Kasilof River

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Kasilof River
Lowekasilofriver.JPG
The silty glacial content of the river produces the milky blue coloration
Location
CountryUS
Physical characteristics
Source 
 - location Tustumena Lake
Mouth  
 - location Cook Inlet, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
 - elevationsea level
Length17 miles (27 km)

The Kasilof River ( /kəˈsiːlɒf/ kə-SEE-lof) or Ggasilatnu in the Dena'ina language is a river on the western Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska. The name is an anglicization of Reka Kasilova, the name given to the river by early Russian settlers in the area. [1] It begins at Tustumena Lake and flows northwest to Cook Inlet near Kasilof. The upper section of the river is very swift, with several sections considered Class II whitewater, and underwater hazards are difficult to detect, due to the silty nature of the glacial runoff that comprises most of the river. The entire river has powerful currents and is very cold. There is public access to the lower section from the Sterling Highway. Drift and bank fishing for salmon is popular on the lower Kasilof. [2]

Kenai Peninsula peninsula

The Kenai Peninsula is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe, the Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina, that historically inhabited the area. They called the Kenai Peninsula Yaghanen.

Alaska State of the United States of America

Alaska is a U.S. state in the northwest extremity of North America, just across the Bering Strait from Asia. The Canadian province of British Columbia and territory of Yukon border the state to the east and southeast. Its most extreme western part is Attu Island, and it has a maritime border with Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas—southern parts of the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. It is the largest U.S. state by area and the seventh largest subnational division in the world. In addition, it is the 3rd least populous and the most sparsely populated of the 50 United States; nevertheless, it is by far the most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel in North America: its population—estimated at 738,432 by the United States Census Bureau in 2015— is more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland. Approximately half of Alaska's residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska's economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, and oil industries, resources which it has in abundance. Military bases and tourism are also a significant part of the economy.

Contents

Parks

Three Alaska State Parks units are on or near the Kasilof River. At mile 109 of the Sterling Highway, adjacent to the bridge where the highway crosses the river is the Kasilof River State Recreation Site, a day-use only park with picnic areas and a boat launch. [3] The Crooked Creek State Recreation Site has a large campground and walk-in access to the point where Crooked Creek joins the river, a prime salmon fishing spot. [4] Johnson Lake State Recreation Area is situated on 332 acres (134 ha) wooded acres on the shores of Johnson Lake. It has a large campground, picnic areas, [5] and access to the Tustumena Lake road, which ends at the Slackwater boat launch on the river with a small, free campground. [6]

Sterling Highway highway in Alaska

The Sterling Highway is a 138-mile-long (222 km) state highway in the south-central region of the U.S. state of Alaska, leading from the Seward Highway at Tern Lake Junction, 90 miles (140 km) south of Anchorage, to Homer.

Salmon Family of fish related to trout

Salmon is the common name for several species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. Other fish in the same family include trout, char, grayling and whitefish. Salmon are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Many species of salmon have been introduced into non-native environments such as the Great Lakes of North America and Patagonia in South America. Salmon are intensively farmed in many parts of the world.

Johnson Lake (Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska)

Johnson Lake is a small lake on the Kenai Peninsula in the state of Alaska. It covers about 84 acres and is stocked with Pacific salmon, coho salmon, steelhead, and rainbow trout.

See also

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Tustumena Lake lake in Alaska, USA

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References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Kasilof River
  2. ↑ The Milepost, 61st edition, page 616, ISBN   978-1892-15426-2
  3. ↑ Kasilof River SRS, Alaska Department of Natural Resources
  4. ↑ Crooked Creek SRS Alaska Department of Natural Resources
  5. ↑ Johnson Lake SRA, Alaska Department of Natural Resources
  6. ↑ The Milepost, 2018 edition, page 556-557 ISBN   9781892154378

Coordinates: 60°23′19″N151°18′11″W / 60.38861°N 151.30306°W / 60.38861; -151.30306

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.


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