Southcentral River Region

From Kamishak Bay and the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula in the south to Mount McKinley in the north, the Southcentral Alaska River Region comprises an area of 38,000 square miles with a coastline of 500 miles.  A ring of mountains separates Southcentral Alaska from the rest of the State.  West of Cook Inlet the snowcapped northern Aleutian Range with peaks varying from four thousand to six thousand feet merges with the higher Alaska Range whose jagged ridges run to the northern capstone of Mount McKinley before turning eastward.  Here the Alaska Range meets the Talkeetna Mountains and a high plateau lake country, which mark the northeast fringe of Southcentral Alaska.  To the south the Talkeetnas and the lake country give way to the massive Chugach Mountains which in turn most the Kenai Mountains; the latter split the Kenai Peninsula and, along with the Aleutian, Alaska, and Chugach ranges create a lofty horizon towering over the inlet.