17 Hidden Destinations in North America

United States

Destinations

Sterling Hill Mine Museum (Fluorescent Mineral Exhibit)

United States · New Jersey

Deep beneath a small New Jersey town lies an abandoned zinc mine that transforms into an otherworldly neon wonderland under ultraviolet light.

The Sterling Hill Mine is home to one of the world's largest and most vibrant collections of naturally fluorescent minerals. Within its 'Rai...

Satsop Nuclear Power Project (WPPSS abandoned cooling towers)

United States · Washington

Along a quiet river in Washington state, two colossal, ghostly concrete cooling towers pierce the sky, monuments to a nuclear power project that never produced a single watt of electricity.

These titanic structures are the remnants of the Satsop Nuclear Power Project, an ambitious multi-billion dollar venture that was abandoned ...

The Wave Organ

United States · California

Imagine an orchestra where the restless Pacific Ocean is the conductor, playing haunting melodies through an array of pipes and concrete structures.

This acoustical sculpture is ingeniously designed to amplify the sounds of waves hitting various pipes and chambers, creating a symphonic, w...

The Petrified Forest of Mississippi

United States · Flora, Mississippi

Walk through a primeval forest frozen in time, buried for millennia, now re-emerging in the unlikeliest of places: rural Mississippi.

This National Natural Landmark preserves an ancient forest where logs transformed into stone over 36 million years ago. These massive petrif...

Moon House Ruin

United States · Utah

Deep within Utah's remote canyons, an ancient cliff dwelling secretly marks the passage of time with celestial symbols, known to only a determined few.

Tucked away in a seldom-visited side canyon of Cedar Mesa, Moon House is an exquisitely preserved Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling named fo...

The Lost Sea (Craighead Caverns)

United States · Sweetwater, Tennessee

Deep beneath the Appalachian foothills lies America's largest underground lake, a vast, crystal-clear expanse navigated by glass-bottom boats where prehistoric megafauna once roamed.

Discovered by a boy in 1905, The Lost Sea is part of the enormous Craighead Caverns system, which has been used by Native Americans, Civil W...

The Subterranean Tunnels of Mooseheart

United States · Illinois

Deep beneath the prairies of Illinois, an entire 'Child City' operates largely unseen, connected by a sprawling network of underground tunnels that make winter disappear.

Mooseheart, a residential school founded by the Loyal Order of Moose, functions as a self-contained community where students live and learn....

The Walls of Jericho

United States · Alabama / Tennessee

Descend into a colossal limestone amphitheater, where a towering waterfall plunges into an otherworldly bowl, marking the secret heart of the 'Grand Canyon of the South' on the Alabama-Tennessee border.

Carved by millennia of water erosion into the rugged Cumberland Plateau, the Walls of Jericho offer a breathtaking and challenging journey i...

International Car Forest of Last Chance

United States · Nevada

In a desolate corner of the Nevada desert, dozens of old cars stand buried nose-down in the earth, forming an eerie, silent graveyard that defies both logic and gravity.

This bizarre 'forest' is a monumental outdoor art installation created by artists Chad Sorg and Mark Rippie, transforming discarded vehicles...

The Domes of Eloy

United States · Arizona

Deep in the Arizona desert, a cluster of enormous, futuristic concrete domes rise from the scrubland like alien spacecraft, abandoned and enigmatic.

These bizarre, UFO-like structures were originally intended to house a state-of-the-art computer factory in the 1980s, but the ambitious pro...

Picketwire Canyonlands Dinosaur Tracks

United States · Colorado

Deep within a remote Colorado canyon, an ancient riverbed holds the fossilized footsteps of hundreds of dinosaurs, an unparalleled prehistoric spectacle.

This challenging 11-mile round trip hike or guided vehicle tour leads to the largest dinosaur tracksite in North America, where over 1,300 f...

The Desert of Maine

United States · Maine

Imagine a genuine desert, complete with shifting sand dunes, inexplicably existing in the lush, forested landscape of coastal Maine.

This 40-acre geological anomaly isn't a true desert but a unique landscape formed by glacial deposits and exacerbated by centuries of poor f...

Devil's Kettle

United States · Minnesota

One river splits in two, but only one half continues its journey to Lake Superior; the other vanishes into a mysterious pothole, and no one knows where it goes.

At the Devil's Kettle, the Brule River forks just before a waterfall. While half plunges over the rocks as expected, the other half disappea...

Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park

United States · Nebraska

Frozen in time, a Nebraskan watering hole hides the perfectly preserved skeletons of dozens of prehistoric rhinos, camels, and horses, entombed by a catastrophic volcanic ashfall 12 million years ago.

This extraordinary paleontological site offers an unparalleled, in-situ glimpse into the Miocene epoch, where a catastrophic volcanic erupti...

Petrified Sea Gardens

United States · New York

Imagine strolling through a fossilized garden where ancient sea creatures transformed into bizarre, petrified 'cabbages' millions of years ago, creating a landscape unlike anything else on Earth.

This extraordinary geological site showcases one of the oldest exposed stromatolite formations in the world, dating back to the Cambrian per...

Ringing Rocks Park

United States · Pennsylvania

Imagine a field where the very rocks sing when you tap them, a geological orchestra hidden in plain sight.

This peculiar park, nestled in rural Pennsylvania, is home to a vast boulder field filled with diabase rocks that produce resonant, bell-lik...

The Great Stalacpipe Organ

United States · Virginia

Deep within a Virginia cavern, the world's largest instrument plays music by gently tapping 3.5 acres of ancient stalactites.

This magnificent, custom-made lithophone uses the natural formations of Luray Caverns to create ethereal music. Conceived and constructed by...