The Anchor River is a stream 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 tribe ...

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 so ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. Beginning near Bald Mountain on the eastern side of the lower peninsula, if flows generally west for into

Cook Inlet Cook Inlet (; Sugpiaq language, Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding ...

near Anchor Point on the western side of the peninsula. The

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current, reducing the carryin ...

is northwest of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

. The middle reaches of the river pass through the Anchor River and Fritz Creek Critical Habitat Area, meant to protect fish and wildlife, especially

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

. The lower river intersects North Fork Road and then the

Sterling Highway The Sterling Highway is a state highway in the south-central region of the U.S. state of Alaska, leading from the Seward Highway at Tern Lake Junction, south of Anchorage, to Homer. To assist in agricultural transport and also open area ...

before reaching Anchor and the Anchor River State Recreation Area (SRA) at the coast.

Recreation Area

The Anchor River State Recreation Area is a popular spot for camping and fishing in the summer months, when there are

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

runs, and

catch-and-release Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture the fish is Fish hook, unhooked and returned live to the water. Originally adopted in the United Kingdom by Coarse fishing, coarse fishermen to Overfishing, preser ...

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the Fish migration#Classification, anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or Columbia River redband trout (''O. m. gairdneri'', also called redband steelhead). Steelhead are native to cold-wa ...

fishing. Anchor Point, the site of the SRA, is the most westerly point in the U.S. highway system. From the beach at the recreation area you can see the distant peaks of the

Aleutian Range The Aleutian Range is a major mountain range located in southwest Alaska. It extends from Chakachamna Lake (80 miles/130 km southwest of Anchorage) to Unimak Island, which is at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. It includes all of the mountain ...

, including the volcanoes

Mount Augustine Augustine Volcano (Sugpiaq: ''Utakineq''; Dena'ina: ''Chu Nula'') is a stratovolcano in Alaska consisting of a central complex of summit lava domes and flows surrounded by an apron of pyroclastic, lahar, avalanche, and ash deposits. The vo ...

Mount Iliamna Iliamna Volcano, or Mount Iliamna ( Dena'ina: ''Ch’naqał’in''; Sugpiaq: ''Puyulek''), is a glacier-covered stratovolcano in the largely volcanic Aleutian Range in southwest Alaska. Located in the Chigmit Mountain subrange in Lake ...

and

Mount Redoubt Redoubt Volcano, or Mount Redoubt ( Dena'ina: ''Bentuggezh K’enulgheli''), is an active stratovolcano in the largely volcanic Aleutian Range of the U.S. state of Alaska. Located at the head of the Chigmit Mountains subrange in Lake C ...

The area was also the site of gold mining activities in the 1890s. Anchor Point does not have a harbor, but it has a boat-launch service at the beach that uses tractors to launch and recover boats from shore to deeper water.

References

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

Recreation Area

See also

References