Thursday, March 8, 2007

Mt. McKinley



Here are two photos taken from our plane as we were traveling north from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Our pilot was so enthusiastic that we would be seeing such a clear, unclouded view.

The mountain peak on the right is Mt. McKinley, tallest mountain peak in North America. It is 20,320 ft. (6,194m.) The mountain peak on the left is Mt. Foraker at 17,400 ft. (5,303m.) For comparison, Mt. Everest in 29,028 ft. (8,844m.)

It is also interesting that Mt. Foraker is 14 MILES away from the peak of Mt. McKinley. Mt. McKinley is 130 mi. (209km) north of Anchorage. It is 155 mi. (249km) southwest of Fairbanks. We think we saw two of the five glaciers, one called Ruth and the other called Kahiltna.

There are some interesting facts and controversies about these two peaks, especially how they were named by various cultural and political groups. Mt. McKinley is located in the Denali National Park and Preserve. Most Alaskans call the mountain, Denali, an Athabascan name meaning "the great one." I recommend looking on Wikipedia for more information.

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