September 17, 2025
These next two posts will include photos from my first trip to Denali. This first post will show pictures taken on my way north from Anchorage. I have taken LOTS of pictures but have gone through them and selected the best ones for posting.
The name of the mountain itself is subject to some debate but I still call it Denali, as that was the original name given to the mountain centuries ago by the indigenous people who lived here. The name McKinley was first proposed in 1896 to honor candidate, and then President, William McKinley. It was officially changed in 1917 and remained until 2015 when it was changed back to Denali. Our current president changed it back to McKinley in early 2025, shortly after being elected. The National Park has always been called Denali.
My day actually started off with me driving south from Anchorage towards another destination. I stopped at a pullout area next to the highway to take a photo of something and as I was walking back to my car this is what I saw looking north.
It was a clear morning and I immediately knew that what I was seeing in the distance was what I call the “Denali Complex” – a group of mountains in the Alaska Range. That photo was taken at 813am.
I have learned that only about 1/3 of the people who travel to see Mt. Denali actually get to see it because of its tendency to shroud itself in clouds. When I saw it basking in the sun I told myself “I need to go there RIGHT NOW” and immediately turned my car around and headed north. Using the “calculate distance” feature in Google Maps I determined that I was currently 146 air miles (direct point-to-point) from Mt. Denali, though driving there would be much further and it would take over three hours to get to what I later determined was the best and closest viewing spot that was accessible to me.
Here is a map which shows some of the nearby landmarks I will be talking about in these two posts.
(Photo credit: Alaska.org The Alaska Map)
You can see the names of seven of the major mountains. I will only be talking about three in these two posts: Mt. Foraker (Wife), Mt. Hunter (Child) and Mt. Denali (High One). Hunter is harder to find but it is just above the letter ‘R’ in Range, and is closer to the highway than the other two.
For me the best photo opportunity would be at the South Viewpoint, at the bottom of the map, above the white 3 indicating the highway number. I made a dot and wrote the letter V to show approximately where the viewpoint is (though it is actually on the left side of the road driving north). You can also see on the map that even from the viewpoint the mountains are still pretty far away, and the entrance to Denali National Park is way up at the top of the map, over 100 driving miles from the South Viewpoint.
I saw a sign in “Earthquake Park” on the north side of Anchorage where the Denali mountains are sometimes visible on a clear day. A sign there indicated it is 135 air miles away, so I was already over 10 miles further away, and driving there is not a straight shot.
As I drove north, when I got close to the town of Talkeetna I could see Mt. Denali ahead of me.
I tried enlarging the image by cropping out some of the top and bottom but it didn’t really improve the image and I thought I would leave it alone so you could see exactly what I was seeing. I’m not sure exactly where I was when I took that photo at 1021am but I believe I was about 78 air miles away.
Just before getting to the South Viewpoint I noticed Mt. McKinley Lodge Road to the right side of the highway which appeared to climb a hill. I thought that might give me a better perspective so I drove up a short ways and found a spot where I could park and have an opening in the trees.
From that vantage point this was the view of Mt. Denali:
It looks very different from the photo I took south of Talkeetna because of the angle. There is a shorter range of mountains (not currently covered by snow) between where I was and the mountain itself. The highest peak on Denali is obvious and is 20,310 feet above sea level – making it the highest mountain in North America. That is the South peak. The North peak is slightly to the right and is further away from this spot. It rises 19,470 feet above sea level.
This is a shot of Mt. Denali and Mount Hunter, to the left.
Again, Hunter is shorter, at around 14,000 feet, although it is closer to the highway. From this angle it is almost completely hidden by the black mountains in front of it. The part blocking Hunter from this vantage point is about 4,200 feet tall but it is even closer to the highway, making it an effective impediment to seeing Hunter.
Further to the left is Mt. Foraker. This is the best photograph I have of it:
The other photos above were taken with my smartphone camera but this photo of Foraker was taken with my digital camera and zoom lens. Foraker is 17,400 feet tall, and even with that elevation, from other vantage points it is barely visible due to the black mountains. You will see that in the next post.
Here is a photo of all three mountains, taken with my smartphone.
And here is a photo of Denali taken with the zoom lens from this spot:
I estimate that I was 43 air miles from Denali at this spot. The photos from this vantage point were taken around 1114am – three hours after I turned around earlier this morning.
The photos in my next post are the best ones I have of Denali and Hunter. As you will see, you will hardly be able to see Foraker from the South Viewpoint, which is only about three miles from here, further up Hwy 3.
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