Denali: The Alaskan Wild

01This week on our national parks journey, we travel to the largest state in terms of land area, Alaska.

02Alaska is home to more national parks than any other state.

03It is also home to North America's tallest mountain, the 6,190-meter-high Denali Peak.

04The peak gives the surrounding protected area its name.

05Welcome to Denali National Park in central Alaska.

06Denali's grounds cover more than 2.4 million hectares.

07Within the park are glaciers, clear rivers, peaceful forests, and wildlife such as wolves, moose, bears, and sheep.

08Denali National Park seems huge.

09Yet only one road goes through the park.

10Hundreds of thousands of visitors travel down that road each year to experience the Alaskan wild.

11Denali National Park was first established almost 100 years ago.

12At the time, the park and North America's tallest mountain were known by another name.

13Many Americans knew the famous peak as Mount McKinley.

14In the late 1800s, gold miners unofficially named the peak after William McKinley, the 25th U.S.

15President.

16At the time, McKinley was still a presidential candidate.

17McKinley himself never traveled anywhere near the mountain, but the name stuck.

18In Alaska, however, locals continued to call the mountain Denali.

19The word Denali means the high one for the Athabascan people, many of whom lived north of the mountain.

20The area became a national park on February 26, 1917.

21Its name was Mount McKinley National Park.

22Some naturalists disagreed with the naming decision.

23A debate continued for more than half a century, a sign of the area's long and complex history.

24In 1975, Alaskan state officials asked the federal government to change the name to Denali to honor the native Alaskans.

25But congressional members from the state of Ohio, where McKinley was from, opposed and blocked the renaming efforts.

26In late 1980, weeks before his presidency ended, Jimmy Carter increased the size of the park from 800,000 hectares to 2.4 million hectares.

27The expanded park also took on a new name.

28It became the Denali National Park and Preserve.

29The naming debate, however, was not over.

30Although the park took the name of Denali, the mountain itself still remained Mount McKinley for another 35 years.

31In August 2015, President Barack Obama officially changed the name from Mount McKinley to Denali.

32The announcement was made shortly before Obama traveled to Alaska.

33His visit was aimed at publicizing the effects of climate change in the state.

34Obama became the first active president to travel north of the Arctic Circle.

35U.S.

36Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said of the name change, The animals living within Denali National Park are just as famous as its tallest peak.

37In fact, Denali was the first national park created in order to protect wildlife.

38The park is home to 39 kinds of mammals and over 160 kinds of birds.

39Many people come to Denali to see the park's largest mammals.

40Some moose here weigh well over 500 kilograms.

41More than 1,700 caribou live within the grounds.

42Doll sheep flock together on hillsides.

43Wolves are everywhere in the park.

44Denali is known as one of the best places to observe wolves in the wild.

45Giant grizzly bears can also be seen.

46They enjoy catching salmon and eating wild berries in the summer.

47Denali also protects the remains of a prehistoric ecosystem.

48In 2005, geologists discovered fossilized evidence of dinosaur tracks within Denali.

49Tests showed the fossil to be about 70 million years old.

50It was the first sign of dinosaurs in central Alaska.

51Since then, scientists have discovered more than 300 fossil sites.

52The fossils preserve evidence of other ancient creatures and many kinds of plants.

53With each discovery, a more complete picture of Denali's past comes to life.

54Adventure-seeking travelers visit Denali to climb North America's tallest peak.

55The first successful climb to the very top happened on June 7, 1913, when four men reached the summit.

56Every year, more than 1,000 people try to reach Denali's summit.

57Only about half of them succeed.

58Climbing Denali is extremely difficult.

59Climbers face harsh conditions and extreme weather.

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