Denali is the big mountain in the clouds

Denali is huge, more than 20,000 feet tall, and most visitors to Denali National Park never see it. Did we see it? How can you be sure to see it during your visit?

There is no reason to be coy; you already know that we saw Denali during our visit based on the above picture. The big mountain was right behind the trees and our RV the whole time. But we were never sure about our plan or if our plan would deliver the desired results. For our entire stay, we didn’t know where to look. We dedicated twelve days, hoping to get a cloud-free picture of Denali, and were rewarded during the morning of our last day.

How you can be sure to see Denali

I don’t have any tricks to ensure that you see Denali. If you want a higher chance of success, you probably need to time your visit at the end of June (we did) and stay for about two weeks (we did that, too). Most visitors to the park fail to see Denali, and among the ones who do, most only get a partial view of the mountain.

Only 30% of visitors see any part of the mountain at Denali National Park. In the park, a partial viewing is considered a success. Nearly everyone will see pictures of the big mountain when in the park. Some will even buy a t-shirt that says, “I saw the mountain.” I bet many visitors buy the T-shirt; the only thing they see is a photo.

So how many visitors only see part of Denali peaking from behind the clouds and call it a success? I can’t say. I am willing to bet that the total number of visitors who see Denali on a blue sky day numbers about 5% of the total number of visitors. For us, we had a blue sky day on one day out of twelve and that blue sky disappeared that afternoon. If you have a blue sky day and are anywhere near Denali make sure you go to a well-known viewpoint. Blue sky days are rare and that doesn’t mean that the sky will be blue for the entire day.

Denali National Park is a sightseeing paradise.

Denali National Park is a sightseeing paradise, really. It is the only National Park that I know about where most visitors do not get to see the number one attraction. I am going to guess that every visitor to the Grand Canyon gets to see a view of the Grand Canyon. A view of Denali is not easy to get. A view of Denali without clouds is extremely hard to get.

On June 23, three days after we started camping in the park, we took the park shuttle bus tour 43 miles into Denali Nation Park. Even though we could have seen the Denali before our bus ride, it was always in the clouds.

Yes, the park is named after the mountain, but it was initially established to protect the Dall sheep. We didn’t see any Dall sheep. Actually, I think I saw and even photographed some Dall sheep, but they were well more than a mile away. You see white dots in a photo of Dall sheep from more than a mile away.

Dall Sheep are like other sheep we have seen during our travels. The difference is that Dall Sheep is completely white. We saw some Stone Sheep in the Yukon and have a picture of them. Even if you don’t care about the sheep, you should check out the pictures of a stunning lake. Stunning Northern Rockies on the Alaska Highway

You have to take the bus — unless

Private cars are not allowed beyond mile 15 into Denali National Park. Except during shoulder seasons when the bus does not operate. In the summer, you must take the bus to go deeper into the park. The only exception is for campers with reservations at remote camps.

Once you drive into a remote camp, you are not allowed to drive around inside the park, nor can you drive back out and then return to your camp. Our camper wouldn’t fit in these remote campgrounds anyway. If you have a smaller RV, perhaps you could drive in and then camp in the remote campgrounds and then use your bikes to move around the more remote parks.

You don’t have to take the bus. You could walk, but 43 miles is well outside my range for walking. Or you could ride bikes. Perhaps I could go 40 miles, but that would be within the round-trip range. You could also combine walking or bike riding with the bus, but you must have a bus pass to make a combination trip.

Be careful, however, with the bicycle idea. Bears love a nice chase before they have a people snack. You will not be able to outrun a bear,, so don’t try. Bears consider running an invitation to chase you and teach you that you cannot outrun a bear.

The bus ride was tolerable. It had much nicer seats than the similar ones that they used to transport prisoners from one jail to the next. It had typical school bus windows. Do prison buses have windows? We had a great driver who told us stories the entire way. Drivers don’t have to say anything, but ours was a talker. I enjoyed it.

Seeing Denali

On our bus trip, we saw the big mountain. It’s a good thing the driver pointed it out; I probably would have missed it and the following picture. I didn’t know where to look or even what I was looking for. Without the bus driver, I would have dismissed the view of Denali in the following photo as just another cloud.

