Know Your National Parks

Test your knowledge from sea to shining sea!

Each year, nearly 275 million people experience America by visiting our 58 national parks—from Acadia National Park in Maine to Zion National Park in Utah—and more than 300 monuments, battlefields, trails and other National Park Service (NPS) sites. Here are 25 questions to test your knowledge of our national treasures. (See answers at bottom.)
    
1. Established in 1872, the first national park was ______.
A. Yosemite (Calif.)
B. Sequoia (Calif.)
C. Yellowstone (Wyo., Mont., and Idaho)
D. Mount Rainier (Wash.)

2. With 365 miles mapped, the world's longest cave system is ______.
A. Jewel Cave (S.D.)
B. Wind Cave (S.D.)
C. Carlsbad Caverns (N.M.)
D. Mammoth Cave (Ky.)

3. How many acres are managed by the National Park Service?
A. 22 million
B. 79 million
C. 84 million
D. 95 million

4. Encompassing 13.2 million acres, the largest national park is ______.
A. Death Valley (Calif.)
B. Wrangell-St. Elias (Alaska)
C. Denali (Alaska)
D. Yellowstone

5. The Appalachian Trail runs through _____ states.
A. 7
B. 9
C. 13
D. 14

6.  ______ is the only state without a National Park Service unit.
A. Delaware
B. Rhode Island
C. Connecticut
D. New Jersey

7. America's most visited national park is ______, recording 9 million visits annually.
A. Great Smoky Mountains (Tenn., N.C.)
B. Yellowstone
C. Yosemite
D. Grand Canyon (Ariz.)

8. Voyageurs National Park is a water-based park in ______?
A. North Dakota
B. Michigan
C. Wisconsin
D. Minnesota

9. Shenandoah National Park is located in ______ .
A. North Carolina
B. Virginia
C. West Virginia
D. Tennessee

10. Which of these national parks does not have an active or dormant volcano?
A. Big Bend (Texas)
B. Mount Rainier (Wash.)
C. Yosemite (Calif.)
D. Haleakala (Hawaii)

11. The Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site in Alabama is associated with which of these famous black Americans?
A. The Tuskegee Airmen
B. Booker T. Washington
C. George Washington Carver
D. All of the above

12. With 51,000 casualties over three days, ______ marks America's bloodiest battlefield.
A. Minute Man (Mass.) National Historical Park
B. Manassas (Va.) National Battlefield Park
C. Horseshoe Bend (Ala.) National Military Park
D. Gettysburg (Pa.) National Military Park

13. Badlands National Park is in ______.
A. Nevada
B. South Dakota
C. Arizona
D. Utah

14. Covering 5,550 acres, the smallest national park  is ______.
A. Hot Springs (Ark.)
B. Biscayne (Fla.)
C. Bryce Canyon (Utah)
D. Virgin Islands

15. Which two U.S. presidents have the most NPS sites named for them?
A. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
B. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson
C. Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt
D. Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt


16. Which U.S. president created the National Park Service in 1916?
A. Ulysses S. Grant
B. James Garfield
C. Teddy Roosevelt
D. Woodrow Wilson

17. Billed as "America's favorite drive," the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway meanders through ______ tunnels.
A. 13
B. 18
C. 21
D. 26

18. These two national parks in Alaska are located north of the Arctic Circle.
A. Glacier Bay and Gates of the Arctic
B. Denali and Katmai
C. Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley
D. Kenai Fjords and Lake Clark

19. Does the United States have a national park in Puerto Rico?
A. Yes
B. No

20. The world's largest tree, located in Sequoia National Park and measuring 36 1/2 feet in diameter,  is called ______ .
A. General Sherman
B. General Grant
C. Washington
D. Lincoln

21. With a depth of 1,943 feet, America's deepest lake is ______.
A. Lake Mead (Nev., Ariz.)
B. Lake Clark (Alaska)
C. Crater Lake (Ore.)
D. Jackson Lake (Wyo.)

22.  Everglades National Park in Florida is home to all of these animals except ______.
A. alligators
B. panthers
C. tigers
D. manatee

23. This national park site is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
A. Old Faithful in Yellowstone
B. The Grand Canyon
C. Sequoia's Giant Forest
D. Mammoth Cave

24. Plunging 2,425 feet to the valley floor, ______ is the tallest waterfall in our national parks.
A. Chilnualna Falls (Yosemite)
B. Harrison Basin Falls (Glacier)
C. Yosemite Falls (Yosemite)
D. Monument Falls (Glacier)

25.  The National Park System encompasses _____ percent of the nation's total acreage.
A. 0.8
B. 3.6
C. 5.9
D. 6.8

 

 

ANSWERS: 1-C, 2-D, 3-C, 4-B, 5-D, 6-A, 7-A, 8-D, 9-B, 10-C, 11-D, 12-D, 13-B, 14-A, 15-C, 16-D, 17-D, 18-C, 19-A, 20-A, 21-C, 22-C, 23-B, 24-C, 25-B

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