15 lesser-known National Parks and why you should visit

Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Zion, Acadia, Yellowstone... everyone knows of these National Parks; they are genuine American treasures. But, what about of some of the other lesser-known National Parks?

In fact, The National Park Service lists 63 parks across the contiguous USA, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa. And while the 2010 attendance at the service's jewel, Yosemite, climbed above the four-million mark, according to Fresno, Calif.-based KSEE24 News, Voice of America reports that overall, attendance to National Parks has declined severely. Officials are perplexed, considering that usually in tough economic times, attendance rises at National Parks.

To help reverse the decline and to take advantage of great National Park system scattered across the nation, we give you 15 of the lesser-known National Parks, all priceless gems in their own right. We have also included a unique fact about each Park to further entice your interest.

1. Kobuk Valley, Alaska - 40 miles above the Arctic Circle there are sand dunes inside this valley where the temperature can rise to more than 100°.
2. Lake Clark, Alaska - This Park's Mount Redoubt erupted as recently as 2009.
3. Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colo. - The Gunnison River descends at almost five times the rate of that of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.
4. Dry Tortugas, Fla. - 65 miles south of Key West, this park once held the prison where the doctor who attended to President Lincoln's assassin was incarcerated.
5. Isle Royale, Mich. - In Lake Superior, this island contains a population of Eastern timber wolves.
6. Voyageurs, Minn. - (Pictured above.) Named for the French-Canadian fur trappers who were its early inhabitants, this Park has a few locations where one looks south toward Canada, not north.
7. Great Basin, Nev. - Very dry, none of the little amounts of precipitation that reach here ends up in the ocean.
8. Theodore Roosevelt, N.D. - A seven-foot-high fence completely surrounds this 110-square-mile Park, so as to retain its bison and feral horses.
9. Cuyahoga Valley, Ohio - Ohio's only national park, it contains section of the Ohio and Erie Canal.
10. Congaree, S.C. - More than 50 percent of this Park is considered wilderness.
11. Badlands, S.D. - This Park is home to the U.S.'s most endangered mammal, the Black-footed ferret.
12. Wind Cave, S.D. - Never heard of it? Well, it was the seventh Park to get National Park designation and was the first cave on the planet to be officially protected.
13. Big Bend, Texas - This Park represents 244 miles of the national border between the United States and Mexico.
14. Guadelupe Mountains, Texas - Right on the New Mexico border, this Park contains Texas' highest spot, the 8,749-foot Guadelupe Peak.
15. Capitol Reef, Utah - The word "reef" here refers to an impenetrable barrier of rock, not an underwater coral formation.

Interested in checking out these destinations? In comparison to visiting a theme park, entry into a National Park is a steal! Here's how to buy season tickets to these and other U.S. historical sites.