At this point in my Alaska work trip, I have only seen Denali from the ground and from a long distance away. It was really only back in May that I was able to see it pretty clearly. The opportunity to hop on a flight around Denali came up, so I jumped on it. Here is a link to check out local weather.
The weather around Denali is usually pretty difficult to predict. It is in constant change. The flight was going to be canceled as some rain was in the area – in fact as we were taking off it was raining. Once we were in the air we were able to get away from the rain clouds luckily.
The views as you can imagine were spectacular. I was told by the pilot that the only way to see Denali is by plane. It didn’t take long to realize that he was certainly correct. All of these pictures in the gallery are screen shots from a GoPro Hero 8 Black video footage. The rest of the pictures are from a Google Pixel 6 Pro.
Denali formally known as Mount McKinley has a peak of 20,310 feet. This is the tallest peak in North America and is the centerpiece of Denali National Park.
The name certainly has caused some confusion of what name is official: McKinley or Denali? While local Koyukon people have called it Denali for centuries, a gold prospector in 1896 named the peak Mount McKinley. This was in support of then-running presidential candidate William McKinley. The name Mount McKinley was recognized by the federal government from 1917 to 2015 when it was changed to Denali.
The tour is well recommended for an amazing experience. Every flight will vary because of what the weather wants to do. I think my flight was some good luck as much of the day shrouded Denali in heavy rain clouds.
Life is short – make an adventure happen.