If I’m taking you on a south to north journey through the middle of Alaska, it would be wrong not to take a quick stop to visit North America’s tallest mountain, Mount Denali. On this stretch of travel, I did not end up meeting with anyone for All the Genders.  My energy had been running low on my second trip through here, and seemed to have no luck with some minimal networking efforts around Denali National Park.  So as far as QueerVentures go … I can at least tell you I felt incredibly comfortable traveling through this region as a queer person, and also want to share an interesting piece of history to go with my photos. 

Mount Denali vs Mount McKinley

The name of North America’s largest mountain has more than a century’s worth of controversy mired in political battles that highlight the effacement of Alaska Native cultures and attempts to preserve languages and cultures that are still visible and alive throughout Alaska today.  

Five Athabascan languages surrounding Mount Denali National Park translate to a variety of terms that describe the mountain, to include “the great mountain,” “the tall one,” and “mountain-big.”  Deenaalee led to use of the term Denali as the most well known translation.  Russian explorers in the 1800’s also used names that described the mountain such as the “great mountain” and the “stupendous snow mountains.”   

Cultures where it was normal to name a landmark with an apt description quickly became overshadowed by America’s culture of naming landmarks after often irrelevant people.   The Alaskan gold rushes momentarily brought the name Densmore Mountain, after a gold prospector names Densmore who just really liked the mountain.  Another gold-prospector particularly admired President McKinley, so he called it Mount McKinley in an 1897 New York Sun Article.  President McKinley had very minimal involvement in Alaska himself, and never set foot in the state.   Despite this, the name was popularized in the lower 48 after his assassination in 1901.  

Alaska Natives and others closely associated with Alaska’s interior puzzled and pushed back against the new name, and continued to call it Mount Denali.  For several decades, there was fierce opposition to petitions for the original name, particularly by Ohio Republicans (McKinley was a Republican born in Ohio).  In 2015, the mountain’s name was finally changed back to Denali.   Soon to be President Trump also opposed the decision and pledged to change it back to McKinley again, however, received no support from Alaskan lawmakers who cited that Mount Denali has been the mountain’s name for 10,000 years.  The name change doesn’t seem to have received any major news coverage since 2018. So, here’s to hoping that all Americans in the lower 48 have survived the survival of a piece of the Athabascan language to mark one of America’s most iconic landforms. 

Visiting Mount Denali

Plan way ahead to visit Denali National Park, and plan to not see Mount Denali.  Plan ahead for limited lodging options and to grab a spot on a park bus to tour the only road which is mostly closed to private vehicles.  Then there’s perhaps less than a 10-30% chance that summertime visitors will see the “Great One” on any given day of the week.  North America’s highest peak is formidable with some temperamental weather systems.  

When I worked on a wildlife refuge that was far south of Denali, I met a stream of visitors who were doing a north to south tour of Alaska.  Denali was one of their most anticipated stops.  The vast majority of them expressed their disappointment that they never actually saw the impressive mountain.   It was shrouded in a thick layer of clouds.  So, I set realistic expectations on my first trip further north to not see the majestic mountain.  

My partner and I only planned one full day into his vacation for Denali National Park.  As the sky cleared that morning, the white mountain seemed to loom over the highway from hundreds of miles away.  Yes!! I was stoked!  We were in luck!  So instead of going into the park itself where the only open road was closed to public traffic and still far from the mountain itself, we hiked up to a ridge in a state park that was closer to us but still only 50 miles from the mountain.   The hike up this ridge through the glowing autumn tundra colors made for an epically memorable travel day.     

Thank you for keeping me company on this journey of QueerVentures heading north! To keep journeying another 120 miles north, check out Fairbanks, Alaska, where it’s easy to find an eclectic range of people, experiences, and hopefully you won’t have a moose collision as I did!

September 2022, July 2023