Denali National Park, Alaska encompasses six million acres of boreal forest, tundra, rivers, glaciers, and dramatic geologic relief, including the impressive massif of Mount McKinley. Standing at 20,320 feet, Mount McKinley is known around Alaska as Denali, the name it has been called by native Athabascan people for thousands of year. Denali is the centerpiece of the 600 mile Alaska Range, and the tallest mountain in North America.  

Mount McKinley National Park was originally established as a roughly two million acre park in 1917 to preserve its wildlife. In 1980, under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Mount McKinley Park underwent a name change to become Denali National Park and Preserve, and tripled in size to its current acreage. At the same time, the original two million acres was federally designated as Wilderness.  Part of the current park includes an area once known as the Kantishna Mining District. In this region of the park, located along the last few miles of the Denali Park Road, some private inholdings and mining claims still exist. Camp Denali and North Face Lodge reside on tundra-covered terrain, in full view of Denali, between the Wilderness boundary within the park and the Kantishna.