The dotter was excited when she awakened me this morning. "The sky at Denali is clear," she said. "We have to go before the clouds close in again." And so we set forth on today's adventure to see the Big One.
Would you believe that the 20,000-foot-high peak LOOMED before us 50-60 miles away? Difficult to capture that overwhelmed feeling in the standard snap shot.
And so I took advantage of the telephoto effect to show just how we felt as we gazed at North America's tallest mountain. Cheating, I know, but emotionally correct.
Many miles later, we found the first Denali overlook, giving a fine view of the ice-covered Alaska Range.
I supposed that the panorama painting at one end of the overlook was to compensate (in a small way) the thousands of visitors who have been thoroughly disappointed by cloud cover at least 75% of the time, which causes the real peaks to disappear totally for days on end.
Of course, I couldn't resist this very, very jaggedy set of dark peaks to the front of the heights. The Alaska Range, as well as the Aleutian Islands and Range plus other mountains, are all the result of the Pacific plate grinding smack dab up against the North American plate, creating much of the Alaskan landscape (and, literally, land). Not to mention those earthquakes and those volcanoes that might cause my flight home to be canceled if the wind shifts in the wrong direction.
Nor could I resist the picture of the picture takers. Which reminds me -- the SIL has been following me around, snapping shots of GrannyJ snapping shots.
The granddotter takes advantage of the fixed viewing scopes to close the distance to the high peaks.
And as a parting shot, the dotter and GD in front of Denali (Mt. McKinley to some of us old folks).
Would you believe that the 20,000-foot-high peak LOOMED before us 50-60 miles away? Difficult to capture that overwhelmed feeling in the standard snap shot.
And so I took advantage of the telephoto effect to show just how we felt as we gazed at North America's tallest mountain. Cheating, I know, but emotionally correct.
Many miles later, we found the first Denali overlook, giving a fine view of the ice-covered Alaska Range.
I supposed that the panorama painting at one end of the overlook was to compensate (in a small way) the thousands of visitors who have been thoroughly disappointed by cloud cover at least 75% of the time, which causes the real peaks to disappear totally for days on end.
Of course, I couldn't resist this very, very jaggedy set of dark peaks to the front of the heights. The Alaska Range, as well as the Aleutian Islands and Range plus other mountains, are all the result of the Pacific plate grinding smack dab up against the North American plate, creating much of the Alaskan landscape (and, literally, land). Not to mention those earthquakes and those volcanoes that might cause my flight home to be canceled if the wind shifts in the wrong direction.
Nor could I resist the picture of the picture takers. Which reminds me -- the SIL has been following me around, snapping shots of GrannyJ snapping shots.
The granddotter takes advantage of the fixed viewing scopes to close the distance to the high peaks.
And as a parting shot, the dotter and GD in front of Denali (Mt. McKinley to some of us old folks).
those are amazing mountains! Wow!
ReplyDeletecrafty -- welcome! The Alaskan mountains are so new, comparatively speaking, that they loom and they have teeth!
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures, including the previous posts I didn't comment on! How are the mosquitoes (et al) at this time of year?
ReplyDeleteMakes a hooman feel real itty bitty.
ReplyDelete~Anon in AV.
The dotter looks pooped. You running her to death. Beautiful photos by the way.
ReplyDeleteGranite Mountain is gonna look pretty small when you get back but I bet it'll be good to be home too.
ReplyDeleteOverlook???!!! You mean you didn't climb the mountain??? ;>
ReplyDeletejuliar -- mosquitoes? Not too bad -- I've only had about two or three bites the entire visit.
ReplyDeleteanon av -- yes indeed -- teensy.
wrapa -- you've got it quite backwards, sam. As a former teacher, you should know who's running whom around!!! BTW, welcome -- and do visit again.
tony -- I'm just hoping that the great ash cloud has dissipated & I can return without any adventures on the way.
cat-A -- it was too slippery.
Who/what was/is Denali??? Possibly a big GOP donor??
ReplyDeleteNext thing you know, Pike's Peak will be relabled Mt. Under God.
Hermano
Wonderful that you had a clear day. Magnificent photos. Simply magnificent.
ReplyDeleteAnd as to how rain is perceived... Yes, depends on the local weather, for sure. Here, we can't seem to go a day, without rain at some time. And it's unusual. So, we whine. ,-)
Silly humans. After all these eons, you'd think we'd have gotten used to change. It happens! And if you're as old as I, you've even see weather changes, for yourself.
But no. Even I complain. -grin-
Miss Mari-Nanci
Smilnsigh
Photos-City-Mine
When Twilight Embraces
bro -- you missed completely on that one. Denali is the native (probably aleut) name for Mt. McKinley & is the preferred name in Alaska.
ReplyDeleteSnS -- I've found it's hard to do justice to mountains in a photograph, especially those very young Alaska peaks that loom right above you. Next time I get an invite to visit the kids, I'll play with the telephoto effect so that I get loom without the over-over-exaggeration of my Denali shot.
Your photos are really good and looks like you are having fun, here in Michigan we don't have mountains just our beautiful very high sand dunes.
ReplyDeletecloudy -- I recall the dunes from my days in Chicago. We usually went to Indiana Dunes State Park, where the dunes were not as tall as the rose-covered one you described in your post. Apparently there are two large dune fields in inner Alaska up near the Arctic Circle, not associated with any large body of water.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your photos!
ReplyDeleteKermit -- that's one reason that I take all those pictures, so I've very glad you enjoy them.
ReplyDelete