US national parks quiz

Answer key

1. Yellowstone. Yellowstone became a national park on March 1, 1872. Its early protection is why it is recognized as the first US national park.
2. Colorado. The Colorado River cut downward through the rock over millions of years. Weathering and erosion from the canyon’s sides also helped shape it.
3. Sequoia. General Sherman stands in Sequoia’s Giant Forest. It is famous for its trunk volume, a different measurement from a tree’s height.
4. Yosemite. Half Dome is a granite landmark in Yosemite. Its rounded summit and sheer face make it recognizable from many Yosemite Valley viewpoints.
5. Maine. Acadia protects rocky coastline and other landscapes in Maine.
6. Crater Lake. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It occupies a volcanic caldera formed after the collapse of Mount Mazama.
7. Everglades. Everglades National Park protects part of this subtropical wetland ecosystem.
8. Utah. Arches is in eastern Utah, near Moab.
9. Mammoth Cave. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky protects part of the world’s longest known cave system. “Known” matters because exploration can add mapped passages.
10. Colorado. The park is in Colorado and includes several mountain environments, from lower meadows and forests to alpine tundra.
11. Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon is known for dense groups of hoodoos, the irregular rock columns in its amphitheaters. The name “canyon” can hide this distinctive landform.
12. Zion. The Narrows follows a narrow stretch of Zion Canyon along the Virgin River.
13. Wyoming. Grand Teton protects the Teton Range and nearby lakes in Wyoming.
14. Tennessee and North Carolina. The park straddles Tennessee and North Carolina. Its forested ridges are part of the southern Appalachian landscape.
15. Shenandoah. Skyline Drive follows the Blue Ridge through Shenandoah in Virginia.
16. Olympic. Olympic National Park protects temperate rain forests in Washington.
17. California. Redwood is on California’s northern coast. Coast redwoods are especially famous for height; the giant sequoias of the Sierra Nevada are a different species.
18. Death Valley. Badwater Basin is a salt-flat basin below sea level in Death Valley. It is the lowest point in North America.
19. The Mojave and Colorado deserts. Joshua Tree lies where the Mojave and Colorado desert ecosystems meet.
20. California. The park includes five islands off southern California.
21. Glacier. Going-to-the-Sun Road crosses Glacier National Park in Montana. Glacier Bay, despite its similar name, is a separate park in Alaska.
22. Alaska. Glacier Bay protects fjords, glaciers, and coastal landscapes in southeast Alaska.
23. Denali. Denali National Park and Preserve surrounds North America’s highest mountain.
24. Wrangell–St. Elias. Wrangell–St. Elias in Alaska is the largest US national park. The often-quoted 13.2 million acres includes both the national park and the adjoining preserve.
25. Katmai. Brown bears gather at Brooks Falls in Katmai, Alaska.
26. Kenai Fjords. Exit Glacier flows from the Harding Icefield in Kenai Fjords.
27. Great Sand Dunes. Great Sand Dunes protects North America’s tallest dunes at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The surrounding park also includes wetlands and forests.
28. The Gunnison River. The Gunnison River carved the park’s deep, narrow canyon.
29. Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde protects cliff dwellings and other ancestral Pueblo sites in Colorado.
30. Arizona. Petrified Forest is in Arizona. Its fossilized wood and colorful badlands preserve evidence of landscapes far older than the modern desert.
31. The Rio Grande. The Rio Grande separates Texas from Mexico along Big Bend’s southern edge.
32. Texas. Guadalupe Mountains is in west Texas. The park protects an ancient fossil reef as well as the state’s highest mountain peaks.
33. New Mexico. Carlsbad Caverns is in southeastern New Mexico. Sulfuric acid dissolved limestone there, creating the park’s underground caverns.
34. Gypsum. The sand is gypsum. White Sands protects a major part of the world’s largest gypsum dune field in New Mexico’s Tularosa Basin.
35. South Dakota. Badlands protects eroded rock formations and prairie in South Dakota.
36. Wind Cave. Wind Cave’s boxwork consists of thin calcite fins that form a mesh-like pattern. It is one of the cave’s most distinctive features.
37. North Dakota. The park preserves badlands landscapes associated with Roosevelt’s ranching years.
38. Lake Superior. Isle Royale lies in Lake Superior and is part of Michigan. Indiana Dunes, another Great Lakes park, instead borders Lake Michigan.
39. Minnesota. Voyageurs is in northern Minnesota. Its many lakes reflect the waterways traveled by the French-Canadian voyageurs for whom the park is named.
40. Lake Michigan. Indiana Dunes lies along the southern shore of Lake Michigan.
41. Ohio. The park follows the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland and Akron.
42. Arkansas. Hot Springs protects thermal springs and historic bathhouses in Arkansas.
43. South Carolina. Congaree is in South Carolina. Floodwater supplies nutrients to its old-growth bottomland hardwood forest, so the rivers help sustain the ecosystem.
44. Biscayne. Biscayne is about 95% water. Its protected habitats include islands and coral reefs near Miami, so much of the park is explored from the water.
45. Dry Tortugas. Fort Jefferson occupies Garden Key in Dry Tortugas, west of Key West.
46. Maui. Haleakalā protects volcanic and coastal landscapes on Maui.
47. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes includes the summits of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa. Haleakalā is on a different island, Maui.
48. California. Lassen Volcanic protects volcanic features in northern California.
49. Great Basin. Lehman Caves are in Great Basin National Park in Nevada. The same park also protects high mountain terrain around Wheeler Peak.
50. The Pacific Ocean. The park protects tropical forests and marine environments in the South Pacific.