Best Cabin Camping near Cantwell, AK

After 350+ campground (CG) reviews, we are writing our first 1-star review. The CG was right off the highway, and we followed signage into the office to check in. We had reserved back-in site J9 and paid$10 to lock it in so we could set out our deck and enjoy the mountain view. Our travel partners were in site J8—an end cap into a hill—and we shoehorned our rig next to theirs. Sites are very tight throughout the CG. Utilities are at the far end of the gravel pad; we needed 18’ of sewer hose to reach. Water pressure was inconsistent, around 35 psi, but we had no issues with 30 AMP power. Verizon had 4 bars LTE, T-Mobile 2 bars LTE. Wi-Fi is supposedly shared with the motel, but despite seeing the network, we couldn’t connect. With how crowded it was, we placed our Starlink on the roof to get a clear shot of the sky and avoid damage. We initially parked our F450 by the motel across the way, but later saw a“motel guests only” sign and returned to the office to ask where we should park. At check-in, the young woman was polite, but when we returned, an older woman (likely the manager) was at the desk checking in a Thai couple. She wasn't understanding their last name, even when the young lady spelled it very clearly--only three letters. The couple explained how Thai last names work, but the manager was clearly impatient and flustered with their spelling and reassigned them to another site—seemingly after giving away the one they reserved. The husband was visibly frustrated and ended up walking out. In our opinion, this interaction reflected racial bias. Then it was our turn: we explained our parking situation and asked if we could park by the motel. Instead of help, we got a lecture about how we should’ve reserved a site based on our rig’s dimensions (a pull through), which we thought we had as the site was listed as 45' and we are 40'. This is the first time we came across a CG that lists the site as the literal size versus what size rig could fit with room to still fit your tow vehicle. We were told there were two overflow options elsewhere in the CG. We were lucky enough to have a sliver of yard and ended up parking on our site basically between our rig and our friends' next to us. Later, the camp host knocked and asked us to move the F450, despite a 40’ fifth wheel just having navigated the area past us. We complied, but pointed out a rig with an unusually long-hitch sticking in the road with cones. We had used that as a marker on how far we could stick out. They made that person move in more on their site as well, but as they had been there well before us, we're not sure they would have said anything to them if we hadn't pointed it out. Since we had been told we should have reserved a pull through, we checked them out and found we still would have been creative with parking at our site. Sadly, there aren’t many big rig options in the area—but next time we’ll stay in the pullout before this place.

This is one of those parking lot RV parks.  There are a lack of options in Cantwell so if you want to hook up your RV this is probably where you will end up.  The service is good and the owners are very nice.  The lack of maintenance may just be that in the land of the ‪midnight sun‬ weeds grow fast and there has probably been a drop off of tourism this year.  Some spots are longer than others but all in all it is a quiet RV park and a stop when touring this HUGE state.     Cell Service: Yes Internet: Yes Distance from Anchorage: 217 miles Bug Factor (1 minimal to 10 too many to enjoy): 5

We passed multiple fantastic pullouts on either side of this campground because we thought utilities would be nice for a night. Pulled in late and hooked up, only to find that the electric post didn’t work. No sewer hookups at the site, so we took our morning showers and proceeded to the dump station on our way out. The proprietor met us there and tried to hook his black hose to our gray tank. I stopped him and tried to explain why this was unsanitary. He said I was wrong. I offered to link my gray hose to his black hose. He said no, because in his 30 years of camping experience it’s other people’s equipment that fails. I pointed out that it was his electrical post that failed this time around, at which point he told us to “just go away” and refused to let us dump. So for $57.72 we got a water spigot. PS — there’s a free one at the gas station down the street!

Don’t let this know-it-all boomer ruin your holiday. Find literally any other campground or use one of the stunning nearby pullouts for free. You won’t regret it.