Hotham Inlet

Hotham Inlet, also called Kobuk Lake, is a major inlet on the eastern side of Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska. Roughly 50 miles long and 5 to 20 miles wide, it is one of the largest deep embayments on this coast. It is the outlet for the Kobuk and Selawik rivers, while the Noatak reaches the sea at its north end. Its form is strongly shaped by the broad Kobuk River delta, whose many channels, lakes, and lagoons have gradually extended seaward and altered the inlet’s shallow waters. Named in 1826 by Captain Frederick William Beechey, it remains an important coastal waterway where river, delta, and sound meet.

Kotzebue, Alaska · United States