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About
Cooper Creek South
Located along Cooper Creek and the Kenai River, Cooper Creek South Campground presents a beautiful wooded area with sweeping mountain views within close proximity to many recreational opportunities.
Recreation
Sockeye (Red) salmon fishing is a popular activity on the nearby Kenai and Russian Rivers, and both boat and bank fishing offer excellent catches. The nearby Resurrection Pass Trail takes hikers and bikers on a 38-mile scenic adventure that climbs from 500 to 2,600 feet.
Facilities
Cooper Creek South offers about 20 campsites available for advanced reservation. Amenities include drinking water, vault toilets, picnic tables, campfire rings and dumpsters. Parking aprons are gravel and parking is limited. A dump station is available for a fee at nearby Quartz Creek Campground.
Natural Features
At an elevation of 400 feet, Cooper Creek South sits among a spruce and cottonwood forest. The Chugach National Forest covers 5 million acres and is comprised of arid tundra wilderness, jagged mountains, deep fjords, glacier-fed rivers and the Prince William Sound.
ADA Access: N
Sites
29
Operator
National Forest
Access
Drive In
Boat In
Contact
Location
Cooper Creek South
is located in
Alaska
Directions
From Anchorage, go south on Seward Highway to Sterling Highway. Turn towards Soldotna at the 'Y' junction. Cooper Creek Campground is at Milepost 50.7 of the Sterling Highway, on the opposite side of the river.
3 Reviews of Cooper Creek South
great views!
Large spaces right next to the Kenai River. Easily get to places that do rafting trips and fishing right from your camp site! Beautiful aqua water with mountain views!
Great spot on the Kenai
Cooper Creek is a great, smaller campground to choose when the popular nearby spots fill up with anglers. For some reason, this spot is not as in demand as the Russian River campground, despite having many of the same amenities.
This campground is great for group camping trips, as each site is rated for 8 people and a few can have up to 12. There are many ada-acessible sites to choose from as well, which was a great help when bringing along family in need.
The gravel roads can sometimes mean backing-in is a bit more strenuous than other paved campgrounds, but if you're camping in Alaska, you probably already know how to reverse park a camper! Picnic tables were always well maintained, and the deep firepits came in handy for our large fires. They even have grills built in!
Toilets are well maintained, but we always had to supply our own method of handwashing - hand santizer, in our case to leave as little trace as possible.
Don't forget to bring your fishing poles (get that permit first!) and keep an eye out for bear activity.
Nestled in the woods
The Cooper Creek sites are a nice alternative to when the Russian River campground is full. This campground is right off of the Sterling Highway. We didn't make online reservations for Memorial weekend so many of the Cooper Creek sites were reserved, but we managed to find one open. It featured a campfire ring with adjustable grilling rack, picnic table (with bench cutout for wheelchair access) and a bear-proof locker. The campground road and site pads are not paved, but all is well-maintained. We didn't notice any highway noise, which was nice! Lots of foliage and tree cover between sites. The camp hosts were super friendly. We saw them making the rounds of sites in late afternoon and also tidying up the restroom in the morning. Our site, #12, was right across from the start of a little trail that runs parallel to Cooper Creek for a little while. 2017 fees are $18 for single sites, $28 for doubles and $7 for firewood. There were a couple pull through sites that would be perfect for large campers/motorhomes, folks pulling boats, and multiple vehicles.
