How Big Is Big?

T-shirt collectors know that Mt. McKinley is the tallest peak in North America. Denali folk know that it is the tallest peak in the world, if measured from bottom to top. Mt. Everest begins from a 20,000 foot base, giving it a vertical relief of only 10,000 feet. Denali starts from a base near sea level, which makes it twice the climb.

The mountain itself also happens to be (to the hiker making a circumnavigation crossing glacier terminus, foothills, river systems) the single largest landmass in the world.

Another way to measure Denali is to compare neighboring peaks of the Alaska Range as Forker, Hunter, and even lesser un-named peaks, which standing by themselves elsewhere would be reason enough for another national park.Denali National Park encompasses more than 6 million acres, in area slightly larger than the state of Massachusetts.