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There isn't an adjective out there that has not been used to describe the beauty of Denali National Park and Preserve. The vast majority of visitors who come to Alaska have already heard about it. Brochures tout it. Magazines devote scenic-photo-filled pages to it. In fact, entire guidebooks are aimed at just this one destination.

Take a trip to Denali National Park and you'll quickly understand what all the fuss is about.

The park covers 6 million acres. Think about it. That's the size of the entire state of Massachusetts. Within the park's boundaries is North America's highest mountain, 20,320-foot tall Mount McKinley. Known locally as Denali, the mountain is part of the Alaska Range, which also includes countless other spectacular mountains and large glaciers.

The park is also home to an impressive array of wildlife -- 39 species of mammals, 167 species of birds, 10 species of fish and one species of amphibian, the humble wood frog. Most notable among these creatures is the grizzly bear. Visitors come from the world over to catch a glimpse of these industrious diggers. They can be seen wandering the various rivers that snake through the park or digging in the hillsides for a morsel to eat. They run up slopes and rest under trees. Occasionally, they'll even stroll right out onto the park's sole road and walk down the middle of it, stopping traffic for as long as they please.

But don't expect that to be the norm.

"People come here with expectations sometimes that are very different than what happens," said park spokeswoman Kris Fister. "They're very disappointed with a grizzly they see that is half a mile from the road ... yet they've never seen a bear before. The fact that you can see a bear in its natural habitat doing what bears do without disturbing it in any way is pretty incredible."

The fact is, many bears live in Denali National Park -- up to 32 bears per 1,000 square kilometers, according to the Denali National Park and Preserve Bear-Human Conflict Management Plan released in June 2003. Still, the bears have plenty of room to wander and don't generally seek out the company of humans. So if you're in the park and glance through your binoculars to scan the horizon and see a bear running along a hillside, consider yourself very lucky.

Fister said one of the best ways to see the park is through one of its affordable and easy-to-reserve tour or shuttle buses. These buses are part of a select number of vehicles allowed to drive the park's 91-mile gravel and dirt road, which leads to the park's western end at Kantishna. Beyond Mile 15, private vehicles must turn around.

"There are a lot of activities that are just in the entry of the park that don't require a lot of planning," Fister said. "You can hike on local trails, see the dog sled demonstration or take in an interpretive tour. But to fully experience Denali, you should take the bus into the park road.

"Just to really experience this place, you need to get further into it," she continued. "The scenery, the variety and the landscape are worth seeing, and also you can maximize your opportunities to see more wildlife."

There are two types of buses, and neither can be missed. They look just like the school buses children ride in except for the color.

The tan buses, which include a narrated description along the way, numerous stops for wildlife sightings and a lunch, are for guided tours. There is the Denali Natural History Tour, which takes approximately five hours and travels 29 miles into the park at a cost of $47.50. The Tundra Wilderness Tour is six to eight hours long and travels to Mile 53, at the Toklat River, where bears can often be spotted foraging along the banks. That tour costs $74.

"With the interpretive tour, you are part of a tour group," Fister said. "You stay with that driver all the way. They do some demonstrations at Primrose, and you get out together and come back together. That's what makes these tours different from the other."

The "other" is the shuttle bus ride on forest-green buses that are designed to pick up and drop off riders wherever they want for anywhere from $18.50 to $35.50, depending upon how far they want to go. Visitors who might like this option are those who want to get off along the road and hike into the park at their leisure. When they get back, they only need to walk along the road in the direction they are heading and flag down the next available dark-green bus, which will pick them up.

"You do have to have some flexibility," Fister said. "The aim is to not let someone sit out on the road for more than an hour. That rarely happens. On the really sunny days, a lot of people might want to get out and walk, and it might back up a little. But no one is going to get left out there."

This year marks the grand opening of Denali National Park's revamped entryway, which has been under construction for the past several years. Fister said there will be a special celebration Aug. 16 but that the new and improved areas will be open by the beginning of the season. The old visitor center is now called the Wilderness Access Center, and this is where guests can pick up backcountry passes and purchase bus tickets. The new visitor center, located in the area of the old park hotel, will house interpretive displays and other exhibits that will help visitors better acquaint themselves with the park.

"The display will bring people to a higher understanding of what this place is about," Fister said. "The numbers of interpretive exhibits were limited at the old location, so this will be a nice addition."

Also, according to Fister, the new visitor center will have some hiking trails leading into the nearby forests, so visitors can expand their exploration beyond the walls of the educational exhibits.

Whatever you end up doing in Denali, the truth is it will be mind-blowing. There is nothing quite like driving through Polychrome Pass for the first time -- it's as if you're driving through a moonscape. Walk along Wonder Lake on a crystal-clear day when Mount McKinley stands tall and unobstructed by even a wisp of a cloud, and there's really not much you can say to capture the bigness of it all.

This is the reason Denali is such a special place. This is why it is meant to be preserved for future generations.

Freelance writer Melissa D. Hall lives in Eagle River.