The Matanuska River is a river, approximately 75 miles (120 km) long, in Southcentral Alaska, United States. It drains a broad valley south of the Alaska Range eponymously known as the Matanuska Valley.
Its headwaters are at Matanuska Glacier in the northern Chugach Mountains, approximately 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Anchorage. It flows generally west-southwest through the Mat-Su Valley, between the Chugach range to the south and the Talkeetna Mountains to the north. It flows past Glacier View, Chickaloon, Sutton-Alpine Palmer, Butte, and enters the Knik River shortly before finally entering the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet from the northeast approximately 25 mi (40 km) northeast of Anchorage. It is bridged near the glacier, at Palmer by old and new bridges, and on the Hayflats by the Alaska Railroad bridge, and two highway bridges one going each way. Most of it is considered a class II float, though the seriousness can be greater at high flows. Its flows can range from 800 cfs in the winter and early spring to over 25,000 cfs. In the past and present, it has claimed a fair amount of nearby houses and infrastructure. It is gauged near Palmer. In addition to the glacier, it is fed from numerous streams draining the Talkeetna and Chugach ranges, including Gypsum Creek, Hicks Creek, Purinton Creek, Caribou Creek, Coal Creek, Granite Creek, King River, Moose Creek, Wolverine Creek, The palmer sewage treatment facility, and numerous other named and unnamed streams. It generally freezes in the winter, providing some ice skating of various danger levels. Ice depths vary greatly, and open water can be seen all year round, with shore ice lasting well into mid may. It carries a large amount of sediment; during the summer it is typically thick grey colored, and much clearer in the winter and at low flows. The river is roughly paralleled by the Glenn Highway.
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