Boondocking in Seward Alaska

Published in

Adventure in a Backpack

5 min readAug 15, 2016

We briefly talked about our campsite in Seward Alaska on our previous post, but of course we wanted to give full details of the campsite to our RV friends for their arsenal. We really enjoy sharing our campsite finds with our fans and we hope you are all enjoying these posts as much as we enjoy finding the sites!

[caption id=”attachment_4607" align=”aligncenter” width=”500"]

We had fun fishing in Seward![/caption]

Recently, we’ve been trying to find multiple options for boondocking campsites in each area, but sometimes it is pretty difficult to find more than just one. Sometimes it’s difficult to find even one free campsite (such as in Anchor Point), so we do what we can and roll with the punches! We want you all to know that we really do try to give you plenty of options in each area that we find.

Because we couldn’t find a secondary boondocking campsite in Seward, we decided to add a bonus to this one: Moose Pass!

Finding a Boondocking Campsite in Seward Alaska

We found a listing on freecampsites.net that showed a boondocking campsite in Seward, just down the road from Exit Glacier. When we read this listing, we weren’t sure if it would be a great fit for us with a large motorhome, so we hopped into Daypack and checked it out. The campsite listing was incorrect for GPS coordinates, and took you to private property down a back alley. So if you are looking for this campsite, be sure to use our GPS coordinates below! We will try to update their site as well to avoid future hassle.

{GPS Coordinates: 60.162135, -149.448773}

[caption id=”attachment_4610" align=”aligncenter” width=”640"]

Boondocking Campsite in Seward Alaska[/caption]

The campsite, although a touch tight, was big enough to fit our 38-foot motorhome. There is really only one spot that would accommodate us, although there are three total campsites in this area. The other two campsites would fit smaller RVs, even slightly smaller 32-footers could likely get into the others with skilled driving.

During our stay at this boondocking campsite in Seward, there was one other camper in the campsite next to us for the entire time. It did appear he may have lived there, as partway through our stay, he “moved” campsites but left most of his belongings in the campsite next to us. We aren’t sure if he just abandoned them, but we assumed it was left in the campsite to hold his spot until he came back.

There are some other boondocking campsites along Exit Glacier Road that would accommodate smaller RVs, truck campers, or vans. There are a few pull-offs as well for an overnight stop. Generally, this area allows up to 8 nights stay for camping.

Riverside Boondocking in Seward Alaska

We were so excited when we finally found this boondocking campsite in Seward, because it was so pretty and right next to a river! Bonus! The river could be accessed at several spots along the little trail out of our campsite, and we really enjoyed being able to take the dogs for walks along the river.

Even with this gorgeous campsite, we really can’t give it a great rating for our stay. We aren’t sure if it was just the time of year we stayed there or if it is bad most of the time due to the water, but the biting flies were awful there. They seemed to be worse in the afternoon and evening than in the morning, which is likely why we didn’t notice them when checking out the campsite to begin with. No amount of bug spray would deter those things! So, that is our number one gripe about this campsite. If there were no biting flies, we would’ve likely stayed a bit longer and enjoyed more of the area around Seward.

Boondocking in Seward

Overall, we liked this campsite for its proximity to Seward and ease of access to Exit Glacier. The abundance of firewood was nice, but we weren’t able to enjoy a campfire too long due to the flies. If we were to be boondocking in Seward again, we might try to find something that was not on the water to try to mitigate the fly issue. If you are going to spend any time in Seward, it’s worth a look to see if the flies may be lesser for you. We hope so!

Bonus: Boondocking in Moose Pass Alaska

[caption id=”attachment_4608" align=”aligncenter” width=”633"]

This was our view right out our front door in Moose Pass. The lake is huge, and had we had more time, we would have stayed longer![/caption]

As we made our way back toward Anchorage, we stopped over for a night in Moose Pass Alaska. This boondocking campsite in Moose Pass was directly on the Upper Trail Lake. There is a large gravel parking lot turnout that is also used for the boat ramp to access the lake. Camping is allowed there, and while we stayed, there were three or four other campers there. The great thing is that the gravel area is large enough for any sized motorhome to get in and fully turned around without unhooking. And did I mention the absolutely stunning lake?! Moose Pass is definitely an underrated area, and if we had been able to stay longer, we would have! We stayed for two nights and then headed on our way to Anchorage. If you have longer to explore the area, we highly recommend doing so. Here are the coordinates to the boondocking campsite:

{GPS Coordinates: 60.502554, -149.369681}

[caption id=”attachment_4612" align=”aligncenter” width=”640"]