The National Park Bird's-Eye Quiz

Esri's StoryMaps Team

March 20, 2023

A satellite view shows a mixed landscape of shades of tan, brown, and green with very deep and wide groove-like depressions with a noticeable line that travels through the center of the largest groove. Additionally, there are raised ridges on the landscape, mostly in the areas that have green coverage.

A parallel view peeking through pine tree branches in the immediate foreground shows a landscape of sedimentary rock formations with visible stratified layers that start out darker brown on the lower parts and change in color to redder shades as the rocks rise toward the sky. The red shades are interrupted with occasional patches of white. At the top level, the rock formations are mostly flat.

2016 marked the centennial of the National Park Service. In celebration we offer this test of your ability to identify national park landmarks. The images here just hint at the vast diversity of landscapes and locations protected by the Park Service within its flagship parks, historic sites, recreation areas, preserves, and memorials.

Guess the locales, then click the "WHERE AM I?" button that concludes each section. Although some locations are fairly obvious, be forewarned: others are obscure! (We'll give away the cover image location: it's Grand Canyon National Park.)

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1. Thermal Rainbow

An oblique view of a circular lake with a dark blue center and lighter blue near the surrounding shoreline, which has shades of yellow and orange encircling the lake that occupies the mid-ground, with a smaller lake and a forest of pine trees spreading across the background.

The rainbow colors of this giant hot spring are caused by billions of "thermophilic", or heat-tolerant, single-celled organisms. The spring is one of thousands of thermal formations in this iconic national park.

2. Carriage Paths, Sea Vistas

An oblique view from a hilltop of a landscape featuring a rocky outcrop on a mountain in the foreground with a forest of pine trees on a hill that gradually slopes downward to the background showing several islands scattered across a large body of water.

This popular national park in the eastern United States boasts glacier-carved mountains, rocky shorelines, and miles of carriage paths. Cadillac Mountain, where this parking lot and trail network are located, is its highest point.

3. Eroded Formations

A parallel view of the horizon shows landscape with tall, skinny rock formations lining the sides of deep-canyon-like crevices with stratified layers in the rocks that appear redder near the bottom and most have lighter bands in the middle areas, and some have a series of darker red layers toward the top. A few of the spire-like formations stand taller than the surrounding formations.

The soft, sedimentary rock along the edge of a high southwestern plateau has eroded into fantastical hoodoos, spires, and arches. The location is a mecca for photographers and scenery buffs.

4. Volcanic Wonder

A small tree-covered, cone-shaped island with patches of snow on it sits in a clear, dark blue lake surrounded by low, even, snow-capped mountains and coniferous trees.

Some 7,700 years ago Mount Mazama blew its top. Now its crater is filled with water to a depth of nearly 2,000 feet, forming the deepest lake in the United States.

5. Ancient City

A parallel perspective shows ruins of buildings a desert landscape, the most prominent is the remains of the foundation of a circular-shaped building with a smaller circular-shaped room within the larger circle. Plateaus and other ruins of buildings are visible in the background.

A remote canyon shelters a series of thousand-year-old pueblos, among them structures that were larger than any building in the United States until the 19th Century. Biggest of them all is Pueblo Bonito, a multi-story, semi-circular mini-city of some 800 rooms.

6. Tragic Landscape

A parallel view of a tall, light gray tower-like structure with hollow spaces separated by angled lines forming hollow spaces stands in the middle of a grassy field with a tree-covered hill visible in the background.

This formerly obscure location became a focus of international attention in 2001 when 40 people died in one of four commercial flights hijacked by terrorists. The memorial to the victims was under construction when the satellite image was acquired.

7. Soggy Boglands

An oblique aerial view of a treeless landscape covered in brown grass shows ponds scattered across the middle of it and a vast body of water occupies the background of the image.

It was across lands like these that the first humans entered North America. One of the most remote of the National Park Service units, it contains archeological sites and hot springs. Hunting is permitted for subsistence and sport.

8. Desert Playground

Two round, vertical concrete pillars with vertical lines and open, square crevices stand in a water reservoir with a steep, rocky, terraced shoreline.

Behind this famous dam is a large reservoir that gives this National Park Service unit its name, and that attracts boaters from a nearby gambling mecca. Upland regions include several wilderness areas.

9. Coastal Paradise

A parallel view shows two rows of tall, robust tress with long, hanging leaves standing on both sides of a gravel road creating a tunnel that tapers to a vanishing point.

Reachable only by passenger ferry, this little-known coastal island sports pristine beaches, extensive woods of live oak and palmetto, salt marshes, and sinuous tidal creeks. Much of the island was formerly owned by the Carnegie family, who built several summer homes there.

10. Dusty Trail Stop

A parallel ground view shows an antique wooden carriage wagon sitting in front of the ruins of a stone wall that has many openings where doors and windows once stood.

For four decades, forts at this location served as a stopover on one of the primary trails used by emigrants to settle the far west. Ruins of the fort stand amidst a wind-swept prairie; ruts from the emigrant trail still mark the land.

11. Watery Fortress

An oblique view from a rooftop shows a grass-covered roof of a two-story brick military fort with several arches and a small, black lighthouse in the midground. The foreground shows an inner courtyard with trees and shrubs, while a vast body of water occupies the background fading into the horizon.

Miles from shore amidst turquoise waters, coral reefs, and subtropical skies lies this unfinished 19th-century fortress.

12. Redrock Switchbacks

An oblique aerial view shows a brick red road with sharp U-turns winding down a steep rocky hillside covered with evenly scattered trees and shrubs.

Twists and turns carry tourists in and out of the central canyon of this national park, established in 1919 and encompassing 229 square miles of cliffs, gorges, mountains, and wilderness.

13. Island of Arrival

A large two-story room with a white barrel-vaulted ceiling, semi-circular windows in the top story, and a brown floor features two United States flags attached to poles flanking each side of the large room.

Thousands of immigrants, exhausted from travel and anxious about their new lives in the United States, streamed through the halls of this building in the busy harbor of one of the world's great cities.

14. Towering Landmark

A slightly oblique view shows a tall white obelisk standing on a green lawn while a city with several low buildings with orange roofs occupy the background.

It looms over its namesake city like a giant pin stuck in a giant map. It stands 555 feet tall, and recently underwent major repairs following a rare earthquake.

Thank you for taking our Bird's-Eye Quiz, and please support our national parks!