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122 free National Parks trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
70 free National Parks trivia questions with answers. Explore the natural beauty and rich history of America's National Parks with our engaging trivia quiz. From Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, discover how much you really know about these protected treasures. Put your expertise to the test and see if you can ace this comprehensive National Parks challenge!
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Q 01Which national park surrounds the deepest lake in the United States, at 1,949 feet?
Crater Lake
Crater Lake in Oregon is 1,949 feet deep, filling the basin left when a volcano collapsed about 7,700 years ago; it is fed only by rain and snow.
Q 02In what year was the first U.S. national park established?
1872
The first national park was established in 1872, when the 42nd Congress set aside about two million acres in the Wyoming Territory as a public pleasuring-ground.
Q 03Which is the smallest U.S. national park by area?
Gateway Arch
Gateway Arch, at about 91 acres in St. Louis, was the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial until its 2018 redesignation and is far smaller than the next-smallest park, Hot Springs.
Q 04In what year did Congress create the National Park Service?
1916
Congress created the National Park Service through the Organic Act of August 25, 1916, putting the growing roster of parks and monuments under one agency for the first time.
Q 05Which area was established as the first national park in the United States?
Yellowstone
It is also widely regarded as the first national park in the world, and sits mostly in Wyoming with slivers in Montana and Idaho.
Q 06Which California national park contains the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree on Earth by volume?
Sequoia
It grows in the Giant Forest, which holds five of the ten largest trees in the world.
Q 07Which U.S. President signed the act that established the first national park?
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant signed the act during his first term, setting the land aside 'as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people'.
Q 08How many congressionally designated National Parks did the United States have at the end of 2025, among 400-plus Park Service units?
63
There were 63 national parks at the end of 2025; 'national park' is one of about 20 designations alongside monuments and seashores, and the 63rd was added in December 2020.
Q 09Which national park is the largest by area in the United States?
Wrangell-St. Elias
Located in Alaska, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is the largest unit of the U.S. National Park System, covering over 13 million acres.
Q 10Which national park is the largest by area in the contiguous United States?
Death Valley
Straddling the California-Nevada border, Death Valley National Park is the largest national park in the contiguous 48 states.
Q 11Which U.S. state is home to the most national parks?
California
California leads all U.S. states with nine national parks within its borders, either fully or partially.
Q 12Which South Dakota national park contains about 95 percent of the world's discovered boxwork formations?
Wind Cave
Wind Cave holds about 95 percent of the world's known boxwork, a honeycomb of thin calcite fins; the park sits about 10 miles north of Hot Springs, South Dakota.
Q 13Which national park was the first established east of the Mississippi River?
Acadia
Acadia National Park, located primarily on Mount Desert Island in Maine, holds the distinction of being the first national park established in the eastern United States.
Q 21Which national park drew the most visitors in 2024?
Great Smoky Mountains
Great Smoky Mountains drew more than 12 million visitors in 2024, partly because a highway runs through it and entry is free; the 'smoke' is haze from the forest's own vapour.
Q 22Which national park is known for its dramatic cliff dwellings built by ancient Pueblo people?
Mesa Verde
Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado preserves an exceptional collection of Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings and other archaeological sites.
Q 23Which Utah national park is famous for massive sandstone cliffs, deep canyons and canyoneering?
Zion
Q 14Which national park protects the world's longest known cave system?
Mammoth Cave
Mammoth Cave keeps growing on paper as surveyors connect passages; guided tours have run since 1816, and the enslaved guide Stephen Bishop mapped much of it in the 1840s.
Q 15What national park is famous for its iconic granite formations like El Capitan and Half Dome?
Yosemite
Yosemite's Half Dome rises nearly 4,800 feet above the valley floor, and the park was designated a World Heritage Site in 1984.
Q 16Which Arkansas site, protected as a reservation in 1832, is the oldest area maintained by the Park Service?
Hot Springs
Hot Springs was set aside as a federal reservation in 1832 and only became a national park in 1921, but its seniority earned it the first America the Beautiful quarter in 2010.
Q 17Which national park did George Bird Grinnell dub the 'Crown of the Continent' in 1901?
Glacier
Glacier National Park in Montana earned Grinnell's 1901 nickname; of roughly 150 glaciers there in the mid-1800s, only 25 active ones remained by 2010.
Q 18Which Florida national park is known for vast wetlands, alligators and panthers?
Everglades
Everglades National Park in Florida is a vast wetland ecosystem, famous for its unique flora and fauna, including alligators, crocodiles, and the Florida panther.
Q 19Which national park is primarily known for its namesake canyon, carved by the Colorado River?
Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona preserves one of the most spectacular natural wonders of the world, a massive canyon carved by the Colorado River over millions of years.
Q 20Which Washington national park combines rugged mountains, temperate rainforest and coastline?
Olympic
Olympic National Park on Washington's Olympic Peninsula boasts incredibly diverse ecosystems, including glaciated peaks, old-growth temperate rainforests, and over 70 miles of wild coastline.
Zion's Virgin River North Fork drops 50 to 80 feet per mile, one of the steepest stream gradients in North America, which is what cut the canyon's sandstone walls.
Q 24Which national park is an archipelago of seven islands 70 miles west of Key West, Florida?
Dry Tortugas
Dry Tortugas is more than 99 percent water; Ponce de León named the keys in 1513 for their turtles, and 'dry' warned sailors there was no fresh water.
Q 25Which national park encompasses both Kīlauea and Mauna Loa?
Hawaii Volcanoes
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park spans both summits; Kīlauea's 2018 eruption closed the summit area for months, and Mauna Loa is the largest active volcano on Earth.
Q 26Which Utah national park is packed with hoodoos, rock pinnacles up to 200 feet tall carved by frost and rain?
Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon is not a canyon at all but a series of natural amphitheatres; the Paiute told of hoodoos as 'Legend People' turned to stone by Coyote.
Q 27Which national park hosts evening bat-flight viewings from its natural cave entrance?
Carlsbad Caverns
Carlsbad Caverns hosts evening bat-flight viewings of Brazilian free-tailed bats from a natural-entrance amphitheater; its Big Room is the largest cave chamber in North America.
Q 28Which national park is an island archipelago off Southern California, reachable only by boat or plane?
Channel Islands
Channel Islands National Park lies off the coast of Southern California, reachable only by boat or plane, and its isolation produced endemic species such as the island fox.
Q 29Which Alaska national park, north of the Arctic Circle, holds North America's largest active Arctic sand dunes and a caribou highway?
Kobuk Valley
Kobuk Valley's Great Kobuk Sand Dunes rise 100 feet, leftovers of ice-age fields; the park gets so few visitors it is routinely among the least-visited in the system.
Q 30Which Alaska national park did John Muir first explore by canoe with Tlingit guides in 1879?
Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay is where John Muir paddled with Tlingit guides and missionary S. Hall Young in 1879; his writings drew steamship tourists within a decade, and Muir Glacier bears his name.