15 Fascinating Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Denali National Park
By Courtney|Published June 24, 2016
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Courtney
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Living and loving life in Alaska, Courtney enjoys living a happy life based on simple principles; work hard, be kind, stay humble. She is an avid dog lover with hobbies that include running, fly fishing, hiking & snowboarding.
Denali National Park & Preserve is one of the most visited attractions in the last frontier. These 6 million acres of interior wilderness are filled with more majesty and beauty than your eyes and soul can handle without being completely lost in translation. Visitors enjoy the mighty peaks of the Alaska Range, diverse terrain made up of tundra and spruce forests, and a seemingly endless list of enchanting wildlife in their natural habitats.
This outdoor wonderland is an excellent place for adventurers to hike, backpack, camp and bike. Or you can just jump on a bus and sit back, relax and enjoy 93 miles of spectacular sights. If you’re going to do one thing this summer, be sure to take time out of your schedule to enjoy this truly unique and untouched piece of paradise. Before you go, make sure you check out these 15 fascinating facts about the park and be prepared to get blown away by both the beauty and the history.
As you make your journey through DNP, you might be surprised to learn that you will actually be following in the footsteps of individuals tracing back to the last Ice Age 12,000 years ago.
In 1896, a gold prospector by the name of William Dickey (who came to Alaska during the Cook Inlet gold rush) named the tallest mountain in the park, Mt. McKinley after the presidential nominee at the time, William McKinley. It was said that he named it after McKinley because of his support for the gold rush and gold standard. The president was, however, from Ohio and never even visited the state of Alaska. In 2015, the mountain was officially changed to the name that the locals always referred to it as; Denali.
DNP is home to the highest peak in North America, Denali. Called "The High One" in language of the Athabascan tribe, this towering peak stands at 20,320 feet above sea level.
The year of 1910 marked the first time that anyone had successfully summited Denali. It was a group of local residents who celebrated with hot chocolate and donuts.
Denali is so tall that it actually "makes its own weather." On a clear day you can actually see the mountain from the Anchorage International Airport, Earthquake Park in Anchorage, Flattop in Anchorage, Willow, Talkeetna, Trapper Creek, Petersville Road, Mile Marker 135 of the Park Hwy, Mile Marker 163 of the Parks Hwy, Mile 9 on the DNP Park Road, Reflection Pond at Wonder Lake and the University campus overlook in Fairbanks.
For one of the most unobstructed and "up close and personal" views of Denali, you’ll want to park your behind at Wonder Lake and just sit back and take in the majesty.
The wood frog is the only amphibian to call DNP home. These frogs actually freeze solid in the wintertime and their hearts stops beating and lungs do not breathe in air until the spring thaw.
A great amount of current knowledge about wolves came from right inside DNP. A biologist named Adolf Murie wrote a book called "The Wolves of Mt. McKinley" after spending time studying the habitat inside the park (primarily at Polychrome Pass). In the book he describes in length why wolves are an essential part of our ecosystem. He explains that their tendency to capture the weak actually assisted in keeping the population of prey robust and vigorous.
You might be surprised to learn that you can count on one hand the number of trails in DNP that there are in the park that are maintained by the park. A couple of those include the Taiga Loop Trail and Horseshoe Lake Trail. Although this number is oddly low considering that it is a National Park, there are an unlimited number of hiking opportunities in the park of the 93 mile road system. They are just more organic and off the beaten path. Nothing beats hiking on soft tundra, let me tell you!
The upper half Denali is covered with snow and several glaciers. The extreme temperatures on the mountain can range from -75 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chills arount -118 degrees Fahrenheit. The extreme cold is said to be able to freeze a human in an instant.
Do you know any other fascinating facts about Denali National Park that you’d like to add to the list? We’d love to hear your knowledge in the Facebook comments below!
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