Double Bay Cabin

Summary

Double Bay Cabin in the Chugach National Forest offers guests remote year-round recreation and relaxation with activities like fishing, hunting, kayaking, and wildlife viewing. Guests must travel to the cabin with their own amenities, and all trash and food must be packed out. Wildlife in the area abounds, and Cape Hinchinbrook Lighthouse is a nearby attraction.

Overview

Double Bay Cabin offers guests a remote lodging experience in the Chugach National Forest. Situated on the east side of Double Bay on Hinchinbrook Island, the cabin offers guests year-round recreation and relaxation. Fishing, hunting, kayaking and wildlife viewing are available within the area.

Access to the cabin is by float plane (20 minutes from Cordova) or boat (35 miles from Cordova) at high tide. Visitors are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities.

Recreation

Anglers will find several creeks flowing into the bay. In mid-July, pink and chum salmon enter the bay to spawn in the creeks, with the coho salmon arriving in mid-August. Halibut can be found in the saltwater near the mouth of the bay and in the Sound. Although these creeks can be accessed from shore, the hike can be difficult at high tide when the creeks are flooded and deep, or at low tide when the mud flats are exposed (local tide tables). It is best to bring a small inflatable boat and motor to get around the bay to the creeks, and to fish the bay at low tide.

Hunters can take advantage of a long hunting season on the island and in the surrounding national forest. Bear season occurs during spring and fall, while deer season begins in late summer and lasts through late fall.

Facilities

The cabin is a 12-by-14 rustic, pre-cut cedar log cabin equipped with wooden bunks that sleep up to six guests. Other amenities include a table, benches, wood and oil stoves for heat, a rainwater catchment barrel, axe, splitting maul, saw and an outdoor pit toilet.

The cabin does not have running water, electricity, heating oil or cut firewood. Visitors must bring their own water for drinking, cooking and washing, as well as #1 heating oil for the oil stove.

Visitors must bring sleeping bags, sleeping pads, cook stoves, matches, cookware and utensils, food, flashlights or lanterns, firewood, toilet paper, first aid kit and garbage bags. All trash and food must be packed out, and visitors are expected to clean the cabin before leaving.

Natural Features

Hinchinbrook Island is in the Gulf of Alaska at the entrance to Prince William Sound. The Double Bay cabin is located on a narrow peninsula with Double Bay on one side and Prince William Sound on the other. It sits near a tidal lagoon that transitions to low, rolling hillsides defined by muskeg and a patchy forest of mature spruce and hemlock.

Wildlife in the area abounds, including migratory waterfowl, Sitka black-tailed deer and brown bear (learn more about bear safety). The beaches on the Prince William Sound shoreline offer views of the Sound and the surrounding mountains. Occasionally, humpback and killer whales can be seen spouting offshore.

Nearby Attractions

Located on the southwest end of Hinchinbrook Island, Cape Hinchinbrook Lighthouse is a fantastic historical site that has proved invaluable at directing vessels to and from Prince William Sound. Though no longer used as a primary navigational aid, the beacon still serves as a reassuring presence along the rugged Alaskan coast.