab­in that sleeps up to 6. 

For lake­side adven­tures of all kinds — with canoe trails, pike fish­ing and wildlife view­ing near­by — try this 22,500-acre mul­ti-use park out­side Wil­low, fea­tur­ing 131 lakes and a net­work of trails. Its 13 pub­lic use cab­ins range from places that offer motor­boat access, to vehi­cle park­ing, to true wilder­ness refuges reach­able only by canoe or ski trail. Win­ter cre­ates a snow-sport mec­ca for cab­in users too — ski­ing, Nordic skat­ing, snow bik­ing and  ...more

The Don Shel­don Moun­tain House may be the world’s most spec­tac­u­lar­ly sit­u­at­ed cab­in. Perched on a 4.9 acre rock and ice cov­ered out­crop locat­ed at the 5,800 foot lev­el, in the mid­dle of the Don Shel­don Amphithe­ater just above the Ruth Gorge, it is sur­round­ed on all sides by tow­er­ing gran­ite walls and glac­i­ers flow­ing off the flanks of Denali, less than 10 miles away. It’s used pri­mar­i­ly from March through Octo­ber by pho­tog­ra­phers, skiiers,  ...more

Ide­al for those pad­dling, boat­ing, fish­ing, hik­ing as well as those look­ing for seclu­sion away from the lake’s more pop­u­lar routes for ski­ing and snow­mo­bil­ing. The cab­in faces the sun­set and may be the per­fect locale to string a ham­mock for long sum­mer after­noons lis­ten­ing to for­est birds.

Red Shirt Cab­in 3 cel­e­brates the ancient spir­it of Red Shirt Lake as a gath­er­ing place. The lake once fea­tured large salmon runs and sum­mer camps for Dena’ina Native groups, and still hosts pri­vate cab­ins on its south­ern half. The cab­in may be per­fect for large par­ties in quest of lake action, a plat­form for those who want stren­u­ous days of pad­dling, fish­ing, swim­ming, and motor­ing fol­lowed by rous­ing evening campfires.

12′ x 16′ cab­in on shore of Byers Lake. Sleeps 6. 

Locat­ed on an isth­mus between a shel­tered cove and the main body of a vast back­coun­try lake, Red Shirt Lake Cab­in 2 offers a basic, easy-to-heat base for explor­ing 1,186-acre Red Shirt Lake regard­less of weath­er. It gives a small par­ty no-fuss access to water, fuel and ski trails — a cozy space to relax when the day is done and the light begins its dying slant.

If you want a con­ve­nient no-frills out­post close to your boat or air­plane — and just off the win­ter trail — Nan­cy Lake Cab­in 3 will fit the bill. What this well-used, old-style pub­lic use cab­in lacks in ameni­ties or archi­tec­tur­al won­der may be com­pen­sat­ed by its sim­plic­i­ty and ease of heat­ing on frigid win­ter nights. Cozy is the word — a warm, dry refuge after a long day outside.

14′ x 16′ Cab­in on Byers Lake that sleeps up to 6.

Bald Lake Cab­in is a great choice for peo­ple who want to stay at an Alas­ka wilder­ness cab­in on a pris­tine lake, but don’t want to trav­el far to get there. On the hill­side over­look­ing iso­lat­ed Bald Lake, the cab­in offers seclu­sion and pri­va­cy only a short walk from your vehi­cle. It’s a ​“best of both worlds” kind of place — where you can spend the day explor­ing a vir­tu­al­ly pri­vate lake with inter­est­ing bays, or quick­ly dash back to your vehi­cle to  ...more

These two almost iden­ti­cal cab­ins (only 200 feet apart) are aimed toward adven­tur­ers and fam­i­lies who want to include both pad­dling and hik­ing in their dai­ly adven­tures. They offer direct access to two lakes as well as the park’s trail sys­tem. Though rel­a­tive­ly close, each cab­in is col­ored by a slight­ly dif­fer­ent atmos­phere. Lynx 2’s porch faces the sun­set, with good after­noon sun and a view of Lynx Lake. It feels open, more exposed. Lynx 3  ...more

This hand­some, well-sea­soned log cab­in is the post­card for your pub­lic use cab­in dreams. If they filmed ​“Alas­ka Pub­lic Use Cab­ins — The Movie,” the pro­duc­ers would have a hard time find­ing a bet­ter place than James Lake for the setting.