Alaska plans to limit advance reservations for public cabins, update system

Camping Cove Cabin at Point Bridget State Park near Juneau is seen on July 18, 2020. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

If you use Alaska’s public cabins, get ready for a change. 

On Oct. 1, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources will begin limiting how far in advance reservations can be made to three months, down from six months. 

The only exceptions to the three-month reservation window will include the Wood-Tikchik Region and cabins on Afognak and Shuyak Islands in the Kodiak region, which will continue to allow reservations up to six months in advance.

The change is part of a shift to a new online booking system and website that also opens Oct. 1. Cabin-seeking Alaskans will be unable to change, modify or cancel their existing reservations from Sept. 28 through Sept. 30 as part of the transition.

Beginning Oct. 1, reservations for all facilities can be made for Jan. 1, 2027 and the 3-month rolling window will begin.

Wendy Sailors, community engagement manager for Alaska State Parks, said by email that the new shorter reservation window is the result of feedback from Alaskans who said “that it is difficult to plan that far out, often people forget that they had the reservation and have to cancel last minute or just don’t use it, etc. So in addition to the three-month rolling reservation window, we are incorporating a few new features like an email reminder 7 days out.”

• James Brooks Cascade is a longtime Alaska reporter who lives in Juneau. He previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.