The Park's scenery is, of course, inspiring to modern visitors, just as it inspired creative recent visitors such as Sydney Laurence, Ansel Adams, and Brad Washburn, and must have inspired indigenous visitors for many centuries. It is hard to explain with precision exactly why.  Of course mountain panoramas are always inspiring, the Mountain itself, Denali, is off-scale remarkable, and the Park's vistas are undeniably vast. But beyond that, there is something nearly indefinable about the Park's effect on observers. Being there is quasi-religious, akin to standing on the floor in a very, very large gothic cathedral that has no walls or vaulted ceilings. The Park's vistas tend to silence observers and make them feel small, less consequential. The palisades of peaks that arise beyond the foreground plateau provoke wonder; each peak is remarkable, each has an individual visual personality. The terrain, whether nearby or distant, is stunningly muscular and powerful. The Park insists on being observed. Observing is not merely passive inactivity; the Park demands attention.  

In June, the remaining snow in draws and valleys and northern slopes helps define and dramatize the view.

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