We just returned from a night at Chilkat State Park public use cabin. Here are some tips:
RENTING THE CABIN
- The cabin, officially “Glacier View Cabin,” can be rented online only. The rate is $60 per night. Rentals are limited to three consecutive nights. Go online to dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aspcabins/glacierviewcabin.htm. At the bottom of the page, click on “Check Availability on Reserve America” to make and pay for your reservation.
GETTING TO THE CABIN
- Chilkat State Park Road, which branches off Mud Bay Road about a mile past the Letnikof Cove cannery, sees low maintenance. Ice and snow often build ups on its surface. Four-wheel drive, tire studs or chains are recommended.
- The Division of Parks website says the cabin is located 1.5 miles from the campground gate, which is closed for winter. The distance actually is shorter than a mile, following a steep, long hill down from the park gate. If you don’t travel in by snowmachine, it’s probably easiest to pack your gear in on sleds and wear ice grippers or snowshoes. Be advised: During our visit (Dec. 21), the park road surface included long stretches of ice, snow and exposed gravel.
EQUIPPING THE CABIN
- The cabin is rustic, with just a wooden, king-sized bunk for sleeping. There are no lights. There’s a picnic table inside, plus an old metal, office desk you can use as a “kitchen.” You’ll need to bring bedding, dishware, battery-operated lights or lanterns, a cook stove and all your drinking and wash water. A splitting ax is provided to chop the provided firewood stacked under the cabin eaves.
HEATING THE CABIN
- The campground host cabin being used this winter as a public-use cabin is a log-cabin design built for summertime use. Doors and windows are not insulated and the woodstove inside is old and fussy. (Creosote was scrubbed from the length of the inside of the stovepipe on Dec. 21, 2022.) The supplied firewood is only semi-dry at best. So, if temperatures are much below 25 F., try these tricks:
- Try to book on a day immediately following another rental. That way, the big timbers in the cabin will have been heated up in advance, making it easier for you to get the place up to temperature. (To see existing reservations, proceed through the online application process as if you have a date in mind.)
- Bring a couple sticks of dry firewood or lumber if you can. Dry hemlock or birch are ideal. They burn longer and hotter than spruce.
- Cabin rental regulations allow cutting of dead or downed wood from the forest around the cabin. Look for willows, a good hardwood that’s slow to decay and burns hot.
FACILITIES
- A park restroom (outhouse) adjacent to the cabin is open.
WHAT TO DO WHILE THERE
- Go for a hike on the isthmus at the road’s end. A beach trail on the south side follows about half-way around. An inland trail peeks out to beaches on the north side. Watch for sea birds and marine mammals.
- Check out Seduction Point trail. The trailhead starts at a pull-out just uphill of the cabin. The trail winds in out of beaches and coastal forest and extends seven miles to the end of Chilkat Peninsula.
- Take in the view. The cabin features panoramic views of Chilkat Inlet, Glacier Point and Davidson Glacier. It also is skirted by a deck. There’s a campfire ring out the front.