Denali in the context of "Denali National Park"

Play Trivia Questions online!

or

Skip to study material about Denali in the context of "Denali National Park"

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Denali

Denali (/dəˈnɑːli/ də-NAH-lee), federally designated as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land, measuring 18,000 ft (5,500 m). With a topographic prominence of 20,156 feet (6,144 m) and a topographic isolation of 4,621.1 miles (7,436.9 km), Denali is the third most prominent and third-most isolated peak on Earth, after Mount Everest and Aconcagua. Located in the Alaska Range in the interior of the U.S. state of Alaska, Denali is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.

The Koyukon people who inhabit the area around the mountain have referred to the peak as "Denali" for centuries. In 1896, a gold prospector named it "Mount McKinley" in support of then-presidential candidate William McKinley, who later became the 25th president; McKinley's name was the official name recognized by the federal government of the United States from 1917 until 2015. In August 2015, 40 years after Alaska had officially named the mountain Denali, the United States Department of the Interior under the Obama administration changed the official federal name of the mountain also to Denali. In January 2025, the Department of the Interior under the Trump administration reverted the mountain's official federal name to Mount McKinley.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<

👉 Denali in the context of Denali National Park

Denali National Park and Preserve, formerly known as Mount McKinley National Park, is a United States national park and preserve located in Interior Alaska, centered on Denali (federally designated as Mount McKinley), the highest mountain in North America. The park and contiguous preserve encompass 6,045,153 acres (2,446,387 ha; 9,446 sq mi; 24,464 km) which is larger than the state of New Hampshire. On December 2, 1980, 2,146,580-acre (3,354 sq mi; 8,687 km) Denali Wilderness was established within the park. Denali's landscape is a mix of forest at the lowest elevations, including deciduous taiga, with tundra at middle elevations, and glaciers, snow, and bare rock at the highest elevations. The longest glacier is Kahiltna Glacier. Wintertime activities include dog sledding, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling. The park received 594,660 recreational visitors in 2018.

↓ Explore More Topics
In this Dossier

Denali in the context of Cook Inlet

Cook Inlet (Tanaina: TikahtnuSugpiaqCungaaciq) stretches 180 miles (290 km) from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its southern end, it merges with the Shelikof Strait, Stevenson Entrance, Kennedy Entrance and Chugach Passage.

The Cook Inlet and both its arms are bodies of brackish water, containing a turbid mix of ocean salt-water and freshwater runoff from the various rivers and streams. The narrow channel of the inlet funnels the tides creating very fast-moving currents, rip tides, and occasional bore tides. Cook Inlet watershed is the most populated watershed in Alaska. The watershed covers about 100,000 km (39,000 sq mi) of southern Alaska, east of the Aleutian Range, south and east of the Alaska Range, receiving water from its tributaries, which include the Knik River, the Little Susitna River, the Susitna and Matanuska rivers, Eagle River, Ship Creek, Resurrection Creek, Portage Creek, Kenai River, and many others. The watershed includes the drainage areas of Denali and is the collection point for the runoff from many surrounding glaciers, leading to the high turbidity and large silt deposits. Within the watershed there are several national parks and the active volcano Mount Redoubt, along with three other historically active volcanoes. Cook Inlet provides navigable access to the port of Anchorage at the northern end, and to the smaller Homer port further south. Before the growth of Anchorage, Knik was the destination for most marine traffic in upper Cook Inlet. Approximately 400,000 people live within the Cook Inlet watershed.

↑ Return to Menu

Denali in the context of Explorers Grand Slam

The Explorer's Grand Slam, also known as the Adventurer's Grand Slam, is an adventurer goal to reach the North Pole and South Pole, as well as climb the Seven Summits: Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Vinson, and Puncak Jaya or Kosciuszko.

↑ Return to Menu

Denali in the context of Fourteener

In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener (also spelled 14er) is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least 14,000 ft (4267 m). The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has 53 fourteeners, the most of any single state. Alaska has 29, the second most of any single state. Many peak baggers try to climb all fourteeners in the contiguous United States, or in one particular state, or in another region.

↑ Return to Menu

Denali in the context of Alaska Range

The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 600-mile-long (970-kilometer) mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest end to the White River in Canada's Yukon Territory in the southeast. Denali, the highest mountain in North America, is in the Alaska Range. The range is part of the American Cordillera.

The Alaska Range is one of the highest mountain ranges in the world, after the Himalayas and the Andes.

↑ Return to Menu

Denali in the context of Interior Alaska

Interior Alaska is the central region of Alaska's territory, roughly bounded by the Alaska Range to the south and the Brooks Range to the north. It is largely wilderness. Mountains include Denali in the Alaska Range, the Wrangell Mountains, and the Ray Mountains. The native people of the interior are Alaskan Athabaskans. The largest city in the interior is Fairbanks, Alaska's second-largest city, in the Tanana Valley. Other towns include North Pole, just southeast of Fairbanks, Eagle, Tok, Glennallen, Delta Junction, Nenana, Anderson, Healy, and Cantwell. The interior region has an estimated population of 113,154.

↑ Return to Menu

Denali in the context of Kahiltna Glacier

Kahiltna Glacier is the longest glacier of the Alaska Range in the U.S. state of Alaska. It starts on the southwest slope of Denali near Kahiltna Pass (elevation 10,320 ft (3,150 m)). Its main channel runs almost due south between Mount Foraker to the west and Mount Hunter to the east. The name was first reported as "Car-ilt-nu Glacier" by Alaska Range explorer Lt. J.S. Herron in 1902. An alternate name is Kagheltnu Li'a. Kahiltna Glacier is the longest glacier in the Alaska Range at 44 miles (71 km) in length.

↑ Return to Menu