Russell Fjord is a

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...

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 ...

. It extends north to

Disenchantment Bay Disenchantment Bay extends southwest for from the mouth of Russell Fiord to Point Latouche, at the head of Yakutat Bay in Alaska. Named "Puerto del Desengano", Spanish for "bay of disenchantment", by Alessandro Malaspina in 1792, upon finding t ...

, the terminus of Hubbard Glacier, at the head of

Yakutat Bay Yakutat Bay ( Lingít: ''Yaakwdáat G̱eeyí'') is a 29-km-wide (18 mi) bay in the U.S. state of Alaska, extending southwest from Disenchantment Bay to the Gulf of Alaska. "Yakutat" is a Tlingit name reported as "Jacootat" and "Yacootat ...

. The fjord was named in 1901 by Marcus Baker of the U.S. Geological Survey for explorer

Israel Russell Israel Cook Russell, LL.D. (December 10, 1852 – May 1, 1906) was an American geologist and geographer who explored Alaska in the late 19th century. Early life and education Russell was born at Garrattsville, New York, on December 10, 1852. He r ...

, who discovered the estuary in 1891 while exploring the Yakutat region. The opening into

was periodically blocked by the glacier and the Russell Fjord turned into a lake collecting freshwater run-off from the glacier. The entrance closed from May to October 1986, and again briefly in 200

Russell Fjord Wilderness

The Russell Fjord Wilderness is a National Wilderness Preservation System, wilderness area within the

Tongass National Forest The Tongass National Forest () in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at . Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which is ...

, protecting surrounding the fjord. The wilderness was established by the

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is a United States federal law signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980. ANILCA provided varying degrees of special protection to over of land, including national parks, n ...

in 1980 and is managed by the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

. The Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness borders it to the northwest. Fjords of Alaska Bodies of water of Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska {{YakutatAK-geo-stub