Denali — Peak Field Guide No. 05

Denali takes the Alaska Range slot in this week’s field-guide rotation: a 20,310 ft North American high point inside Denali National Park and Preserve, whose current NPS pages use Mount McKinley for the peak while the park name remains Denali. The park was established in 1917 as Mount McKinley National Park and expanded / renamed Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980. 12

This five-card set covers the peak identity, a Kahiltna Base Camp to summit elevation profile, Denali’s elevation-based vegetation zones, a six-species wildlife and flora grid, and practical field notes for park hiking versus a summit expedition.

The glacier figures on the cover and profile come from NPS glacier materials: Denali’s glaciers cover about one million acres, roughly one-sixth of the park, with a 2010 inventory counting 881 glaciers; the Kahiltna Glacier is the longest in the park and Alaska Range at about 44 miles. 34

The vegetation card uses NPS elevation bands: lowlands below 2,133 ft, subalpine from 2,132-3,117 ft, and alpine above 3,117 ft. Because NPS does not publish park-wide acreage percentages for these three bands on the source page, the percentages are labeled as a Denali Visitor Center-to-summit vertical-stack estimate, not official park acreage. 5

The species grid follows NPS wildlife and plant pages: Denali has 39 mammal species, 169 bird species, and nearly 2,000 vascular and nonvascular plant species; the selected icons pair the park’s “big five” mammals with lowland and alpine plant markers. 567

For field planning, the park’s main visitor season runs May 20 through mid-September. The day-hike benchmark is Mount Healy Overlook: 2.7 miles one-way with 1,700 ft of gain, making it a 5.4 mile out-and-back if returned by the same route. Denali / Mount McKinley summit climbers must register at least 60 days before the climb, pay the 2026 $450 mountaineering special-use fee plus the $15 park entrance fee unless covered by a pass, and attend an in-person orientation at the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station. 891011