Isabella Miller The research conducted across all national parks in the United States showed that most parks display beautiful forests or mountain ranges while only a few parks present locations that do not conform to the boundaries of natural beauty and these nine sites show such stunning visual beauty and extraordinary physical characteristics that they resemble locations from a science fiction movie instead of actual places on our planet.
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
The park pathway enables visitors to experience the sensation of walking through an expansive ice field that contains sugar instead of snow. The dunes consist of special gypsum sand which maintains its coolness during hot weather to produce a bright white landscape that resembles the surface of a remote moon.
Death Valley National Park, California
The Badwater Basin presents visitors with an experience that allows them to walk upon a salt crust which extends outward from their location at North America’s lowest point and this region between the Artist’s Palette hills and the singing sand dunes creates an environment which makes it easy to believe you are exploring a base located on a dry alien planet that shares similarities with Mars.
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
The “hoodoos” of Bryce Canyon appear as delicate orange rock spires which create the appearance of a city built from stone needles that extraterrestrial beings shaped and the amphitheater’s rim provides a view that allows visitors to see the red towers which create a labyrinthine design as though they were witnessing an ancient civilization that had turned to stone.
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
The Badlands display their eroded buttes and sharp pinnacles as they rise straight up from the prairie to create a natural feature that resembles a sharp wound to the land and the “Wall” section presents a harsh environment which combines colorful sedimentary layers with the absence of all plant life to create an area that does not resemble anything found on Earth.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii
The appearance of fresh lava against the backdrop of black volcanic rock which has solidified provides a glimpse into how planets begin their formation process and the craters produce steam while the “pa-hoe-hoe” lava flows resemble the surface of a young moon that continues to experience geological development.
Joshua Tree National Park, California
The Joshua trees which grow in twisted patterns create an extraordinary landscape that merges with the massive granite boulders to form an environment resembling “Dr. Seuss” and that desert floor displays shadows from the alien trees which stretch out when sunset occurs, creating a feeling that you have stepped onto a retro space adventure film set.
Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho
The monument exists as a monumental structure which displays its size beyond normal perception. The landscape features a vast expanse of black basalt which includes cinder cones and lava tubes that Apollo astronauts used for training to prepare themselves for lunar operations. The site serves as the ultimate Earth representation of a lunar landscape.
Arches National Park, Utah
The park contains more than 2000 natural sandstone arches which create an appearance of an exhibition displaying architectural designs that defy gravity and the Delicate Arch stands tall against the blue sky, creating a visual effect that resembles a doorway to another realm, which nature sculpted through wind and sand over countless years.
Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
The area displays a ground surface which contains “fallen” trees that have transformed into solid quartz crystal formations. The logs from 200 million years ago have transformed into colorful rainbow-colored jewels which now spread across the Painted Desert, creating a sparkling prehistoric burial ground.
