A "river," defined as a "stream" by the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), is a "Linear body of water flowing on the Earth's surface (anabranch, awawa, bayou, branch, brook, creek, distributary, fork, kill, pup, rio, river, run, slough)."

Yukon River
and watershed

Yukon River

The Yukon River, originates in Atlin Lake, Canada (British Columbia) and travels north through Canada's Yukon Territory. It enters Alaska near Eagle to the west of Fairbanks. It's the longest river in North America running 1,980 miles until it empties into the Bering Sea at the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska.

The name, "Yukon," was derived from Indian words probably meaning "big river."

The Yukon River is free of ice from June to October.

Kuskokwim River
and watershed

Kuskokwim River

The Kuskokwim River is the second longest river in Alaska. It flows from headwaters in the Kuskokwim Mountains and the Alaska Range that converge five miles east of Medfra. It flows for 702 miles, in a southwesterly course, before emptying into Kuskokwim Bay on the Bering Sea.

The river's name loosely translates from the Yupik language as "big, slow-moving thing.

Coleville River
and watershed

Colville River

The Colville River originates in the De Long Mountains, above the Arctic Circle, and flows 350 miles to drain into the Beaufort Sea.

The river was named for Edward Colville Griffith who surveyed the area prior to the purchase of the Alaska Territory by the United States in 1868,

It's frozen for more than half the year serving as an ice highway in this far north area of Alaska.

Copper River
and watershed

Copper River

The Copper River flows 300 miles, first north, then south from Copper Glacier, Mt. Wrangell, to empty into the Gulf of Alaska east of Cordova.

It's named for the copper deposits found along the banks of the upper river.

Noteworthy is the river's extensive delta and its massive wild salmon runs each year from mid-May through late-September.

The Copper River Delta covers 700,000 acres, the largest wetlands on the North American Pacific coast.

The spectacular salmon runs attract over 200 million fish for spawning each year.

A "lake" is defined as a "Natural body of inland water (backwater, lac, lagoon, laguna, pond, pool, resaca, waterhole) by the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). The major Alaska lakes are all found in the southern portions of the state.

Iliamna Lake

Iliamna Lake

Iliamna Lake is the largest lake in Alaska and the second largest lake, after Lake Michigan, the lies completely within the borders of the United States. It resides in southern Alaska on the Alaska Peninsula. It's approximately 80 miles long and 25 miles wide.

According to G. C. Martin, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Iliamna is said to be "the name of a mythical great blackfish supposed to inhabit this lake, which bites holes in the bidarkas [kayaks] of bad natives."

Iliamna Lake is known for its game fishing, its rainbow trout in particular. [ More... ]

Aleknagik Lake

Aleknagik Lake

Sunset over Lake Aleknagik
Photographs to purchase

Aleknagik Lake is located in southwestern Alaska, about 40 miles northeast of Kulukak Bay on the Bering Sea. It's surrounded on three sides by Wood-Tikchik State Park and Togiak National Wildlife Refuge. It's approximately 20 miles long and 16 miles wide.

The name of the lake, as well as the village that sits on its southeast shore, is said to be derived from a Yupik word meaning "wrong way home." It's said that Nushagak River residents returning from Kulukak Bay excursions to their homes upriver would sometimes become lost in the fog and might find themselves swept up the Wood River and into Aleknagik Lake by the tide.

Aleknagik Lake and Wood River have served, historically as summer fishing camps. Not much has changed, though more of the activity may be purely recreational. The river and lake are ice-free from June to mid-October, though fog and low clouds may hinder access to the area in July and August. [ More... ]

Becharof Lake

Becharof Lake

Becharof Lake is located on the Alaska Peninsula, 23 miles southeast of Egegik on Egegik Bay off Bristol Bay. It's bordered on the northeast by the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge. Becharof Lake is approximately 37 miles long and 15 miles wide. It's the second largest lake, after Iliamna, in Alaska.

It was named in 1868 by W.H. Dall, US Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS), after Russian navigator Dmitry "Bocharov," Imperial Russian Navy (IRN), who visited Kodiak in 1788.

Known as a "salmon factory" Becharof Lake serves as a nursery for the world's second largest sockeye salmon run providing, along with its tributaries, up to six million adult salmon to the Bristol Bay fishery each year. [ More... ]

Lake Clark

Lake Clark

About 42 miles long and eight miles wide, Lake Clark can be found in southern Alaska, in the Alaska Range, and within the Lake Clark National Park & Preserve. It's about two miles northeast of Nondalton and 40 miles west of Cook Inlet.

The lake was named after John W. Clark, "chief of the Nushagak trading post in 1891 and discoverer of the lake." It's said that John Clark was the first American non-Native to view the lake. The Dena'ina Athabascan name is Qizjeh Vena which means "place where people gather lake."

Recreational wilderness outdoor activity, backpacking, hiking, kayaking, and rafting, is the Lake Clark hallmark. In the fall, Lake Clark and the surrounding lakes and rivers are filled with spawning sockeye (red) salmon. [ More... }

Lake Minchumina

Lake Minchumina

Lake Minchumina is located 66 miles north-northwest of Mt. McKinley. It's approximately nine miles long and six miles wide.

In 1899, Lieutenant J. S. Herron reported that the name of the lake was derived from a Tanana Indian name meaning "clear lake." Another proposal has it that the name comes from Athabascan words Menchu Mene' or Menhchu Mene'. To the Athabascan Indians, Minchumina and Minkhotana meant the "lake people."

Historically Lake Minchumina was central as a portage between the waterways of the Yukon-Tanana and Kuskokwim Rivers. Its location was important as a midway point for sled trail mail transportation in the 1920s and 1930s, and for airplane transportation between Fairbanks and McGrath. [ More... ]