Blackburn Cabins — Hotel in Alaska

Cabins are good quality, but sanitary provisions are very bad. At that price, using a shared outdoor toilet is something i won't be able to digest. I have travelled all over Alaska from North Pole all the way to Seward, but didn’t encounter such a backward and uncivilized place which host tourist , that too with a premium price. Why would anyone pay more money to have access to less?

Besides, All charging ports are USB, so in case you need to charge your DSLR, you would again need to step out into the wild and do so, while enduring mosquito bites. They provided us with an adapter after complaining which didn’t work and we were left short in our camera battery for next day. I shouldn’t have had to ask in the first place, it should be pretty standard. Nobody cares for the logic of saving energy on their solars... tourist want to have their DSLRs ready to go on any given day, there is no excuse to it. They don’t have any WiFi in the cabins ... can you imagine that. No connectivity other than Verizon in 100 mile radius. You go to their restaurants and they say “ we don’t have public WiFi “ .... A bizzare place!!!

The Glacier is beautiful, but let me tell you that’s not the only beautiful glacier in Alaska, but next time I would use residence at a much well equipped place. Few things about the place is very frustrating, like scarcity of food, clean toilets , lack of groceries and inflated price ofcourse. And the Mcarthy Road is manufactured in hell. It was a railroad that never got made into a road. They made a town , and then businesses flocked in to make money by luring tourist but didn’t care to build roads. An extremely underdeveloped place.

After a lot of thought, enduring so much just to hike on a glacier is going a little overboard. Alaska is a beautiful place , make no mistake . But there are other places ( Seward, homer, Denali, Talkeetna , juneau , Whittier , Valdez ...just to make a few) where you can feel closer to serene nature without having to live unhygienicly , without roads or electricity.

This place should be the very least in your priority when...

I loved my trip to McCarthy to visit Wrangall-St. Elias National Park, and Blackburn Cabins was the perfect place to stay. I did a lot of research going in to this trip knowing that McCarthy is a pretty remote town. The Blackburn Cabins website tells you much of what you need to know to prepare for your trip. I called the staff ahead of time to let them know about my arrival via Wrangall Mountain air, and they provided transportation from the airport to my cabin. I also appreciate that they held my bag for me on the day of checkout while I did some exploring around Kennecott, and dropped it off at the foot bridge in time for my afternoon departure with the Kennecott Shuttle back to Chitina. The cabins are quaint and cozy. Due to the remoteness of the area and limited resources, I loved that it is more of a “glamping” experience, not a luxury cabin. The outhouse was clean and well stocked with toilet paper. The shower house was also clean and the hot water felt amazing after a long day of hiking Root Glacier. The cabin location is about a 20 minute walk from the restaurants in town. Wifi is provided on the front porch of the owners cabin, but my Verizon service did work well in the area. If you have any questions, the cabin owners and staff are happy to answer them. They take a lot of pride in their little town and are happy to help you make the most...

This remote, specialized Alaskan outback cabin experience was a highlight of our 2 week trip! We chose this location to encounter nature, a "tiny home" feel, and outhouses! Although we only spent one night in the lovely decorated quaint cabin, we enjoyed the time imensly. We had running water in the cabin, a propane hot plate to heat up water for soup, tea, coffee, or other items you want to heat up. The outhouse style showers included hot water, although as soon as you were out of it (mind you this is end of September), it was cold. However, that was the experience we were wanting. The outhouse was something that really interested me. Although a little inconvienent more so because I didn't know if I'd walk up on someone else, it was just as I imagined. Sitting in the woods, doing my thing. The fairy like whimisical setting in the woods was perfect with a "community" fire pit, stone studded walkways, flowers interspersed everywhere in anything that can hold them. Not to mention, we were picked up at the bridge and brought to the cabin early, which was a nice surprise. We were also brought back to the bridge when we were done with our stay. That was a nice touch. Thank you to our hosts and staff! Oh, and yes, the beds...