Owner Comments:
This Denali 2012 P Early Release in SP70 is the last 5oz coin to be released this year in 2012. This makes the set of collectors P series coins now at 15 issues in regular strike status if you add the Grand Canyon light finish you would have a total of 16 coins in this set.
Denali National Park in Alaska
Among many others things, Denali National Park in Alaska contains the highest mountain in North America known as Mount McKinley (or Denali) at 20,320.
Unknown to many is the fact that McKinley actually has more of a rise than the more famous Mount Everest. Of course, Everest’s peak is much higher at 29,029 feet, but that mountain actually sits on a plateau with a height of over 17,000 feet, giving Everest a rise of only 12,000 feet. McKinley’s base is only 2,000 feet high giving the mountain in Alaska a rise of nearly 18,000 feet.
The naming of the mountain and the park that contains it has been a contentious issue for some time. It was known as "Denali" (meaning ‘The High One’) by the local indigenous peoples for a long time before prospector William A. Dickey named the mountain in honor of presidential candidate (and soon to be President of the United States) William McKinley. McKinley did not even have a connection with the area as he resided in Ohio.
Understanding the beauty of the area and wanting to preserve it, Mount McKinley National Park was created in 1917. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter created a separate Denali National Monument in 1978. Finally, in 1980 the area was renamed to Denali National Park and Preserve to better reflect the local sentiment.
Today, an estimated 1.1 million visitors come to the park annually to take in the breathtaking scenery it has to offer and catch just a glimpse of the thousands of square miles contained within it.