The Tutka River flows generally westward to the head of Tutka Bay, a fjord on the southern coast of Kachemak Bay, approximately 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Homer and 15 miles (24 km) east of Seldovia, Alaska. Tutka River originates at an elevation of about 2,800 feet (853 m) on the western flank of the Kenai Mountains. At the head of Tutka Bay lies a tidal estuary, a glacial outwash plain where two unnamed streams converge. Each stream is roughly 7.5 miles (12 km) long, originating from cirques and snowfields. These snowfields are remnants of a once-massive icefield known on historical charts as the Southern Glacier. The Tutka River takes its name from the nearby fjord. The bedrock underlying its watershed comprises rocks from the McHugh Complex, predominantly pillow and massive basalt beneath folded and faulted radiolarian chert. These rocks formed during the Middle Triassic to Early Cretaceous periods. The McHugh Complex represents some of the oldest rocks in the Southern Margin composite terrane, also known as the Chugach terrane. This is one of the world’s largest accretionary complexes and is found along much of the Gulf of Alaska coast.

Around 1850, near the end of the Russian occupation of Alaska, Captain Illarion Archimandritov conducted hydrographic surveys of the Kenai Peninsula for the Russian-American Company. His manuscript maps were used by other Russian navigators, including Mikhail D. Tebenkov. Tebenkov was a Russian hydrographer and vice-admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy. He also served as director of the Russian-American Company and was the governor of Russian America from 1845 to 1850. Tebenkov was one of the most outstanding Russian surveyors of his time, dedicating significant effort to improving charts of the Alaskan coast. His work contributed greatly to the accuracy and reliability of navigational maps used during that era. Based on Archimandritov’s notes and manuscript maps, Tebenkof was the first to publish maps showing Tutka Bay and the icefield he named the Southern Glacier. In 1867, after the Alaska Purchase, George Davidson of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey described Tutka Bay as having two miles (3.2 km) of open water and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of moraine leading to the terminus of the Southern Glacier, which was about 0.75 miles (1.2 km) wide. At that time, the Southern Glacier was draped over the southern Kenai Mountains, flowing northwesterly to the head of Tutka Bay, southeasterly to Taylor Bay, and southwesterly to the western arm of Port Dick on the Gulf of Alaska coast.

Today, the Tutka River is located within Kachemak Bay State Park and Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park, which together cover 400,000 acres (161,874 ha). The park encompasses much of the Kachemak Bay shoreline, portions of the Kenai Mountains, Nuka Island, and waters in both Kachemak Bay and the Gulf of Alaska. It also includes lands on the west side of Nuka Passage and areas on the north side of Kachemak Bay, specifically the Cottonwood and Eastland Creek regions. The park is the first state park in the Alaska State Parks system to be designated by legislation. There is no road access from the highway system; most visitors arrive by plane, water taxi, or private boat from Homer. A new adventure trail, the Tutka Backdoor Trail, has been developed. It extends from the head of Tutka Bay for 21 miles (34 km) to Taylor Bay on the Gulf of Alaska coast. Read more here and here. Explore more of Tutka River and Southern Glacier here: