page_title: Kenai Peninsula
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Kenai Peninsula / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Lakes and mountains on the Kenai Peninsula
context_page_description: The Kenai Peninsula 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, the Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina, who historically inhabited the area. They called the Kenai Peninsula Yaghanen.
context_section_description: The peninsula extends about 150 miles (240 km) southwest from the Chugach Mountains, south of Anchorage. It is separated from the mainland on the west by Cook Inlet and on the east by Prince William Sound. Most of the peninsula is part of the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Athabaskan and Alutiiq Native groups lived on the peninsula for thousands of years prior to Gerasim Izmailov becoming the first European to explore and map the area in 1789.
  The glacier-covered Kenai Mountains, rising 7,000 feet (2,100 m), run along the southeast spine of the peninsula along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska. Much of the range is within Kenai Fjords National Park. The northwest coast along the Cook Inlet is flatter and marshy, dotted with numerous small lakes. Several larger lakes extend through the interior of the peninsula, including Skilak Lake and Tustumena Lake.  Rivers include the Kenai River, famous for its salmon population, and its tributary, the Russian River, the Kasilof River, and the Anchor River. Kachemak Bay, a small inlet off the larger Cook Inlet, extends into the peninsula's southwest end, much of which is part of Kachemak Bay State Park.
  The Kenai Peninsula has many glaciers in its eastern and southern areas. It is home to both the Sargent Icefield and Harding Icefields and numerous glaciers that spawn off them.
caption: Tern Lake is located at the intersection of the two major roads for accessing the peninsula.
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