The Alsek River is a wilderness river flowing from the Yukon into Northern British Columbia and into Alaska.

It starts at the confluence of the Dezadeash and Kaskawulsh rivers in Kluane National Park and Reserve. After flowing south into the northwestern tip of British Columbia, it is joined by the Tatshenshini river in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Park. It reaches the Pacific Ocean at Dry Bay, in the Gulf of Alaska, south of Yakutat, Alaska close to the northern end of the Alaska Panhandle. Although the river is somewhat navigable by kayak or rubber raft in its northern reaches, it rapidly becomes unnavigable at Turnback Canyon.

On older maps, the Alsek river is labeled as the Tatshenshini and vice versa. Some Yukon First Nation elders also refer to the river as the Tatshenshini.

The river flows next to the Lowell glacier which blocked off the river from 1725 to 1850 and created . When the glacier broke in 1850, it created a massive flood, washing away everything in its path on the way to the Pacific.

The portion of the river inside Kluane National Park has been designated a Canadian Heritage River.

See also

• List of Alaska rivers
• List of Yukon rivers

External link

• http://www.chrs.ca/Rivers/Alsek/Alsek_e.htm