5 . Top 4 Little Known National Parks

Buffalo National River Park, Arkansas

This river travels east through the Ozarks and flows into the White River. Visitors to this park will find a myriad of activities to enjoy. Floating the river, is of course, one of the most popular activities. Those visitors that want to try other activities can enjoy horseback riding, fishing, wildlife viewing, and stopping to explore historic sites.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico

Chaco Culture provides access to a wide variety of Chacoan sites. In fact, Chaco Culture National Historical Park has the largest concentration of Chaco ruins outside of Mexico. The park also has a great night sky program. The Chaco Night Sky Program includes presentations, astronomy which links modern astronomy with the astronomical knowledge of the Chacoan people.

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

The park makes a great summer time destination. Most of the year the park is covered in snow, and the summertime window is very brief, lasting only from July to October. During the short summer visitors can enjoy the Rim Drive, hiking, camping, fishing, swimming in the lake and even take a boat tour of the lake. During the long winter, which lasts from October to July, the Rim Drive is mostly closed.

Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, Colorado

This destination preserves the tallest sand dunes (沙丘) in North America. Visitors can enjoy learning about the diversity of the land while enjoying the beauty of the region. Great Sand Dunes is also a fantastic destination for building sand castles and even enjoying some Sandboarding. Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is filled with fun activities and amazing points of interest, sure to interest any kids.

10 . Thanks to a new virtual reality film offering 360 degree viewing, armchair travelers around the world can now visit places like the Amazon rainforest. Provided freely by Conservation International, you'll be able to take in the breathtaking beauty and amazing biodiversity that is dished up in a film entitled "Under the Canopy" without worrying about being eaten alive by insects, giant snakes or bird spiders. Besides that, and saving on airfare and getting your passport updated, the film is said to be simply beyond belief in its clarity and realism.

But the purpose of the film goes beyond just providing viewers with amazing visuals in a virtual experience. The makers of the film want to bring awareness to the fact that this once vast wilderness and its occupants are shrinking rapidly and disappearing due to deforestation. In other words, the magnificent sights and sounds that you'll enjoy during your virtual wandering around the Amazon's beautiful rainforest need badly to be protected.

If you 're not aware, a statistic in connection to annual forest loss in the region can be clarified: the loss is equal to 1.5 times the size of Yellowstone National Park. Now, if you're still a little unclear about the significance of this, Yellowstone is 3,472 square miles in size, which is 2,221,766 acres, if that helps you out.

In the film, you will have a virtual tour guide, Kamanja Panashekung, a native to the area whose ancestors have lived in the region for countless generations. During his educational tour Panashekung explains to viewers of the film the many ways in which the rainforest supplies his people with everything they need to survive on a daily basis. His story is actually pretty fantastic, especially if you live in city and can't imagine what it would be like living in such a wild and remote area of the world.