35 questions and answers pertaining to the gems of the landscapes of the United States
Q1: The lowest point in the Western Hemisphere is 282 feet below sea level and is located in Death Valley National Park. What is the name of this basin?
A: Badwater Basin
Q2: What was the first national park in the United States?
A: Yellowstone
Q3: Which national park is home to the world’s largest tree by volume?
A: Sequoia National Park in California is the answer (the tree is called the General Sherman Tree).
Q4: What popular music artist released an album in 2015 titled “Badlands” after the South Dakota national park?
A: Halsey
Q5: What national park is home to the longest cave system in the world?
A: Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky
Q6: California contains the most national parks of any state in the U.S. Which state contains the second most national parks?
A: Alaska is the answer (California has nine and Alaska has eight; they were tied until 2013).
Q7: What national park sits just ten miles from Yellowstone in northern Wyoming?
A: Grand Teton National Park
Q8: Beginning in late 2020, metal monoliths started popping up in various locations throughout the world. The first was found near Canyonlands National Park in Utah. The fourth was found near what Southern California national park?
A: Joshua Tree National Park
Q9: How many active glaciers are inside Glacier National Park?
A: 25
Q10: What is the most visited national park?
A: The Great Smoky Mountains
Q11: What two major rivers flow through Utah’s national parks?
A: The Colorado River and the Green River (we need both rivers for answer to be correct!)
Q12: The least visited national park had just over 18,000 visitors in 2015. Which was it?
A: Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida is the answer. The reason they have so few visitors is because the park is on a series of islands and can only be accessed by seaplane or boat.
Q13: What president signed the act creating the National Parks Service in 1916?
A: Woodrow Wilson
Q14: 25% of what state’s subtropical wetlands are protected by Everglades National Park?
A: Florida
Q15: How many states does the Appalachian National Scenic Trail pass through?
A: 14. This includes Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Q16: Two of Alaska’s national parks are located north of the Arctic Circle. One is Gates of the Arctic National Park. What is the other park?
A: The Kobuk Valley National Park
Q17: Bears have not been responsible for a single human death in Olympic National Park, but this mammal, which is non-native to the area, killed a man in 2010.
A: Mountain goat
Q18: Who is considered “the father of the national parks”?
A: John Muir
Q19: The second U.S. national park to be created is no longer a national park, since it was returned to its home state as a state park in 1895. In what state is this park?
A: Michigan is the answer (the park is Mackinac National Park).
Q20: What national park is home to the deepest lake in the U.S.?
A: Crater Lake National Park in Oregon
Q21: What is the newest national park?
A: Pinnacles National Park in California is the answer (it was added in 2013).
Q22: How many national parks exist in the United States?
A: 59
Q23: What is the smallest national park?
A: Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. It’s just under 5,550 acres.
Q24: In what state is there a historic site that was once home to a leper colony?
A: Hawaii is the answer (Molokai Island Hansen’s Disease Settlement in Kalaupapa National Historic Site, Hawaii).
Q25: What national park contains three of the ten highest waterfalls in the world?
A: Yosemite National Park
Q26: Who was the only American president to work as a national park ranger?
A: Gerald Ford
Q27: What is the only state that does not currently have a national park or national monument?
A: Delaware
Q28: What national park contains the highest peak in North America?
A: Denali, formerly known as Mount McKinley
Q29: What is the name of the caldera that is responsible for three of the world’s six biggest volcanic eruption?
A: Yellowstone Caldera
Q30: The hottest temperature ever recorded on earth was recorded in 1913 in what national park?
A: Death Valley National Park
Q31: The largest national park in the U.S. covers 13.2 million acres. In what state is this park?
A: Alaska
Q32: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is home to the largest volcano on earth. What is this volcano called?
A: Mauna Loa Volcano
Q33: What causes the blue haze for which Great Smoky Mountains National Park is named?
A: Plants
Q34: From the late 1800s through the 1940s, which national park hosted spring training for some U.S. baseball teams?
A: Hot Springs in Arkansas
Q35: Butch Cassidy and his crew took refuge in the canyons of which national park?
A: Canyonlands in Utah