Let’s be honest. When it comes to mountains, size matters.
Mt. McKinley is the highest peak in North America, over 20,000 feet high. (To prove my point about size, can anyone name the second highest peak in North America?) From its base to its peak, Mt. McKinley has a larger rise than Mt. Everest.
The natives’ name for the mountain is Denali, and it’s sometimes referred by that name. The National Park surrounding the mountain is Denali National Park. Denali is an Athabascan word that roughly translates as “Holy crapola, will you look at the size of that mountain!”
Denali National Park and Preserve covers over 9000 square miles, roughly the size of the state of Maryland. There is only one road into the park, and that runs from the east entrance 90 miles into the park towards the mountain, where it ends, still some distance from the mountain’s base.
The road is only paved for the first 15 miles, and that’s the only part of the road that private vehicles can access. Beyond that, it’s a narrow, winding, gravel road and only park vehicles and park busses are allowed. There are several bus tours you can take into the park, and there are busses that ferry backpackers in to access points for remote campgrounds. The tour that goes all the way to Kantishna, an old gold mining camp at the end of the park road, is a 12 hour drive out and back.
The Kantishna roadhouse is also at the end of the road. It’s a lodge and cabin complex owned by the same native Alaskan company that runs the cabins outside the park that I’m staying in. Doubles at the Kantishna roadhouse start at $770 a night. You still have a 5-6 hour bus ride in to the lodge on the park road. But it's a nicer bus.
But I didn’t do any of this. There was plenty to do close to the Park entrance. Had a great hike on a nice trail that runs down the Savage River. The trailhead is at the turnaround point for private vehicles.
The park rangers maintain their own kennels and sled dogs. In the winter they patrol the park with sleds and sled dogs. I listened to a program at the kennels where a ranger talked about the dogs and then they had a short demonstration of the dogs pulling a sled. The pull is a short one because they don’t want to overheat the dogs in the 55 degree weather. The dogs’ ideal working temperature is minus 20.
But the dogs love to run and love to pull the sled. The ranger’s talk is about ten minutes long. Around nine minutes into the talk, the dogs in the kennels get restless and start barking. They’ve learned to anticipate when someone’s going to come and get some of them for the sled demo. Watching them pull the sled is amazing. If anyone’s interested, the dogs retire from working around age 6 or 7 (the ranger said the dogs let you know when they’re ready to give it up). There’s an active adoption program for the retired dogs, but the park kennels look for owners who live in a cool region and will provide the dogs an active environment. You can figure that Charlotte won’t count.
Everyone that comes to the park wants to see the mountain. And that’s not easy. There are good places to view the mountain on the roads outside the park (as far away as Anchorage and Fairbanks), and maybe one good place to view the mountain from the paved section of the road inside the park. There are plenty of other mountains in the Alaska Range to see, but much of the time McKinley is hidden behind them, or behind clouds.
So, I signed up for a flight up to and around the mountain. There are several companies that do these flights, one of which, Denali Air, was a couple of miles down the road from my cabin.
The flight was on a six passenger Piper Navajo and lasted about an hour and a quarter. Along the way, you get to see a lot of the park, and you get to see the mountain, sometimes up real close. There was spotty cloud cover, but the pilot managed to get in and around the mountain, and both North and South peaks. We were close enough to see the major climbing route to the peak and some tents at the camps at the 11,000 and 12,000 foot level. Pretty awesome.
(BTW – the second highest peak in North America? There’s a clue in the previous paragraph. Or, if you have a different view of prominence, the second highest peak is Mount Logan, down the road a piece in the Kluane National Park. You didn’t know that either.)
Mt. McKinley is the highest peak in North America, over 20,000 feet high. (To prove my point about size, can anyone name the second highest peak in North America?) From its base to its peak, Mt. McKinley has a larger rise than Mt. Everest.
The natives’ name for the mountain is Denali, and it’s sometimes referred by that name. The National Park surrounding the mountain is Denali National Park. Denali is an Athabascan word that roughly translates as “Holy crapola, will you look at the size of that mountain!”
Denali National Park and Preserve covers over 9000 square miles, roughly the size of the state of Maryland. There is only one road into the park, and that runs from the east entrance 90 miles into the park towards the mountain, where it ends, still some distance from the mountain’s base.
The road is only paved for the first 15 miles, and that’s the only part of the road that private vehicles can access. Beyond that, it’s a narrow, winding, gravel road and only park vehicles and park busses are allowed. There are several bus tours you can take into the park, and there are busses that ferry backpackers in to access points for remote campgrounds. The tour that goes all the way to Kantishna, an old gold mining camp at the end of the park road, is a 12 hour drive out and back.
The Kantishna roadhouse is also at the end of the road. It’s a lodge and cabin complex owned by the same native Alaskan company that runs the cabins outside the park that I’m staying in. Doubles at the Kantishna roadhouse start at $770 a night. You still have a 5-6 hour bus ride in to the lodge on the park road. But it's a nicer bus.
But I didn’t do any of this. There was plenty to do close to the Park entrance. Had a great hike on a nice trail that runs down the Savage River. The trailhead is at the turnaround point for private vehicles.
The park rangers maintain their own kennels and sled dogs. In the winter they patrol the park with sleds and sled dogs. I listened to a program at the kennels where a ranger talked about the dogs and then they had a short demonstration of the dogs pulling a sled. The pull is a short one because they don’t want to overheat the dogs in the 55 degree weather. The dogs’ ideal working temperature is minus 20.
But the dogs love to run and love to pull the sled. The ranger’s talk is about ten minutes long. Around nine minutes into the talk, the dogs in the kennels get restless and start barking. They’ve learned to anticipate when someone’s going to come and get some of them for the sled demo. Watching them pull the sled is amazing. If anyone’s interested, the dogs retire from working around age 6 or 7 (the ranger said the dogs let you know when they’re ready to give it up). There’s an active adoption program for the retired dogs, but the park kennels look for owners who live in a cool region and will provide the dogs an active environment. You can figure that Charlotte won’t count.
Everyone that comes to the park wants to see the mountain. And that’s not easy. There are good places to view the mountain on the roads outside the park (as far away as Anchorage and Fairbanks), and maybe one good place to view the mountain from the paved section of the road inside the park. There are plenty of other mountains in the Alaska Range to see, but much of the time McKinley is hidden behind them, or behind clouds.
So, I signed up for a flight up to and around the mountain. There are several companies that do these flights, one of which, Denali Air, was a couple of miles down the road from my cabin.
The flight was on a six passenger Piper Navajo and lasted about an hour and a quarter. Along the way, you get to see a lot of the park, and you get to see the mountain, sometimes up real close. There was spotty cloud cover, but the pilot managed to get in and around the mountain, and both North and South peaks. We were close enough to see the major climbing route to the peak and some tents at the camps at the 11,000 and 12,000 foot level. Pretty awesome.
(BTW – the second highest peak in North America? There’s a clue in the previous paragraph. Or, if you have a different view of prominence, the second highest peak is Mount Logan, down the road a piece in the Kluane National Park. You didn’t know that either.)
2 comments:
Biggen, see the Huskies are blowing there coat. I'm jealous...miss having Huskies,there great dogs! Reminds me once when I was walking all three,( yes I had three Huskies ) and Oscar and Bo saw a squirrel and took off. I landed flat on my ass,a bit dazed before I could get up. Love the pic of the little creature.
Love, Littelyn
Alan
The pictures of the mountain and the flight sound amazing. Sorry I didn't post yesterday, kind of busy. Bob got back from Charleston today and we realized your on the back half of your trip. We will have alot to talk about when you get back.
John
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