Wrangell Mountains Wilderness Lodge & Cabins

Lit by wood-pellet heaters and skylights that catch the low Alaskan sun, the cabins and yurts at Avens Alaska run on power the lodge makes itself. It sits at Mile 28 of the Nabesna Road, inside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, reached by a paved and gravel road rather than a floatplane or boat taxi. That distinction matters here: the park runs six times the size of Yellowstone, and this is one of the few lodges inside it open through the winter. Electricity comes from wind, solar and biomass; water comes from an underground spring piped to each unit from mid-May to mid-September. Six lodgings make up the property, from the log-built Alaskan Cabin and reclaimed-log Raven Cabin to Ursa Major and Orion's Yurts, each with a wood-pellet heater and a central skylight. The Mountain Spruce Cabin, once the lodge family's schoolhouse, is now a single light-filled room built for two. All have private baths; some route guests to washrooms in the main lodge during winter. Two lakes sit a short walk from the cabins, good for grayling, canoeing and watching trumpeter swans. Cell signal fades around Mile 15. Guests read, hike Skookum Volcano or Rambler Mine, or wait out the aurora from a cabin deck. Meals are taken in the lodge, a working timber building at the centre of the property, and require advance notice.