US National Parks Part 1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Thomas Moran

Moran's work, along with photographs by William Henry Jackson, who was on the same expedition, had a major impact on the government officials who approved the park.

The park, which sits on top of a large reservoir of magma, includes a high mountain lake and a major canyon in addition to the wide range of thermal features.

Answer: Lincoln

On June 30, 1864, Abraham Lincoln signed a bill protecting Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa grove, and they were ceded to California for them to create a state park.

While the rest of the park opened in 1890, it wasn't until after Teddy Roosevelt camped in the park with John Muir that steps were taken to put those areas under federal control. A bill in 1906 signed by Roosevelt created the park as it is today.

Answer: General Sherman tree

Based on measurements at the time, the General Sherman tree was not only the largest tree in the world, but also the largest living thing in the world.

The park was created to protect the remaining sequoia trees. Logging was done in the region during the 1880s, with the groups behind it cutting down thousands of trees. Their efforts ultimately failed because the wood from a sequoia tree easily splinters and isn't as good for logging as other types of trees.

Answer: Pacific forest reserve

Today's national forests were called forest reserves from 1893, when the first of the reserves were named, until 1905, when the name was changed. White River Plateau was in Colorado. Sierra was in California, and Bull Run was in Oregon.
The mountain is the highest in the Cascade range, and can be seen from British Columbia and Oregon on clear days. It is also considered an active volcano, and if it were to erupt some day, there could be far more damage than nearby Mount Saint Helens caused.

Answer: 1943 feet

The lake is the deepest lake in the United States. The volcano at the site erupted around 5700 BC, and the top of the mountain collapsed into the emptied caldera. The water in the lake comes from rain and melted snow as there's no source of water going into or out of the crater. The lake's blue color is a result of the lake's depth and pure water.

Answer: Boxwork

Calcium deposits that last longer than the rock around them create box or honeycomb shares on walls and ceilings. 95% of the boxwork formations in the world are at Wind Cave.
The park, which is in the Black Hills of South Dakota, was the 1st national park created to protect a cave, and also has one of the few genetically pure bison herds in the United States on the land above the cave.

Answer: Finland

They are held at the National Museum of Finland. A Swedish man named Gustaf Nordenskiöld came to the area in 1891, and while his excavations were well documented, he also shipped numerous artifacts back home. He was actually arrested by local officials, but his actions weren't illegal at the time.
Because of concern for the artifacts being taken and damage to the cliff dwellings by people looking for them, the government created the park to protect them and passed the Federal Antiquities act in the same year.
The people who lived in the area dating back to before the 1300s built elaborate dwellings under the cliffs, many of which can be seen from above the cliffs, and some from up close.

Answer: Great Northern Railway

Several hotels and chalets were built by the railroad shortly after the park opened as part of their efforts to promote tourism, with the tourists riding on their trains to get there of course. Glacier Park Lodge and Many Glacier Hotel remain in use along with some of the chalets. Although most people go to the park by car, you can still go to the park via train using Amtrak.
If you bring your passport, you can also go to the sister park, Waterton Lakes National Park on the Canadian side, as the parks meet at the border.

Answer: True

Windham Wyndham-Quin, the 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, claimed several thousand acres based on the Homestead Act. His intention was to create a private game reserve for his friends in the British Isles. A combination of settlers heading onto the land while ignoring his claims, locals opposed to his plans, and the United States and Colorado governments choosing not to back him up, led to his abandoning the claim.

The park is best known for the Trail Ridge road, which is the highest continuously paved road in the United States, and goes through the entire park and over the Continental Divide.

Answer: 1915

The eruption on May 22, 1915 sent volcanic ash as far as 200 miles away. While the park isn't very well known compared to Yellowstone, it also has thermal features that you can visit.

Answer: Colorado

The Colorado Plateau is an area covering parts of four states that pushed upward from sea level hundreds of millions of years ago. The Colorado river cuts through it creating the Grand Canyon. The overall region has ten national parks and 17 national monuments.

There are close to forty sedimentary layers of rock that are exposed in the mile deep canyon.

