Kake Parks & Trails

Find a waterfall, visit a lake, stroll a beach. There are several hiking trails near Kake where you can get lost in your lush surroundings: watch eagles soar overhead, throw a fishing line in the water, or simply enjoy the quiet sounds of the wind rustling through the trees.

You’re likely to encounter black bear on any of these trails, especially when fish are in season. Please be bear aware and make noise as you hike along.

Portage Bay Trail – Closest to town, follows the beach.

Goose Lake – Nice trail ends at the lake where a rowboat can get you out on the water with the geese.

Cathedral Falls – Short, steep trail descends to a lovely waterfall.

Big John Bay Trail – Walk on the grass flats to a remote cabin location. Watch for wolf track!

Hamilton Creek Trail – Walk along the creek for miles on a flat trail. Stop along the way to picnic and fish.

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Parks & Trails

The trail along Hamil­ton Creek is busiest around 5 in the morn­ing, as savvy anglers know that’s when the fish are bit­ing! The trail is about 2 miles round-trip, but you can fol­low the creek for miles, fish­ing and pic­nick­ing along the way. You will be shar­ing the expe­ri­ence with bears, so secure your snacks, and any fish you catch.

More than 120 miles of log­ging roads wind through Kupre­anof Island, offer­ing access to trail­heads and oth­er remote parts of the island. You can dri­ve on the fre­quent­ly used roads, and explore oth­ers by bike or by foot.

Of all the acces­si­ble hik­ing trails near Kake, the Portage Bay Trail is the clos­est to town (just over a mile south). It’s a short, one-mile stroll along the beach, where you might see eagles, black bear, salmon and trout.

The trail down to Cathe­dral Falls isn’t very long, but involves a steep 100-foot descent (and ascent when it’s time to go back!). Down at the creek, you can explore behind the falls, fish for trout and salmon, or watch black bear, which are like­ly to be fish­ing as well.

Goose Lake Trail is a 1.5 mile round-trip, flat and easy hike that ends at Goose Lake, where you’ll find a pic­nic area and row­boat handy for fur­ther explo­ration or some trout fishing.

Big John Bay trail is the fur­thest hike out from Kake, in a remote area right on tidal and salt­wa­ter flats. After a dri­ve of 16 miles and a hike of about 2.1 miles, you’ll come to Big John Bay cab­in, which can be reserved for the night through the U.S. For­est Ser­vice. Get­ting there requires strict atten­tion to tide tables, as the 15-foot vari­a­tion in tide restricts trail and cab­in access.  ...more

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