The six-million-acre DENALI NATIONAL PARK , 240 miles north of Anchorage, is named after the Athabascan word for its most famous denizen, Mount McKinley , which is often shrouded in cloud, and only around one-quarter of visitors actually get to see the snow-covered massif. The mountain is far from being the park's only attraction, however. A ride through Denali on a shuttle bus offers a glimpse of a vast world of tundra and taiga, glaciers, huge mountains and abundant wildlife - the Park Service reports that 95 percent of visitors see bears, caribou and Dall sheep , 82 percent moose, and over one-fifth wolves , along with porcupine, snowshoe hare, red foxes, and over 160 bird species.

Visiting Alaska without trying to see Denali is unthinkable for most travelers, and therein lies the park's problem. In the height of summer, the visitor center and the service hotels out on the Parks Highway are a stream of RVs, tour buses and the like. Things pick up in the park itself, and backcountry hiking, undertaken by only a tiny fraction of visitors, remains a wonderfully solitary experience.

In winter , Denali is transformed into a ghostly, snow-covered world. Motorized vehicles are banned and transportation, even for park personnel, is by snowshoe, skis or dogsled as temperatures dive and northern lights glitter over the snows.

Denali National Park

• Denali National Park
• Getting to the park
• Eating
• Sightseeing, hiking and other activities

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