Caines Head State Recreation Area
Caines Head State Recreation Area is a 5,961-acre park located on Caines Head, a headland that juts into the west side of Resurrection bay, 5.5 miles south of Seward. Caines Head is the scenic site of an abandoned World War II fort and includes military ruins and 650 foot headlands that rise above the water for sweeping views of the bay and the mountains around it.
As the southern terminus of the Alaska Railroad, Seward was the only transportation center during the war before the U.S. Army completed the tunnel to Whittier and the Alaska Highway. Even before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the military was busy building a defense system at Caines Head to protect Seward. At the top of the bluff they spent $8 million building Fort McGilvray, which boasted two piers, 6.5 miles of road, magazine bunkers, a submarine loop station and also an elaborate underground fortress with two massive six-inch guns, each with a range of 16 miles. On the South Beach a self-contained community for 500 men was constructed.
Seward was never threatened during the war and within two years of breaking ground, the army ordered the cliff-ringed command post to be abandoned. Today the park is a maritime rain forest featuring spruce and fir trees ranging from 60 to 100 feet in height. In places the forests frame cliffs and headlands that rise almost straight up from shale-covered beaches. Wildlife includes porcupines, brown and black bears, mountain goats and marmots in the alpine regions. Offshore it's possible to see puffins, sea otters and seals.
Caines Head features almost 10 miles of trails, old military roads and beach and alpine routes that attract both hikers and backpackers. The park is also a favorite with local boaters and kayakers who venture out to the park to spend a day exploring the crumbling gun turrets and other army artifacts.
Spanning from Lowell Point to the military ruins at North Beach is the Coastal Trail, a 4.5 mile, one-way trek into the heart of Caines Head State Recreation Area. Because part of the trail is a beach route that must be walked at low tide a tide book is posted at the start of the beach section in Tonsina Campground, a walk-in campground reached within two miles of the trailhead.
Fort McGilvray is perched on a 650-foot rocky cliff with beautiful views of Resurrection Bay. Its two firing platforms are intact. The fort is open to explore, but visitors are advised to carry a flashlight as they explore the maze of underground passages and rooms, and to stay away from the cliffs, which are dangerous. South Beach is a garrison ghost town with remains of the utility buildings and barracks that were home for the 500 soldiers stationed here from July 1941 to May 1943.