VBHTF GM

There's usually not a ton to do in national parks other than hiking. Not so with Michigan's Isle Royale. Here, the average visit time is 3.5 days compared to a four-hour visit on average for other national parks. Wilderness camping is the name of the game, so backpackers have to bring everything they need for a few days of roughing it.

Great Smoky Mountains has vast amounts of wildlife, but we bet you didn't know it was also considered the salamander capital of the world. In fact, more than 30 diverse species of salamanders live here.

Crater Lake has some serious bragging rights. At 1,943 feet, it's the deepest lake in the U.S. (For comparison, the One World Trade Center in New York City is 1,776 feet tall.) All of its water comes from snow or rain; there aren't any streams or rivers feeding into this freshwater marvel.

This national park isn't somewhere you'll come for the weather. Its Hoh Rain Forest, one of the few remaining temperate ones in the U.S., receives up to 12 feet of precipitation each year. That's more than the average rainfall in the Amazon (7.5 feet).

In 1980, members of the U.S. Air Force stationed just outside of London reported seeing a series of strange lights coming from nearby Rendlesham Forest. According to the BBC, a few of the servicemen reported coming across what they at first assumed was a downed aircraft in the forest. Upon getting closer, they discovered that it was an otherworldly craft that emitted light beams reaching across the forest.