The Middle Fork Koyukuk River is a tributary of the

Koyukuk River The Koyukuk River (; ''Ooghekuhno' '' in Koyukon, ''Kuuyukaq'' or ''Tagraġvik'' in Iñupiaq) is a tributary of the Yukon River, in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the last major tributary entering the Yukon before the larger river empties int ...

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. ...

. Formed by the confluence of the Bettles and Dietrich rivers near Wiseman on the southern flank of the

Brooks Range The Brooks Range ( Gwich'in: ''Gwazhał'') is a mountain range in far northern North America stretching some from west to east across northern Alaska into Canada's Yukon Territory. Reaching a peak elevation of on Mount Isto, the range is belie ...

, the Middle Fork flows generally southwest to its confluence with the North Fork Koyukuk River, with which it forms the

main stem In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow.. A ...

of the Koyukuk. From its starting point slightly north of

Sukakpak Mountain Sukakpak Mountain is a prominent 4,459-foot (1,359 meter) mountain summit located in the Philip Smith Mountains of the Brooks Range, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The peak is situated 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle near milepost 203 on the D ...

, the river flows generally south or southwest in its upper reaches. The

Dalton Highway The James W. Dalton Highway, usually referred to as the Dalton Highway (and signed as Alaska Route 11), is a road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse (an unincorporated community within the ...

and the TransAlaska Pipeline run roughly parallel to the river between its source and a point between Twelvemile Mountain, on the river's

right Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...

, and Cathedral Mountain, on the left, south of Coldfoot. Further south, at Tramway Bar, the river turns generally west to its confluence with the North Fork Koyukuk River.

Boating

The Middle Fork is suitable for boating by a wide variety of watercraft for its entire length. It is rated Class I (easy) on the International Scale of River Difficulty. Dangers include bridge abutments on the upper reaches and

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

and

grizzly The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

bears. The river is highly accessible from various points along the Dalton Highway. Chartered planes can land at Dietrich, near the head of the Middle Fork, and regularly scheduled flights serve Wiseman and Coldfoot. Further downstream along the main stem of the Koyukuk River, scheduled flights serve Bettles and

Allakaket Allakaket ( ) (''Aalaa Kkaakk’et'' in Koyukon) is a second class city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area of the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. The population was 105 at the 2010 census. History and culture Several Native gr ...

References

{{authority control Rivers of Alaska Rivers of Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve Brooks Range Rivers of Unorganized Borough, Alaska

Boating

See also

References