About climbing Denali

Because of the wind and weather, Denali is a tough mountain to climb. The wind, weather, and bitter cold turn back lots of climbers. Unlike most huge mountains, Denali is at the far north latitudes, and it is very cold. Can you say arctic? The only thing about climbing Denali that makes it slightly easier than mountains in the Himalayas is that you don’t use oxygen during the climb. Climbing big mountains is never easy.

Near the Mountain View campground, we again saw the big mountain. This time, we knew what to look for. The Mountain View campground is quite the appropriate name for this campground. Again, the mountain was covered in clouds, but at least we could see it two days in a row. At this time, we were feeling pretty special.

It is hard to believe we saw the big mountain on two consecutive days. It was a good thing we saw it; it was our last day in the park. That was the bad news. We didn’t have to leave; instead, we had a different goal. If we drove about a hundred miles to the south, there was another viewpoint, and next door, there was a great campground.

All the previous views were from the northeast; maybe we could get lucky on the south side. So the next day, we left the National Park and moved into a State Park. Our stay in the National Park was six days, and we were going to be at our next campground for five days.

K’esugi Ken Campground

K’esugi Ken Campground is up the hill from a Denali Viewpoint South inside Denali State Park. This offered more chances to see the big mountain from a different perspective. However, we didn’t expect the weather to improve. Rain was in the forecast. Unlike our previous stop, except for getting a great view of the mountain, there wasn’t much to do except wait for the mountain to appear.

From K’esugi Ken, we scheduled an airplane ride up towards Denali, including a landing on a glacier. This would have been fun if the weather was good. The weather, however, wasn’t good, and because we had to drive to Talkeetna, which was on the far side of the river, we postponed and canceled the flight. Anyway, it would have been a long drive only to find that the weather there wasn’t great either. Later, I will tell you the other reason we canceled our flight.

Other than a drive to Trapper Creek one day to pick up the mail, we sat with occasional short drives over to the viewpoint only to take a couple of pictures of clouds and come back and sit again, waiting. One cool thing was that we saw a wolf during our drive to Trapper Creek. He was moving fast, so there was no chance of a picture. At Trapper Creek, we were looking for our mail. It was a real hunt. We started at the post office. The post office suggested that we try the gas station. She was right. Trapper Creek is a tiny town, and we were running out of places to look.

The weather finally cleared at K’esugi Kenon after four days of rain. We got to see Denali in good weather with a blue sky. The weather at our campsite was good, and I first went to check to see if the mountain was visible or if it was covered in clouds again. Hoping for a great view, I drove towards the viewpoint in our car. Before I exited the campground, I circled again to pick up Tami. The weather at the mountain, about a hundred miles away, was perfect.

In the above photo, you see how Denali is almost twice the elevation of the surrounding mountains. Mount Hunter is the large snowy peak to the left in the above picture. For perspective, Mount Hunter is 13,965 feet high. To add perspective on how big Denali is, Mount Hunter is nearly as tall as most of the highest mountains in Colorado. Denali is a huge mountain

What is next?

What did we do during the twelve days of clouds and rain while waiting to see the big mountain? We explored and kept a vigilant lookout for the large animals Denali National Park is known for. While there, we saw and got some excellent pictures of both Grizzly bears and moose. The other thing we did was nurse some illnesses, allergies, head colds, or was it Covid. Maybe it was Covid. If it was Covid, we survived, as you can tell by the pictures. Don’t miss our next blog post, where we will show off some great photos of big animals and tell the rest of the story.

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About our links

As you know, our blog income is zero, which allows us to be independent and tell the truth. We do not get income or commissions. No, we don’t make paid endorsements. We don’t make recommendations; instead, we will tell you what we like (or dislike). The links are only provided as a quick reference to help our readers.

Links

Denali National Park

Denali National Park Tour Bus Information

Alaska wildlife guide to Dall Sheep

Riding bicycles in Denali National Park

Climbing Denali Alaska Mountaineering School

K’esugi Ken Campground

Denali Viewpoint South

Denali State Park

Note, the three previous links all use the same photoshopped picture at the top. The picture is perfect except for the size of the mountain. The above selfie will give you a more realistic view. After all the mountain is more than one hundred miles from the viewpoint.

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