Alaska Day 2 - Our First Mt. McKinley Sighting

Our first Denali sighting as we were driving up the Parks Highway

Another motorist also pulled over taking pictures

Chuck gave me a new camera for our anniversary. Here's a picture using the 15x zoom

View of the Chugach Mountains as seen along the Parks Highway

Mount McKinley is only visible along the Parks Highway in a couple of different locations. I saw it first and thought it was a cloud, then realized it was a HUGE white mountain. We both were really excited and stopped to take some pictures. We were about 75 miles from the mountain when I took these pictures. The mountain is visible from both Anchorage and Fairbanks on clear days.

The official name of the mountain is Mount McKinley. Alaska has been trying to get the name changed to Denali for over 25 years but representatives from Ohio (President McKinley's home state) keep putting up road blocks to prevent the name change from being approved by Congress. Denali, the native Alaskan name, means "the Great One". The mountain is only visible about 20% of the time. The mountain is so massive it creates it's own weather systems and is often engulfed in clouds.

Mount McKinley is 20,320 feet tall making it the highest mountain in North America. The mountain is part of the 600 mile Alaska range. While Mount Everest is taller at 29,029 feet, Mount McKinley has a larger bulk and rise as measured from sea level (18,000 feet) and is considered a more difficult climb due to the higher latitude. About 50% of the climbers who make the attempt are successful.