Denali National Park - Alaska and Points North: Tips and Tales from the Road - page 142

Mount McKinley - Denali
The highest mountain in North America was called Denali by the Athabaskan Indians for
whom the region was home. In 1896 a prospector decided to rename it “McKinley” after
a presidential nominee, despite the fact this man had no connection to Alaska. There were
protests, but it took till 1980 for the name to be changed back to Denali. Even so, the U.S.
Board of Geographic Names still shows the mountain as McKinley. We never saw it called
anything but McKinley, even in Alaska, so I'll stick with that for now.
At 6,200 m /20,320 ft, 75% of Mt McKinley towers over everything else in Alaska and is
covered by permanent snowfields. This makes for a spectacular vista. Unfortunately that
height also means that every cloud wandering by bumps into it and gets stuck. The mountain
is fully visible only 20% of the time.
Wherever you are in Alaska you need to keep a fix on where you are in relation to McKinley
because if it is a clear day you want to be looking for it. Somewhere along the road I picked
up the following list of “G ood places to see Denali from”
 Anchorage Intl Airport Terminal - look north as you walk out the door
 Earthquake Park in Anchorage - that is Mt Foraker (17,400 ft) on left and
McKinley (20,322 ft) on the right
 Driving up the George Parks Hwy, you will start getting glimpses of McKinley
from Milepost 69 onwards.
 From Talkeetna - stop at the hilltop pullout, just before you enter town.
 Trapper Creek (Milepost 115) and Petersville Road
 Denali Viewpoint South at Mile 135 Denali State Park on the Park Hwy
 Denali Viewpoint North Mile 163 Denali State Park on the Parks Hwy
 Pull off at Mile 9 on the Park Road in Denali National Park
 Reflection Pond at Wonder Lake in Denali National Park
 University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks
Climbing Mount McKinley - Denali
About 1,200 people try to climb the mountain each year - about 50% of them summit. Most
climbers “jump off” from the small town of Talkeetna just off the Parks Hwy. From Talkeet-