Denali, or Mount McKinley. Alaska Landscapes

by Connie Fox

Title

Denali, or Mount McKinley. Alaska Landscapes

Artist

Connie Fox

Medium

Photograph - Outdoor Color Photo

Description

Denali, formerly known officially as Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America at 20,320 feet. That is the height of its tallest peak, the south summit. The north summit stands at 19,470 feet. Denali is a native word meaning High One. This famous mountain is located in Denali National Park and Preserve, comprising six million acres, about the size of the state of Massachusetts. It is part of the six-hundred-mile-long Alaska Range.

Only 30 percent of visitors to Alaska get to see Denali, so we were blessed to see it half a dozen times. Even on a clear day, it often is not visible (as we found out in Denali National Park while looking straight at it) because this massive mountain has its own climate system. I had never witnessed anything quite like it: We were looking at a clearly visible mountain range in Denali National Park, yet the main mountain--the focal point--was missing. Had we seen it that day, it would have been seen by us six times rather than five. A passenger from Canada said that, even in the middle of Canada, on a clear day one can see Mount McKinley, or Denali. It is that tall.

This clear, simple Alaska seascape photograph was captured from our cruise ship the evening it left port at Whittier, near Anchorage. With no zoom lens on my better camera, I grabbed my backup, a trusty Canon A630 point-and-shoot and captured this magnificent picture. As far as I know, this was our third and final encounter with Mount McKinley.

The mountain was officially renamed Denali the very day this picture was taken. President Obama had arrived in Anchorage for a three day visit to Alaska. Ironically President McKinley, after whom Mount McKinley was named, never visited Alaska.

Though our ship embarked at 8:30 p.m., and it may have been 9:30 p.m. when this image was shot, it looks like the middle of the day. That's because on August 31, when this was taken, the sun did not set until nearly midnight.

Copyright 2015 Connie Steitz Fox
All Rights Reserved
Canon A630
16x9 equivalent

FEATURED on the homepage of Just Perfect, February 2021; The Meandering Photographer and USA Photographers, February 2023.

Nominated by a fellow artist as a Special Feature in the Camera Art group, March 20, 2023.

Denali, or Mount McKinley
Alaska Landscapes and Landmarks by Connie Fox

Uploaded

September 29th, 2015

Statistics

Viewed 892 Times  -  Last Visitor from Romeo, MI on 04/17/2024 at 9:38 AM

Colors

Embed

Share

Sales Sheet

Tags