Aguchik River flows about 8 miles (13 km) southeast from the terminus of the Aguchik Glacier, on the eastern flank of Snowy Mountain, to the head of Kukak Bay in Katmai National Park and Preserve, 88 miles (142 km) southeast of King Salmon and 80 miles (129 km) northwest of Kodiak, Alaska. The name is from Aguchik Island, also at the head of Kukak Bay, which is an Aleut name published in 1847 as “Ostrov Aguchik” or “Aguvhik Island” on Russian hydrographic charts.

Kukak Bay is an estuary that extends southwest 10 miles (16 km) from Kukak Point, on the south coast of the Alaska Peninsula in Katmai National Park and Preserve. The bay was first explored and charted in 1831 by Ensign Vasiliev of the Imperial Russian Navy who surveyed and mapped the Alaska Peninsula from Cook Inlet west nearly to Chignik Bay. These maps were published by Captain Lutke in his “Voyage around the world in 1836. Kukak is an Aleut name recorded by the early Russian explorers as “Guba Kukak”.

Snowy Mountain is a volcanic peak with an elevation of 7,090 feet (2,162 m), located 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Mount Katmai in the Aleutian Range. The mountain was first described by Robert F. Griggs, of the National Geographic Society, as “Princess Peak” in 1916 and as “Snowy Mountain” in 1919 “because of the extensive glaciers nearby”. Griggs was a botanist who led a 1915 National Geographic Society expedition to observe the aftermath of the Katmai volcanic eruption. His advocacy for protecting the area resulted in President Woodrow Wilson to declare 1,700 square miles (440,298 ha) of land as Katmai National Monument in 1918. Read more here and here. Explore more of Aguchik River here: