Keex’ Kwaan Lodge (907/785-3434, www.kakealaska.com, $134 s, $153 d) is a comfortable modern lodge where most rooms include two queen beds, fridges, microwaves, and Wi-Fi.

Nugget Inn (907/785-6469, daily 9 a.m.–6:30 p.m. May–Sept., Thurs.–Tues. 9 a.m.–2 p.m. winter, entrées $18–26) serves meals three times a day in the summer, including fresh fish and crab (when available), deep-fried chicken, burgers, and New York steaks. It’s on the right when you exit the ferry. Upstairs are three tiny rooms with one ($75) or two ($84) twin beds, TVs, and a bath down the hall.

Get groceries from SOS Value-Mart (907/785-6444), 0.25 miles from the ferry. Kake has a liquor store, but no bank. The gas station (on the left from the ferry) has an ATM, but it’s often out of cash.

Camping

Camping facilities are not available, and much of the land around Kake is privately owned, but camping is permitted on Forest Service land, two miles south of town. Kake is one of the drier towns in the Southeast, with only 50 inches per year of precipitation. The town has a fish hatchery and cold-storage plant but no Forest Service office. Ask at the Forest Service office in Petersburg about the Cathedral Falls, Goose Lake, and Hamilton River Trails. Big John Cabin on Big John Bay is accessible via the road network from Kake.

Getting to Kake

The Alaska Marine Highway (800/642-0066, www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs) ferry visits Kake twice a week, heading both east to Petersburg and west to Sitka. It docks 1.5 miles from the center of town. There is a covered shelter area, but no phone. The ferry usually stops just long enough to load and unload cars (a half-hour or so).

Wings of Alaska (907/789-0790, www.wingsofalaska.com), has daily service between Kake and Juneau, while Harris Aircraft Services (907/966-3050 or 877/966-3050, www.harrisaircraft.com) flies to Sitka most days.