Navigation Station: Western USA Quiz

Oh no, I've lost my map! Do you think you could help me navigate my way through the wonders of the American West? Play last quiz Navigation Station to find out. Interesting facts from the quiz are below:

1. Olympic National Park contains many sights of interest, including Cape Flattery--the most northwestern point in the contiguous 48 states. The park was named after the Olympic Mountains, which can be seen from the vistas of Hurricane Ridge. One of the wettest areas in the U.S. flanks the west side of these mountains, which is where the mossy Hoh Rainforest grows.

North Cascades and Mt. Rainier National Parks are in the Cascades of Washington. Denali is in Alaska.

2. This stretch of the coast is where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise high above the beaches of California. One of them is Cone Mountain, the highest coastal mountain in the lower 48 states. Big Sur is a Spanish term, meaning "The Big South".

Surf City is a town in North Carolina, and the Gold Coast is in Australia. The Catalina Coast doesn't exist.

3.  At 282 feet below sea level, Badwater Basin is the lowest point in the U.S. This area of the valley is also the driest and hottest place in the country. Zabriskie Point, made popular by an Antonioni movie, is the location of some badlands formations above the valley.

4.  Hopefully you didn't pick the bluff (no pun intended). El Capitan is the largest granite monolith in the world. Many rock climbers and base jumpers consider it their greatest challenge. Half-dome Peak is also in Yosemite, but the rocky portion of it isn't 3,000 feet high. Devil's Tower is in Wyoming.

5.  There may not be a place on the planet as geologically diverse as the Canyonlands. This is where the confluence of the Colorado and Green rivers have created a wide range of rock formations. People are ill-advised to hike in The Maze, because it's a remote region of disorienting canyons. The Island in the Sky isn't really an island, but a plateau above the Canyonlands that offers extensive views of the area. The Needles district is a collection of colorful columns, arches, domes, and fins that look like something out of a Salvador Dali painting. To top it all off, Arches National Park is practically right down the street.

Bryce Canyon is an extraordinary place in Utah that has even higher columns than The Needles. The Valley of Fire is a place in Nevada. The Petrified Forest is in Arizona, and is better known for its crystallized wood.

6.  The iconic Monument Valley has appeared in such films as "Stagecoach", "Easy Rider", and "Once Upon a Time in the West" (my favorite).

Goblin Valley's is in central Utah and Mesa Verde is in Colorado. The Four Corners is a junction between Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

7.  About 250 million years ago, the area around Carlsbad Caverns was on the shore of an inland sea. After the sea dried up, it left behind a large reef that eventually became buried by sediment. Over millions of years, water that drained through the reef carved out the caverns we see today.

Mammoth Cave is in Kentucky, Luray Caverns are in Virginia, and the Crystal Caverns are made up.

8.  If you're ever visiting Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands is a place you can't miss. Only 40 miles away from the mountain, it contains some of the largest Oligocene fossil beds in the world, and its hills are separated by grasslands that are fed on by bison and bighorn sheep. The Lakota Tribe called it "Mako Sica", or "bad land", because of its extreme temperature and scarcity of water.

The Garden of the Gods is in Colorado, The Pinnacles are in California, and Wounded Knee is a historical site in South Dakota.

9.  As with Monument Valley, the Tetons have been shown in the backgrounds of some famous western films. Grand Teton, the largest of them, stood majestically in a tear-jerking scene from the movie "Shane". Oddly, the Tetons lack any foothills on their eastern side, offering travelers some stunning views of them from Jackson Hole. The range's name derives from "les trois tetons", so called by French Voyageurs when they thought the mountains looked like three breasts.

Brooks Range is in Alaska, the Cascades are in Washington and Oregon, and the Uintas are in Utah.

10.  Glacier is part of the first International Peace Park that was created in 1932. The other member of this park is Waterton, which is in Canada and neighbors it on the north. Unfortunately, the amount of glaciers in this park have been in decline over the years. In 2014, there were only 25 active glaciers in it, while there used to be over a hundred a century ago. Glacier Warming National Park might be a better name for it now!

John Muir said it best regarding Glacier: "Get off the track at Belton Station, and in a few minutes you will find yourself in the midst of what you are sure to say is the best care-killing scenery on the continent - beautiful lakes derived straight from glaciers, lofty mountains steeped in lovely nemophila-blue skies and clad with forests and glaciers, mossy ferny waterfalls in their hollows, nameless and numberless, and meadowy gardens abounding in the best of everything".

Thanks for helping me through this amazing region of the world. See you on the roads!

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