Agency-listedUSFS Tongass National Forest -- Wrangell Ranger District · dispersedFree
Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter
Hike-in · U.S. Forest Service · AK · 56.41883, -132.31994
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,487 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Shoemaker Bay Overlook ShelterNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter · Tongass National Forest · AK
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery4 mi
- HHardware4 mi
- RxPharmacy4 mi
- +Urgent care4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- WWater20 mi
- FFuel36 mi
- LLaundry36 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 4 mi out, no EV fast charger is listed within 150 mi.
Not within 60 mi: Dump, Propane. Plan those before you head up.
EV fast charger: none listed within 150 straight-line mi (US DOE data). Charge before the turn-off.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter
Access
Hike-in
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
1,487 ft
Ground slope
88.1% · steep
State
AK
Coordinates
56.41883, -132.31994
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter · Tongass National Forest · AK (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- Fuelnone within 30 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesCity Market · ~4.2 mi
- PharmacyStikine Drug · ~4.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicAlaska Island Community Services · ~4.4 mi
- HardwareSentry Hardware and Marine · ~4.3 mi
- Mapping is thin out hereAn empty row means nothing is mapped within that radius — not that nothing exists. Small stores, seasonal resorts and single fuel pumps out here often never make it onto the map. Treat these as unconfirmed and ask locally.
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter · Tongass National Forest · AK — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast chargerNone listed within 150 straight-line miles. Plan the charge before the turn-off.
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)94.8 mi — ELECTRIC BUS MPL ELEC BUSS, Metlakatla, AK · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter · Tongass National Forest · AK — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletShoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletNorth Wrangell High Country Shelter · ~1.3 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletNorth Wrangell Pond Shelter · ~1.8 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMiddle Ridge · ~6.7 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter · Tongass National Forest · AK
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 88.1% — steep. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (5 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter elsewhere
Other camps near Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- North Wrangell High Country Shelter~1.3 mi
- North Wrangell Pond Shelter~1.8 mi
- Lower Salamander Creek~7.1 mi
- Nemo Campsite~7.9 mi
The unit that manages Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter are set by Tongass National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter
Stay limit
None published
Source
public land records
Confidence
Agency-confirmed — The managing agency's own record names this as a campsite and puts it at these coordinates. About as good as it gets short of standing here.
How it was placed
https://www.fs.usda.gov/r10/tongass/recreation/shoemaker-bay-overlook-shelter (read 2026-08-17). Fee field reads: "None". At the end of the Institute Creek Trail on the North Wrangell trail system, with views of Zimovia Strait, Shoemaker Bay and the surrounding islands. 3.5 miles from the Rainbow Falls Trailhead via Rainbow Falls -> Institute Creek, or 5.2 miles from the North Wrangell Trailhead. No stay limit stated. Restrooms: Outhouse. Water: the page states plainly that potable water is not available at this site. Nearest town/access per the page: Wrangell; 3.5 mi from the Rainbow Falls Trailhead. | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Shoemaker Bay Overlook Shelter
Water on public land →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →Off-grid communication →All field notes →