Flying High on the 4th of July! {Photos of Denali National Park}

12,000 feet above sea level. 

That's how high up Ken and I, along with our friends the Halsne family, got on my first-ever flight seeing tour above Denali National Park yesterday. We celebrated the 4th of July with some of the most epic views of my life. Denali, also referred to as Mt. McKinley, has a peak measuring roughly 20, 237 ft tall. It boasts the highest mountain peak in North America and is the third tallest in the world. In the native tongue, Denali means "The High One." 

Our Seattle friends blessed us immensely with this opportunity to do something Ken and I have thought about for a while. (Thank you so much, Dan and Yoonjung!) 

Despite my sweaty palms and shaky nerves, I climbed onto the 7-seater bush plane and waved goodbye

to the tiny town of Talkeenta, as we took off on the runway around 4 p.m. The 90-minute flight was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences for me, and I'm so thankful that Ken and I got to share it with close friends.

Here are some of my favorite snapshots of the Alaska Range, which includes glacial rivers, icefalls, glaciers, Mt. McKinley, Moose's Tooth, Bear's Tooth, and many other peaks. God's handiwork is amazing. 

*Click on each photo to enlarge.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, 

their words to the ends of the world." 

Psalm 19:1-4

Denali National Park, Alaska