Coghill Lake Cabin

$60.00/night

145 Forest Station Road, P.O. Box 129
GIRDWOOD, AK 99587

Notice

Fee changes in effect. This facility will now charge the same fee year-round.

Apr 10, 2026 – Jan 1, 2027

Overview

Coghill Lake Cabin offers opportunities for year-round rest and recreation near College Fiord in Prince William Sound. The cabin is nestled on a lagoon on the southwest shore of beautiful Coghill Lake, which is known for its excellent salmon fishing. The Cabin is located on Chugach National Forest lands within the Nellie Juan - College Fiord Wilderness Study Area.

This remote site can be accessed by floatplane or a primitive 3 mile hiking trail that begins at saltwater just east of coghill point. Floatplane access is typically a 50-minute flight from Anchorage or an hour from Cordova. The 3 mile trail to the cabin can be rough and poorly marked at times. Users of the trail should be familiar with arduous Alaska backcountry travel thru thick brush and able to navigate rough terrain. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities including sleeping pads, sleeping bags, cook stove, toilet paper, pots and utensils as well as some form of water purification.

Recreation

Salmon fishing is excellent from the lakeshore and the lagoon. Anglers can fish for sockeye from mid-June through July, pink and chum in July and August, and Coho salmon in August and September. Dolly Varden trout fishing is also good from May through October. The Coghill River, which connects the lagoon to College Fiord, is also a popular spot for sockeye fishing.

Recreationalists seeking a bit more adventure can elect to hike in the primitive 3 mile trail from Port Wells with packrafts and float back out the Class 1-2 Coghill River. Be aware that throughout mid summer there is a fish counting weir near the lake outlet that will need to be portaged. This portage is a short but brushy side trail found on river right.

Guests can use the small rowboat and oars provided by the Forest Service; please provide your own personal floatation device. Hunting for black bear and waterfowl is available during designated seasons. Permits are available through the State of Alaska.

Berry pickers will find plentiful salmonberries and blueberries near the cabin in season. Hikers have access to a challenging three-mile trail to Port Wells, but the brush is often thick and some route-finding skills are necessary.

Facilities

The cabin is a 16x16-foot A-frame with a main floor and a sleeping loft. It accommodates up to six guests and comes equipped with wooden bunks, a kerosene heating stove, a table, benches and an outhouse with a pit toilet.

No water, electricity, toilet paper, or fuel for the heater is provided. Guests are responsible for bringing their own drinking water, kerosene for heater (typically ~1 gallon/ day is sufficent), a cook stove, flashlights or lanterns, bedding, mattresses, toilet paper, garbage bags, cookware, dishes and utensils.

Please pack out what you bring in to leave a clean Cabin for the next visitors!

Natural Features

Coghill Lake Cabin is surrounded by rolling hills on the edge of a stand of conifer trees next to a shallow lagoon, which is connected to the lake by a passage. The cabin offers a view of most of the lagoon, with the Chugach Mountains and glaciers in the background.

A large variety of wildlife lives in the area, including Sitka black-tailed deer, bald eagles, waterfowl and river otter. The Coghill Lake area is particularly known for its black bear population, so visitors are urged to practice bear safety (learn about bear safety).

Contact Info

This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (907) 783-3242.

Camp site features

Across 1 camp site:

Fire pit: all 1 sites
Pets allowed: all 1 sites
Largest party: 6 people

Fees

Only one change per reservation for all Alaska cabins is allowed. Change is defined as a modification to the start or end date of the reservation; after one change has been made, if additional changes are desired, the customer must cancel the current reservation and re-book the new dates.

Directions

This Cabin is not accessible via the road system. The cabin is located on the southwest shore of Coghill Lake, on the lagoon just before Coghill River, on the east side of College Fiord in Prince William Sound. Accessible via float plane (50 minutes from Anchorage or 60 minutes from Cordova). The lagoon has enough water to taxi a plane near the boardwalk by the cabin. The cabin can also be accessed by a three mile, brushy, primitive trail from Port Wells. Boats are not provided by the Forest Service.

Stay Limit

Check in from 12 PM, check out by 12 PM.

Reviews

5 reviews

5 stars

4 stars

Bryant C

Loop:Area Coghill Lake Cabin

Site:

Reviewed 5 months ago

Had a good time, great getaway location!

Bryant C

Loop:Area Coghill Lake Cabin

Site:

Reviewed a year ago

Cabin very good and clean, In the boat house the boat is left right side up instead of upside down (hull up) and boat house littered with PFD's not cleaned or hung up inside boat house! This isn't your problem but occupants from previous stayes. A little litter, (water bottles) left in and around boat house. My group cleans up everything and straightens up boat and boat house before we leave! Still a good enviorment at Coghill Lake! Had a great time dispite a few days of rain! Thank you!

Mark Johannes R

Loop:Area Coghill Lake Cabin

Site:

Reviewed 2 years ago

The cabin and its surrounding nature is beautiful. The view is simply magnificent. We were interested in fishing for Coho Salmon and Dolly Varden. Unfortunately, we were only able to catch three coho and one dolly in 9 Days. All in the river. In the lake itself we fished hard and tried many systems, times and depths without catching a single fish. We came by plane and hiked the Coghill trail to Port Wells to get to Whittier by boat. This trail has a high difficulty! We are both experienced hikers in the Swiss Alps but this trail demanded everything from us. The path is heavily overgrown and very boggy. There are many fallen trees in the way. The signposting is sometimes difficult to find and sometimes non-existent. If you have the same plan, I recommend coming by trail. In the direction from Port Wells to Coghill Lake, the trail may be a little easier to find. Don't take too much luggage with you and good shoes and rain gear. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Jeff S

Loop:Area Coghill Lake Cabin

Site:

Reviewed 3 years ago

Great simple cabin with an incredible view. The last half of the trail to the cabin is pretty overgrown, but it's not hard to find if you have the GPS coordinates, The lagoon in front of the cabin is pretty shallow. Float planes can still land in the deeper section of the lagoon but taxi-ing to the cabin might only be possible during high water conditions. Unlike some of the other cabins, there aren't any foam sleeping pads so be sure to bring a bed roll. The kerosene heater warms the cabin up quick and is a great help in drying out wet gear. It burns about 1 gallon of fuel per three hours on the low setting.

Richard T

Loop:Area Coghill Lake Cabin

Site:

Reviewed 7 years ago

The cabin was really in great shape, except for the boardwalk leading from the lake up to it. (I spent some hours clearing the overgrown brush that had blocked easy passage.) We had read that Coghill Lake was a good place to find Coho, but it turned out quite the contrary. Coghill is primarily a sockeye spawning area, so although we searched every inlet and smashed our way downriver as well on the outlet stream, there was virtually no coho. Among four of us over a week, we landed just three, fishing heavily every day. Apart from the poor Coho fishing, the scenery was fabulous. Spectacular glaciers, soaring peaks, colorful fall foliage and beautiful streams, it was a great place to experience Alaska. Just don't expect to eat fresh salmon.

Availability

See the Camp Sites section below to find detailed booking availability.

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