Answer: The Narrows

Angels Landing is a hike to the top of Zion Canyon. The Subway is a hike within the Kolob Canyons section of the park. The Narrows involve a hike along and through the Virgin River where the canyon walls are as little as twenty feet wide.

The original park service name was Mukuntuweap National Monument, using a name given to the canyon by John Wesley Powell in the 1870s, in the mistaken belief it was the Paiute name for the canyon. Local complaints led to the name being changed to Zion, which was the name used by the local Mormon residents, when the national park was created.

Answer: Hot Springs Reservation

The hot springs was the first natural location protected by the United States government in 1832. In the late 19th century, the creek that the hot water flows into was routed into to a brick lined channel as a way to protect the purity of the water. Groups taking the waters included multiple major league baseball teams during spring training, and several gangsters such as Al Capone. Most of the bathhouses closed as interest in extended trips for spa treatments declined.

There are several of the original bathhouses still remaining in the park dating to the early 20th century, including two that remain open as private bathhouses, and the Fordyce which has been turned into the park visitor center and restored to match its look from the early 20th century.

Answer: Tennessee law

When you go to the park, you'll notice that there is no entrance fee. This is because Tennessee stipulated that the Newfound Gap Road through the park, which is part of US 441, could not have a toll or fee charged to use it.

While the park was one of the first to be established east of the Mississippi, the land wasn't under control of the government, and they couldn't buy the land based on the laws of the time. Since the park is part in Tennessee and part in North Carolina, the states put up money, along with private donations, which generated the funds to buy the park land.

Answer: Blue Ridge Parkway

The Blue Ridge Parkway runs for 469 miles from the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the southern end of Shenandoah National Park. Because it's free to drive on the Parkway and a major scenic drive, it's been the most visited area of the National Park service since it opened.

The Skyline Drive runs the length of Shenandoah National Park for 109 miles on the ridge of the mountains in the center of the park, and runs parallel to a section of the Appalachian Trail. It's particularly popular in the fall as the leaf color changes.

Answer: The Time Machine

As the narrator investigated the Morlock's caves in the novel, he commented that their bleached skin was common to underground creatures, and specifically mentions "the white fish of the Kentucky Caves". The Kentucky Cave shrimp is a blind albino shrimp that lives in the underground streams of the cave.

Mammoth Cave is the longest cave in the world, and there have been tours of the cave dating to the 1830s. Several entrances were opened over the years by competing businessmen before the park was protected by the government. The name is based on the size of the cave rather than any fossils found there.

Answer: No

Since the park formations weren't created by a central stream, it's not an actual canyon.

The park is made up of natural amphitheaters where the rock around the formations eroded, creating hoodoos, the primary feature in the park. As with several of the national parks in the system, the area was dealing with logging and overgrazing, so the government stepped in at the request of the state of Utah to protect the area and better control tourism.

Answer: Mount Desert Island

Samuel de Champlain gave the island its name in 1604 while exploring the region.

The park is notable for its coastal regions, forest, and rocky mountains, particularly Cadillac Mountain. There are also several miles of carriage trails built in the early 20th century that have been restored and are still in use.

Answer: French

The mountains in the region were referred to as Les trois tétons (the three teats) by french speaking trappers traveling through the region in the early 19th century, and the name was later anglicized. Grand Teton is the name of the tallest mountain in the range.

The park is best known for the Teton Range which rises thousands of feet above the valley floor with almost no foothills on the eastern side. They stand out from viewpoints all over the park. If you're at Yellowstone, it's a very easy drive between the two parks, and the fee for one park covers the other park.

Answer: Kings Palace tour

The Kings Palace tour goes down to 830 feet below the surface. The Big Room is one of the largest rooms in a cave in the world and can be seen as a self guided tour. The Hall of the White Giant and Spider Cave tours are through less developed areas of the cave, and require getting through tight spaces to see the formations.

Originally, the people going into the cave had to go up and down in a bucket. After the cave became a National Monument in the 1920s, a staircase was built so people could walk to and from the 750 foot level. While you can still take the staircase, elevators were build later down to the Big Room to make things easier. The park is well known for the thousands of bats that fly out of the cave at dusk in the summer as well as the cave.