Lake, Alaska, U.S. The largest lake in Alaska and the second largest freshwater lake entirely within the U.S., it is 80 mi (129 km) long and 25 mi (40 km) wide and covers an area of 1,000 sq mi (2,600 sq km).
Located west of Cook Inlet in southwestern Alaska, it drains southwest into Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea. The active Iliamna Volcano, 10,016 ft (3,053 m) high, lies northeast of the lake. It was named by Tanaina Indians, whose mythology held that it was inhabited by a giant blackfish capable of biting holes in canoes.