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River

Koyukuk River

805 km from source to mouth · United States.

United StatesUnited StatesFlows into Yukon River

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

805km

Average flow

400m³/s

Basin

82,880km²

Drop

798m

from 667 m to -131 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

805 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

667 m-131 m
North Fork Koyukuk Riverat 667 m0 km
Middle Fork Koyukuk Rivertributary150 km
North Fork Koyukuk Rivertributary152 km
Tasiswane Lake0.4 km²276 km
Klalbaimunket Lake1.0 km²367 km
Huntington Slough5.0 km²534 km
Mingogut Lake0.6 km²553 km
Tiskeet Lake3.0 km²650 km
Kateel Rivertributary668 km
Yukon Riverat -131 m805 km
0200400600805 km
  1. 0 kmNorth Fork Koyukuk Riverat 667 m
  2. 150 kmMiddle Fork Koyukuk Rivertributary
  3. 152 kmNorth Fork Koyukuk Rivertributary
  4. 175 kmWild Rivertributary
  5. 181 kmJohn Rivertributary
  6. 229 kmSouth Fork Koyukuk Rivertributary
  7. 266 kmAlatna Rivertributary
  8. 276 kmTasiswane Lake0.4 km²
  9. 291 kmKanuti Rivertributary
  10. 367 kmKlalbaimunket Lake1.0 km²
  11. 466 kmHogatza Rivertributary
  12. 534 kmHuntington Slough5.0 km²
  13. 546 kmHuslia Rivertributary
  14. 553 kmMingogut Lake0.6 km²
  15. 569 kmFish Lake0.5 km²
  16. 650 kmTiskeet Lake3.0 km²
  17. 668 kmKateel Rivertributary
  18. 685 kmGisasa Rivertributary
  19. 754 kmKoyukuk98 people
  20. 805 kmYukon Riverat -131 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Alaska

At the mouth it carries 404 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.2 seconds. It drops from 667 m to -131 m, 1.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 82,880 km², about the size of AE. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from May to June; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Koyukuk River, month by month

Highest water: from May to June

Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from October to April. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to July.

400
-26°17 mmJan
400
-24°17 mmFeb
400
-18°18 mmMar
400
-8°15 mmApr
1,600
5°14 mmMay
1,500
12°32 mmJun
1,500
14°51 mmJul
980
11°68 mmAug
1,100
4°39 mmSep
840
-7°28 mmOct
550
-18°22 mmNov
400
-25°20 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 400 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,600 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Koyukuk River: the basin in numbers

80,406 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 879people live in the basin
  • 448maverage altitude of the basin
  • 332mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • -8.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 56%protected areas
  • 0.9%covered by lakes
  • 74%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 11% Forest

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Koyukuk River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 6lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (6)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Tasiswane Lakekm 2700.4km²
  2. Klalbaimunket Lakekm 3591.0km²
  3. Huntington Sloughkm 5235.0km²
  4. Mingogut Lakekm 5410.6km²
  5. Fish Lakekm 5570.5km²
  6. Tiskeet Lakekm 6363.0km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (1)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Pope Creek Dome13 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Koyukuk River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Koyukuk River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth39 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (14)

Also: Alatna River, John River, Kanuti River, Hogatza River, North Fork Koyukuk River, Middle Fork Koyukuk River, Wild River, South Fork Koyukuk River, Huslia River, Gisasa River, Kateel River, Indian River, Dulbi River, Henshaw Creek

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1546553) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit