12 Hidden National Parks Every Nature Enthusiast Should Explore

America's national parks are legendary the world over. When we imagine these incredible places, we mostly think of Yellowstone or Yosemite, but there are many gems amongst them that you've probably never heard of!

From diverse nature and landscapes to unique ecosystems, flora, and fauna, there is an abundance of undiscovered national parks where wilderness flourishes and man takes a back seat.

These are America's top off-the-beaten-path national parks that every nature enthusiast should explore at least once in their lives.

1. Biscayne National Park, Florida

Right at the southern tip of Florida, Biscayne National Park boasts four marine ecosystems — coral reefs, mangrove forests, the Bay, and the Keys. These habitats are home to a diverse range of wildlife, including threatened animals like the American crocodile, West Indian Manatee, and Peregrine falcon.

The Maritime Heritage Trail is the only underwater archaeological trail in America's national parks, and you can access it by boat to scuba dive and snorkel the six mapped wrecks along the route.

2. Haleakala National Park, Hawaii

Haleakala, one of Maui's large volcanic craters, is a place of myth and legend and is sacred to native Hawaiians. Lush rainforests in this national park, known as the ‘House of the Sun,' provide refuge for many native and unique Hawaiian flora and fauna, like endangered Hawaiian geese.

Haleakala is a popular spot for hiking, backpacking, stargazing its world-class dark skies, and catching incredible sunrises and sunsets. One of the best places for all these activities is the summit of Haleakala, which enjoys panoramic views over the misty rainforest.

3. Channel Islands National Park, California

Five of the eight Channel Islands, off the Californian coast near Santa Barbara, and their surrounding waters comprise this little-visited national park. Known as the ‘North American Galapagos,' the park is home to 145 unique plants and wildlife and the oldest dated human remains on the American continent.

The incredible Painted Cave on Santa Cruz Island is one of the world's largest known sea caves at 1227 feet long and an entrance 160 feet high by 100 feet wide; that's one huge cave! Plenty of outdoor activities are on offer, including hiking, camping, snorkeling, fishing, and nature watching.

4. Big Bend National Park, Texas

Big Bend National Park is the epitome of Texas, large and bold, just like the Rio Grande River. As the waterway wends through the Chihuahuan Desert, a world-class geological area has developed with fabulous rock formations, volcanoes, and ancient fossils.

Hike, fishing, horseback riding, and boating tempt visitors, along with the incredible night skies. Big Bend's heavens offer up thousands of stars, distant planets, and the Milky Way as it mirrors the Rio Grande in a band across the sky.

5. Congaree National Park, South Carolina

The only national park in South Carolina, Congaree is known as the ‘Home of Champions'. The champions are some of the tallest trees in the eastern United States which grow here, amongst the nutrient-rich waters of the Congaree and Wateree rivers that keep this ecosystem healthy and flourishing.

The 2.6-mile Boardwalk Loop is an elevated walkway that winds through the giant cypress and tupelo trees that grow in the swamps. Other activities include hiking, camping, wildlife viewing, canoeing, and kayaking.

6. Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota

Voyageurs National Park, named for the French-Canadian voyageurs who transported furs by canoe, spans 218,000 acres of lakes, forests, lakes, and streams and is a watery wonderland of natural beauty and cultural heritage.

You can swim, fish, and hike along miles of trails, and in summer, there are ranger-led nature programs to help you learn about the national park, its history, flora, and fauna. In winter, ice fishing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling take place on maintained trails.

7. Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota

Wind Cave National Park protects two very different worlds. One is arguably the world's most complex cave system, deep beneath the rolling hills, and the other is an expanse of grassy prairie home to bison, elk, and pronghorn.

Visitors can explore the unique and rare boxwork formations along the cavern walls below ground in what is one of the world's longest caves. Above ground, the 34,000 picturesque acres of forests and prairies are crisscrossed by trails and are a natural sanctuary for the east-meets-west wildlife of the mid-continent.

8. Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida

One of America's remotest national parks, Dry Tortugas is anything but dry! This marine park is located at the far end of the Florida Keys, only accessible by boat or seaplane, and is the world's third-largest barrier reef system outside of Belize and Australia.

The 100-square-mile park is mostly crystal clear open water around seven small islands, whose waters are rich with marine life. Here, you can discover shipwrecks, swim through coral reefs and shoals of tropical fish, and explore Fort Jefferson, a former U.S. military coastal fortress and the largest brick masonry structure in the Americas.

9. Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

In Arizona's beautifully colorful Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest National Park is where geology, nature, archaeology, and paleontology come together in a 200-milion-year-old ecosystem.

The park is best known for its 225-million-year-old petrified wood and Triassic fossils that tell the history of this ancient landscape. Amongst the 52,000 acres of wilderness that make up the national park, you can hike, backpack, ride, and, best of all, go geocaching — a brilliant way to explore.

10. Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

Home to the highest dunes in North America at 750 feet, Great Sand Dunes National Park is a diverse landscape of tundra, alpine lakes, and grasslands underneath an International Dark Sky Park full of twinkling stars.

It's often too hot in summer to have fun, but outside of the high season, you can visit Medano Creek for beach activities like swimming, skimboarding, and sand castle building. Away from the beach, there is excellent hiking and horseback riding, and the whole park is a photographer's dream.

11. Great Basin National Park, Nevada

One of America's most diverse national parks, the landscapes of Great Basin National Park comprise towering mountains and brush-covered foothills, deserts, forests of ancient bristlecone pine trees, limestone subterranean caves, and inky black night skies.

Visitors can climb the mighty Mount Wheeler at 13,063 feet above sea level, hike the wilderness, explore the fascinating caves, and stargaze from several campgrounds in the park. This national park really is an unexpected delight, full of interest.

12. Olympic National Park, Washington

This vast national park covers nearly one million acres and over 70 miles of windswept coastline, and over 95% of its landscape is designated wilderness. With glacier-capped mountains, old-growth temperate rainforests, lowland lakes, and sandy beaches, there is a lot of natural diversity here.

Hike through the forests to find hidden waterfalls, paddle in rushing streams, or seek out one of the hot spring pools. If you prefer to stay dry, there are pristine beaches to wander, wilderness to discover, and plenty of off-the-beaten-path spots to visit if you're looking for solitude.