So here’s an example of how the facts that I learnt in history are no longer true. Mt. McKinley is not called that anymore. It has been returned to its’ original name, Denali, meaning “great one”. Denali is the tallest peak in North America standing at an incredible 20,237 feet. In the late 1800’s a gold prospector (William Dickey) changed the name of the mountain from the original Denali to Mt. McKinley to sway the president of the United States to back the US Dollar with gold rather than silver because Alaska was rich in gold. In the 1970’s Alaska changed the name back to Denali and in 2015 President Obama officially changed it back to Denali. So the mountain and the National Park are both called Denali.
Luckily the first day we arrived we unhooked the jeep and drove 15 miles into the park (the farest that you can personally drive in) and we were able to see Denali. The peak creates its’ own weather and you can only see it about 1/3 of the time. Of the three days we were there we only got to see it one day – back into the majority…
We took a beautiful hike as deep in as we could drive:
If you look closely you can see our jeep parked in the parking lot in the upper left hand corner. Keenan is sitting on the next peak back in the upper right picture and Kat is resting there also. What a great hike with fabulous views. We were lucky to see Denali as we talked with many people at different campgrounds who did not get to see it at all.
The next day we took the green bus into the park to the visitor’s center which is about half way down the road. We didn’t go the entire way because it would take nine hours and who wants to be on a bus (not the Busse Bus) for that long? Good thing that we didn’t pay for the whole trip as it was very foggy and we were not able to see what I’m sure was beautiful scenery and wildlife. Pictured below is the sign for Denali pointing out the different peaks and also some wildlife (yes I mean Ari and Kat as well!).
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