The Russian River is a 13-mile-long (21 km) river on 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 ...

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., ...

. It flows northward from Upper Russian Lake in the

Kenai Mountains The Kenai Mountains ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghanen Dghili'') are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Alaska. They extend 192 km (120 mi) northeast from the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula to the Chugach Mountains, and have an average ele ...

through Lower Russian Lake, draining into 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 ...

near the town of

Cooper Landing Cooper Landing is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States, about south of Anchorage, at the outlet of Kenai Lake into the Kenai River. The town was first settled in the 19th century by gold and mineral pr ...

. The native Denaina people called this river Chunuk'tnu. Like the Kenai, the Russian River is famous for its

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, especially for

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

. There are two runs of sockeye salmon each year, in mid-June and mid-July, and a run of

silver salmon The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name i ...

in August. There is no direct road access to the river. It can be accessed either by hiking in from several Parking lots in the Russian River Campground (1/2 mile beyond Gwin's Lodge at Milepost 52) or by the Russian River ferry that crosses the Kenai and takes fishermen to the mouth of the Russian. There is a parking and ferry fee. The first parking lot in the Russian River Campground (past the toll booth, lot on the left) is the 2.3 mile walk to the Russian River Falls. This is a moderate relatively flat walk to great viewing platforms of the falls. Bears frequently fish below the falls, and further down stream.

The Milepost ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, 59th Edition, page 586,

References

Rivers of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Rivers of the Kenai Peninsula Rivers of Alaska Denaʼina {{Alaska-river-stub

See also

References