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National Parks Quiz And Trivia #58

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An early morning view of Lake Helen and Brokeoff Mountain (aka Brokeoff Volcano), Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

It’s time to test your national parks knowledge for the month. See how much you really know before checking the answers at the bottom. No peeking!

1. Brokeoff Volcano (aka Brokeoff Mountain) in Lassen Volcanic National Park is a volcanic remnant of the much broader and taller ___.

              a) Mount Tahoma

              b) Mount Tacoma

              c) Mount Tehama

              d) Mount Assiniboine

A male Cassin's finch perched on a snow-covered branch, Rocky Mountain National Park / NPS - Schonlau

A male Cassin's finch perched on a pine-cone heavy branch, Rocky Mountain National Park / NPS - Schonlau

2.  Rocky Mountain National Park is home to some ___ species of birds.

              a) 150

              b) 212

              c) 77

              d) 280

3. True or False: bobcats (Lynx rufus) hibernate during the winter.

              a) True

              b) False

An off-trail coyote, Yellowstone National Park / Rebecca Latson

4. A coyote in pursuit of its prey can run up to at least ___ mph.

              a) 50

              b) 60

              c) 40

              d) 70

5. Let’s stick with the coyote a little longer. True or False: coyotes are omnivores.

              a) True

              b) False

6. True or False: Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park is the largest shield volcano in the U.S.

              a) True

              b) False

Adult Chinook salmon, Muir Woods National Monument / NPS - Natale Urquhart

7. True or False: Chinook salmon are also called steelhead salmon.

              a) True

              b) False

Education officer Ann-Marie Carroll strolling through a Caribbean pine forest at Rand Nature Center, Grand Bahama / Jennifer Bain

8. Caribbean pine forests can only be found on Andros, Abaco, New Providence, and ___.

              a) Eleuthera

              b) Acklins

              c) Great Exuma

              d) Grand Bahama

A forest hazard / USFS file

9. A walk in the woods at a national park like Redwood National and State Parks or Mount Rainier National Park or Lassen Volcanic National Park is a peaceful, serene experience. Noise from the road is muffled and all you can hear is birdsong, water dropping from branches, and the sound of your feet on the trail. That’s not to say there is no danger from walking in the woods. Fires and severe storms can not only topple trees but create hidden hazards not felt until later in the form of “detached or broken limbs hanging in trees that can fall and kill the unwary.” There’s a nickname for these kinds of dangers:

              a) Widowmakers

              b) Fool killers

              c) Gallows spears

              d) Devil’s clubs

I spy with my little eye a funny little spider on the boardwalk, Everglades National Park / NPS - Ross Studlar

10. This small brown spider found on a boardwalk in Everglades National Park is known as a ___.

              a) Flattie spider

              b) Tick spider

              c) Scary spider

              d) Patterned spider

Trivia

Alligator scales, or the bark of an Alligator Juniper? Bandelier National Monument / Rebecca Latson

“An uncommon tree found in the Pinyon-Juniper Woodland of Bandelier National Monument has bark that looks like the scales of an alligator. Alligator Junipers (Juniperus deppeana) can grow to 40 feet tall and are found on dry slopes between 6,500 – 8,000 feet in elevation. Once common in certain park areas, landscape-altering fires have left isolated individual trees scattered across mesa tops. A single Alligator Juniper can be found on the Frijolito Loop Trail and another on the Tyuonyi Overlook Trail. Several can be seen on the Frijoles Rim Trail.”

Lewis's Woodpecker, Bandelier National Monument / NPS

Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) is “a large (wingspan up to 11 inches), colorful, almost comical-looking woodpecker found in Bandelier National Monument. This woodpecker likes open forests better than heavily wooded areas and often hunts from a perch flying up to catch insects in flight. In autumn, Lewis’s Woodpecker chops up acorns and other nuts, stores them in crevices, then guards the storage area for its winter food supply. This bird was discovered on the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804 – 1806 and was named for the expedition’s co-leader. The best place to see them in Bandelier is the Burnt Mesa Trail.”

Albert Johnson and Walter "Scotty" Scott, Death Valley National Park / NPS

Albert Johnson and Walter "Scotty" Scott, Death Valley National Park / NPS

“Nicknamed for his enduring presence there, ‘Death Valley Scotty’ (right side of photo) … was an accomplished horseman, performing as one of the rough-riders for the world-famous Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. After leaving the show in the early 1900s, Scotty moved to Death Valley with dreams of striking gold and making a fortune. Needing financial support, Scotty convinced several wealthy businessmen to invest in his supposed mining claim, which would ultimately turn little to no profit. Investors caught on to Scott’s deception and pulled out of the operation, all but [the exception of] a Chicago-based business magnate named Albert Johnson (left side of photo). Instead, Johnson decided to pay Scotty a visit in Death Valley, discovering that the mine was a scam” But because Johnson fell in love with Death Valley, he forgave Scotty and “the two began a decades-long friendship. Johnson felt so grateful for Scotty introducing him to Death Valley that he and his wife Bessie decided to build a home [there] and named it after their unlikely friend: Scotty’s Castle.”

Quiz Answers

1c

Brokeoff Volcano is the tallest remnant of Mount Tehama, a stratovolcano estimated to be 11 miles across and over 11,000 feet tall that, some 400,000 years ago, covered the area where present-day Sulphur Works is located in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

2d

Rocky Mountain National Park is home to over 280 species of birds. Some birds stick around all year while others just pass through for a spell.

Bobcat in the snow, Yosemite National Park / NPS - Rob Lester

3b False

“Bobcats need no migration or hibernation. Even in the winter, there’s plenty of squirrels and birds to go around, and hunting on the snow is only a slight variation from normal. They’ll spread their toes out a bit farther to make an even softer crunch on the fresh powder. Furthermore, like all cats, they muffle their motions by stepping their hind legs into the prints of their forepaws, a practice known as ‘direct register’.”

4c

A coyote in pursuit of its prey can run up to at least 40 mph.

5a True

“Coyotes are omnivores, eating everything from grass sprouts to fruits to small birds or mammals and even larger animals.”

A view of Lassen Peak as seen from the Devastated Area Interpretive Trail, Lassen Volcanic National Park / Rebecca Latson

6b False

Lassen Peak is the largest plug dome volcano in the U.S. and the world.

7b False

Chinook salmon are also called king salmon, and there’s a great Feature Story by Traveler correspondent Rita Beamish about some mysterious Chinook salmon making their way into a stream where only coho and steelhead had previously been seen in Muir Woods National Monument.

8d

Caribbean pine forests can only be found on Andros, Abaco, New Providence, and Grand Bahama. To read about these trees and the national parks of Grand Bahama, check out this Feature Story written by Traveler correspondent Jennifer Bain.

9a or 9b

Fires and strong storms can create a hidden hazard for the hiker in the form of widowmakers or fool killers. These are detached or broken limbs hanging in trees that could potentially fall and kill the unwary.

10a

The flattie spider (genus Selenops) is so flat it looks like it’s been stepped on, and “when preying on an insect located behind or beside them, can pivot on one leg and spin around to pounce on its target. As a matter of fact, this turn is the fastest spin of any animal – fast enough to make three revolutions in the blink of an eye!”

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