Shelter Bay Cabin

Shelter Bay Cabin is situated on the southwest shore of Shelter Bay on Hinchinbrook Island in the Chugach National Forest. Visitors will find many opportunities for recreation in the vicinity, including fishing, hunting, beachcombing and wildlife viewing. Access is by floatplane at high tide, wheel plane at low tide or boat. Visitors are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety. The outlet channel of Shelter Bay is a popular coho salmon fishing site in August and September, and pink and chum salmon start to appear in the outlet in early July. The inlet creek at the far end of the bay is also a good spot to catch pink and chum salmon and Dolly Varden from July to August. Visitors who prefer to stay around the outlet creek can try fly fishing for sea-run cutthroat trout. Hunters have a long season on the island and in the surrounding national forest — bear in spring and fall, deer from late summer through late fall. The 20x20-ft rustic cabin can sleep six people on wooden bunkbeds without mattresses, and is equipped with a table, benches, a wood and oil stove for heat and an outhouse. The cabin has no running water, electricity or cut firewood: bring #1 oil, kerosene or wood for the stove, as well as water, food, sleeping bags, pads, cook stoves and cooking gear. Hinchinbrook Island is in the Gulf of Alaska at the entrance to Prince William Sound. The cabin is located on a tidal bay, surrounded by low, forested hills of spruce, hemlock and muskeg openings. Wildlife in the area abounds, including waterfowl, Sitka black-tail deer and brown bear. The beaches on the Prince William Sound offer views of the Sound and the surrounding mountains, and occasionally humpback and orca whales can be seen spouting offshore. Cape Hinchinbrook Lighthouse is located on the southwest end of Hinchinbrook Island. It is a historical site that has proved invaluable 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.