The Kenai Mountains ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghanen Dghili'') are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

. They extend 192 km (120 mi) northeast from the southern end of the

Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') 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 trib ...

to the

Chugach Mountains The Chugach Mountains of southern Alaska are the northernmost of the several mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of the western edge of North America. The range is about long and wide, and extends from the Knik and Turnagai ...

, and have an average elevation of 3,000 to 5,000 feet. The Harding and

Sargent Icefield The Sargent Icefield is a large icefield located on the eastern portion of the Kenai Peninsula bordering Prince William Sound in Alaska. The ice field has numerous outflow glaciers including the Chenega, Princeton Princeton University is a ...

s, as well as the many glaciers that emanate from them, originate in the Kenai Mountains. Several prime fish-producing rivers, including the

Kenai River The Kenai River called ''Kahtnu'' in the Dena'ina language, is the longest river in the Kenai Peninsula of southcentral Alaska. It runs westward from Kenai Lake in the Kenai Mountains, through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and Skilak Lak ...

and the Russian River, also flow from the mountains. The Dena'ina call the mountains ''Yaghanen Dghili'', meaning "good land mountains". The name "Kenai" was first published by Constantin Grewingk in 1849, who obtained his information from I. G. Wosnesenski's account of a voyage to the area in 1842.

Gallery

File:Turnagain Arm Carpathian Peak Alaska.jpeg, Carpathian Peak seen from Turnagain Arm Image:HardingIcefield1.jpg, Skilak Glacier in the Kenai Mountains File:Mount Alice seen from Mount Marathon.jpg, Mount Alice seen from

Mount Marathon Mount Marathon, or officially Marathon Mountain, is a mountain summit directly west of Seward in the Kenai Mountains in the U.S. state of Alaska. The peak is situated in Chugach National Forest, rising above Resurrection Bay, south of Mount ...

File:Looking across Portage Lake toward Bard Peak.jpg, Looking across Portage Lake toward Bard Peak

References

* ;Notes Kenai Fjords National Park Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area Mountain ranges of Alaska Mountains of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska {{KenaiPeninsulaAK-geo-stub