North Beach at Caines Head State Rec Area

Although we didn't camp here overnight, we ended up staying in the campground for a couple hours waiting out the rain. The vault toilets and covered group cooking/eating areas were in great shape and stayed dry.

From the campground, we hiked up to explore the abandoned WWII fort, Fort McGilvray. Super interesting and much bigger than I expected! See the full hiking route here: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/alaska/caines-head-trail

You have two options for getting here: 

• 1. Hiking in, which we did on the way in. It is very important to check the tides, and it is recommended to avoid hiking along the beach once the tide reaches+3. See tide tables here: https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/noaatidepredictions.html?id=9455090&legacy=1 
• 2. Water taxi, which we did on the way back. The water taxi that we took was priced was$50 one-way. Rainy weather is common here, but fortunately there are covered areas for cooking/eating.

To celebrate our 10th nomadiversary and 22nd wedding anniversary, we sea kayaked into this incredible campground about 5 miles from the boat launch point at Lowell Point, and found the most perfect tent platform just off the beach.  This may be one of the most spectacular campsites we’ve ever enjoyed that is just a few miles from shore.  Making a camp fire on the pebble beach to cook our dinner and watch the sun go down couldn’t have been a better way to end the day!

A short walk up a trail, there’s a picnic shelter with food storage lockers, and a fire rig. 

A few more yards toward the ranger cabin you’ll find the two vault toilets (rustic, yet clean), but don’t forget to bring your own toilet paper.  This place is a paddlers dream, with easy beach access and a sheltered cove. Paddle around the headland to the south beach and you’ll find sheer rocky cliffs and sea arches -- in good weather this is simply stunning. 

If the weather is too harsh for paddling, there’s a great hiking trail leading between the two camping areas with a side trail up to the remains of Fort McGilvray, a World War II era fort. Truly beautiful hike, gorgeous views, and very interesting history.  

Resurrection Bay, and Seward AK, is one of the most visited areas of the Kenai Peninsula. Visitors can access this area by boat, cruise ship, plane, train, motor vehicle, bicycle, or on foot.  But, getting to Caines Head SRA is a bit of a logistical challenge, but totally worth the effort. The parking area is limited, with only a few spots for RV’s of any length, in the upper lot. But the experience is so worth it. There are a couple of cabins that are reservable through the DNR scattered throughout the Caines Head area.  These are accessible via boat or at very low tide.

We had to take a boat in and I think you can only hike in during low tide. But I camped here for a week and it was the most gorgeous place I have ever been. Waking up every morning with mountains and ocean in view was so surreal. We also saw a whale from our camp, tons of seals, porpoises, and beautiful birds. There were bald eagles, ravens, and Stellar’s jays. I highly recommend for primitive camping.

WHAT YOU MUST KNOW: The campground is either accessible via boat or hiking in at LOW TIDE ONLY. It is a lovely hike along the coast with views of eagles, bears, glaciers etc. 5.1 miles one way from Lowell point. The campsite is free but parking is $5/day or free with your state parks pass.

We found South Beach to be a wonderful place to camp. There are a few brand new wooden platforms that we set one of our tents up on, but there are lots of sites both in the woods a little way for wind protection but also along the beach and up on the grass before the beach. There are two bear bins for food. The one nearest us had a nice overhang shelter with 4 picnic tables for cooking/eating. It did rain so we appreciated having somewhere dry to eat and listen to the horror story from the group that ignored the low tide warning and were nursing their wounds from falling on the razor sharp rocks.

No running water but there's a lovely stream for water filtering nearby. 2 outhouses- Warning, no TP. Bring your own!

The trailhead to Caines head/Fort Mcgilvray is at the end of the beach by the abandoned pier and easy to find. Long story short (see the website), Fort Mcgilvray is an old abandoned WW2 fort that is worth the hike uphill to explore. Bring a flashlight. Really gorgeous views of the bay from the top. Great place for lunch at the old gun emplacements. There's even picnic tables at the lookout. There are a few other trails to explore and even a few days at the beach with a good book and a pair of binoculars would be some great R+R.