Aniakchak River

Surprise Lake, the headwaters of the Aniakchak River

The Aniakchak River is a river in Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve on the Alaska Peninsula in Southwest Alaska.

It rises in the Surprise Lake, a lake in the caldera of Mount Aniakchak, and flows southeastward into the Aniakchak Bay.

The river breaks through the caldera wall in "The Gates" mentioned gorge with a gradient of 15 m / km. It follows for calmer waters 15 km to the confluence of Hidden Creek, from where the river for approximately 8 km in a narrow bed forming tight bends. Then the Aniakchak meanders with low flow rate through the coastal plain to the mouth.

The Aniakchak River and its four largest tributaries, Hidden Creek, Mystery Creek, Albert Johnson Creek and North Fork Aniakchak River were reported in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act as a National Wild and Scenic River under the administration of the National Park Service.

65401
de