Denali National Park, Alaska
Almost as large as the state of Massachusetts, Denali National Park is the first and last stop on any adventure into Alaska’s wild. At some 24,500 square kilometers (or 6 million acres) including the surrounding preserve, it is the third-largest national park in the United States, after two other Alaska parks: Wrangell-St. Elias and the Gates of the Arctic. The park offers excellent chances for seeing wildlife, including moose, wolves, caribou, Dall sheep and grizzly bears. Presiding over it is the tallest peak in North America, Denali (formerly Mount McKinley), which means “the tall one” in a name derived from Koyukon, the language of the Athabascan people.