Denali National Park

Last month during my Alaska trip, I went to Denali National Park, where I had the good fortune of being able to drive my own vehicle (which in this case was a rental car) into the park.  With the exception of four days every fall, private vehicles aren't allowed past a certain point in the park, so being able to explore and look around at my own pace was an opportunity I was looking forward to.  If you're interested in this opportunity you can get the scoop here - I highly recommend it.

Denali, home to North America's highest peak, Mount McKinley, is an expansive, beautiful, mythical place.  So much has been written about it and so many photos have been taken of the park, that I don't know if there's much I can add to the conversation.  What I can do is share a few photos, a glimpse of what that day was like for me...

"Your landscape pictures shouldn't say 'I was here,' they need to say 'you need to be here.'" ~ Moose Peterson

A tall order, trying to live up to Moose's statement, and I don't know if I've accomplished that, but it's not for lack of trying...

This photo was taken at the first pullout where Mt. McKinley - weather permitting - can typically be seen.  A great vantage point...

When I took this photo my thought behind it was to capture as much of the sweeping view of the mountain range and river bed as possible.  I cropped some of the foreground out and went with a landscape orientation to emphasize that feel even more...

Similar to the photo above, standing in the same spot, I zoomed in to capture a smaller portion of the scene...

This photo was taken a little way past the Eielson Visitor Center...

The Denali Road Lottery provides viewing opportunities like this, opportunities for photographers to accept Moose Peterson's challenge and try to take photos that make people think "I need to be there."

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 16-85 DX VR

View photos from my Alaska gallery here