How tall is Mount McKinley or “Denali”?
Mt. McKinley, in Denali National Park, is the tallest peak in North America at 20,320 ft. Mt. McKinley includes two separate peaks; South Peak 20,320 feet and North Peak 19,470 feet. Mt. McKinley rises 18,000 feet above the surrounding area, greater than Mt. Everest which begins on a 14,000 foot plateau. Denali is so large it creates it’s own weather pattern, and many times the highest peak will be covered in clouds-as in the picture I took above. Mt. McKinley was named after a U.S. President that never visited Alaska. In the mid 1990’s the name officially changed to “Denali”, a native word meaning “The Great One”. If you ever hear someone talking about Mt. McKinley or Denali, it’s the same thing. “Tomatoe-Tamato”, “Potatoe-Patatoe”, “McKinley-Denali”; we’re Alaskans and it doesn’t have to make sense.
