Alaska's largest lake, Lake Iliamna, is about as long as Connecticut is wide at 77 miles. Local residents have a number of stories about the alleged Iliamna Lake Monster, known as Illie to many locals, Jig-ik-nak in Tlingit, or Gonakadet in Aleutian, an aquatic cryptid reported to dwell in the waters of this small Alaskan fishing village. Over the years, there have been enough reported sightings to lure the Animal Planet show River Monsters in attempt to find out what may be hiding beneath the lake's waters.

With a consolidated land area of 2,870.3 square miles (7,434 square kilometres) and total area (including water) of 4,811.4 square miles (12,461 square kilometres), Sitka is the largest city-borough in the United States--larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island.

There are no lizards, freshwater turtles, or snakes in Alaska. The only reptiles in Alaska are rare sightings of sea turtles.

The forget-me-not (Myosotis) is a small clump-forming plant that grows 5 to 12" high in mountain meadows. The fragrant flowers have five rounded blue petals, with a white inner ring and a yellow center. The best time to spot forget-me-nots is midsummer, from late June to late July.

Alaska was officially proclaimed the 49th state on January 3, 1959.

Of the 20 highest peaks in the U.S., 17 are in Alaska, including Denali (formerly known as Mount McKinley), the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level.

The Moose (Alces alces) is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family, and the Alaskan moose (Alces alces gigas) is the largest North American subspecies, weighing up to 1,800 lb (820 kg) and standing nearly 8 ft (2.4 m) tall.

Most of Alaska is surrounded by water. To the north and northwest, respectively, are two Alaska bodies of water, the Beaufort Sea and the Chukchi Sea, both of which merge into the Arctic Ocean. To the southeast is the Gulf of Alaska, which blends into the Pacific Ocean. The Bering Sea is to the southwest.

The king salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) was designated the state fish of Alaska in 1962. King salmon hatch in fresh water, spend part of their life in the ocean, then return to the fresh water stream where they were born to spawn (they die after spawning). Some salmon travel more than 2,000 river miles over a 60-day period to reach their home streams.

Alaska is one of the most seismically active places in the world. 11% of the world's earthquakes and 3 of the six largest in recorded history were located there. Since 1900, Alaska has had one magnitude 7 or 8 earthquake per year, 45 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or 7, and 10,000 quakes overall annually.