GENERAL INFORMATION:
Alaska Huts is no longer renting out single or double bunk rentals in either Spirit Walker or Toba’s Yurt. The kitchen, dining area, sauna and outhouses are all shared spaces.If you are uncomfortable sharing spaces, please book out the Whole Shebang for a more private rental. There is hand sanitizer, bleach, simple green, paper towels and clean hand towels on site for you to use. Please clean up before and after your stay. Please be aware that staff and maintenance volunteers may be at the property between 9am and 4pm any day of the week. Thank you for supporting Alaska Huts, even during these unprecedented times!
Manitoba Cabin and Yurts
Perched at the top of Canyon Creek gorge in a historic mining area next to great skiing and hiking in the Kenai Mountains, Manitoba Cabin offers families and individuals a unique lodging experience. Patrons rent yurts or one indoor bedroom—and then share communal cooking, dining and social space inside a large, rustic cabin with authentic Gold Rush roots. The setting—on the “wild side” of Canyon Creek beside a multi-use trail that climbs through a hemlock-spruce forest up Manitoba Mountain—has the ambience of old-time Alaskan roadhouse far off the grid. And yet, it’s only about a half-mile walk over trails and historic byways from parking at Mile 48 of the Seward Highway.
Operated by the non-profit Alaska Mountain and Wilderness Huts Association, Manitoba Cabin is intended to promote wilderness experience and camaraderie. You might share a campfire with other travelers on their Alaskan adventure, or find your dinner stew anchoring a spontaneous potluck with new friends. While very popular among backcountry skiers during winter weekends, the facility often has openings during weekdays. During the summer, you might have the entire place to yourself.
Amenities
Manitoba offers sleeping space for up to 24 people. The main cabin contains a wood heating stove, a propane cook stove with an oven, a French drain for dishwater, counters with benches and tables, and space for stashing gear out of the weather. Fuel is provided. You’ll also find cooking utensils, dishes, cups and silverware—everything you need to prepare your meals except the food. Water must be carried from crystal Canyon Creek and must be sterilized or filtered. A solar panel system powers indoor lights.
Two airy, 16-foot yurts are available to rent each contain four single and two double bunks and wood stoves; both yurts welcome furry companions but please keep them off the beds! For people seeking more privacy, the cabin offers a “hut keeper’s” bedroom with sleeping space for two that has a propane heater.
Completing the scene are a wood-fired sauna, two pit toilets, and a campfire ring famous for S’mores and gatherings that stretch long into Alaska’s dusky summer nights.
What Can You Do At Manitoba?
- Hike and explore. Some of the best hiking routes in the Kenai Mountains are close by.
Check out our Manitoba Hiking Guide for more information. - Bike: Mills Creek Trail up the mountain and the old road system leading to the cabin are open to cycling. Devil’s Creek trail down the road is one of the most popular mountain biking destinations on the Peninsula.
- Ski. Manitoba Mountain is one of the most popular destinations for backcountry skiing in the Kenai Mountains, known for relatively low avalanche danger and moderate slopes.
- Fish or paddle. Lower Summit Lake is one mile south, and the much larger (and stocked) Upper Summit Lake is three miles south. The famous Kenai River is right down the road (about a ½ hour drive south) in Cooper Landing.
- Explore mining heritage. The area surrounding Manitoba helped launch the local gold rush of the 1890s, and active mining continues today. The Lauritsen Cabin dates from the period. Note: You can observe modern mining operations from a safe distance, but do not disturb equipment, remove rocks or minerals, or try to pan for gold. Active claims cover the immediate area.
- View wildlife. Manitoba stands on the opposite side of Canyon Creek gorge from the Seward Highway. The trail and bridge to the facility provide the only practical access to a vast tract of wild land that sees almost no human visitation.
- Pick berries. In August and September, the area produces a great crop. For a cursory guide to local berries, check out this blog post!
- Meet people. Unless you’ve rented the whole facility, Manitoba could easily have other patrons sharing the cabin while you’re there. Think of it as a cosmopolitan trekking experience!
Getting There
The Manitoba Cabin facility is located in the Kenai Mountains about 70 miles south of Anchorage and 50 miles north of Seward near Mile 48 of the Seward Highway. It’s on Google Maps.
GPS coordinates: 60 40 31.50 N, 149 28 25.20 W 
Park in the pullout at Mile 48, about a quarter mile north of the parking area overlooking Lower Summit Lake. From the north end of the pullout, take a single track trail about 200 yards to where it intersects an old road. Head north (left if coming from highway,) cross a bridge over a small gorge and continue another quarter mile to an intersection with another gravel road. Continue north (a sign should point out the fork leading to the hut) down a hill another 300 yards to the sturdy four-wheeler bridge over Canyon Creek. Manitoba Cabin is just across the creek on the bluff.
Manitoba Cabin and its mission
Alaska Huts makes the facility available to non-profit and educational groups for reduced rates, 
especially if the use provides urban dwellers and young people their first exposure to Alaska’s wild country. Alaska Huts has a mission to promote wilderness stewardship and education, and plans to build other huts too, with the ultimate goal of linking them via trails. The group is currently working with Chugach National Forest and the Alaska Railroad to build a new lodging facility at the Spencer Glacier Whistle Stop.
Historic roots
The bridge to Manitoba Cabin crosses Canyon Creek just downstream from the confluence of Mills and Lake creeks. Miners working Mills Creek struck gold in 1895, triggering a rush that brought thousands of prospectors to southern Alaska years ahead of the more famous boom in the Yukon. These fortune seekers pioneered the entire Cook Inlet region, establishing the mining hamlets of Hope and Sunrise, the towns of Seward and Homer, and scores of smaller settlements and trails.
The Lauritsen Cabin—built by one of the original Mills Creek miners—stands a few hundred yards from Manitoba Cabin and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as one of the oldest structures in the region. The remnants of ditches, prospects, tailing piles and old equipment can be found throughout the creek bottomland, opening the window on a century of small-scale mining. Modern placer operations continue today.
Related
Wildlife viewing at Lower and Upper Summit lakes
Recreational Gold Panning in the Kenai Mountains
Hope and Sunrise Historical Society
National Weather Service forecast
Real time road weather at Summit Lake
Tenderfoot Campground (Mile 46)
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