Click on the Denali Clouds image to enlarge

Denali Clouds

Denali Clouds took place at the end of a day traveling the George Parks Highway in interior Alaska. Denali Clouds was a colorful end to an Alaskan day.

Denali Clouds was captured at the Denali South View wayside point on the George Parks Highway in Denali State Park. After experiencing the camping and views of Denali at Wonder Lake, I was traveling south back to Anchorage to end a fall trip to Alaska. I was camped up the road from the wayside at a campground and had driven down to the viewpoint to watch what I hoped would be a good sunset. As the Denali Clouds photograph shows, it was not just good sunset; it was an incredible sunset.

I was the only person at the wayside for this Denali Clouds view. Nobody else was around on this fall evening. Being a lifelong lover of the outdoors, a traveler and a photographer I have been fortunate to experience many beautiful sights in the natural world. But this Denali Clouds sunset will always rank up there as an experience I will always cherish and remember.

When first arriving at the turnout that evening I was pleased to see that the mountain was “out” as they say in Alaska. It was in full view and I was pleased to be able to photograph a clear view of Denali.

As the sun began to set to the west, and a large cloud bank began to move into the area it was obvious that something special would occur. Often a photographer hopes for some clouds at sunset or sunrise to add some color to the sky in a landscape photograph.

The Denali Clouds sunset was an experience in the tremendous landscape of Alaska. Denali is over 20,000 feet in elevation and is so large it creates its own weather patterns. The clouds that moved in towered above the summit of Denali and made this enormous mountain look deceptively small.

As the sun began to set the large cloud bank lit up in a glowing orange color. The color seemed to last forever.

And the Denali Clouds image was made.