Most of the oldest and largest national parks are in the West, where the government still owned most of the land when the parks were made.
Key idea
Famous western parks: Yellowstone (mostly Wyoming; geysers), Yosemite (California; granite cliffs and waterfalls), Grand Canyon (Arizona), Zion and Arches (Utah), Glacier (Montana), Rocky Mountain (Colorado), Olympic and Mount Rainier (Washington), Crater Lake (Oregon), Denali (Alaska) and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes (Hawaii).
Why it works
Why are so many parks in the mountains? Mountains, volcanoes and canyons make the most dramatic scenery, and they were hard to farm or build on, so much of the land was still wild and owned by the government when people began asking to protect it. Each park protects what made its place special: Yellowstone's hot springs, Glacier's ice-carved valleys, Crater Lake's deep blue water in an old volcano.
Worked example: Park detective
A park has more than 2,000 natural stone arches in red rock desert. Which park and state?
- Red rock desert points to the Colorado Plateau.
- The park named for its arches is Arches National Park.
- It is in eastern Utah.
Answer: Arches National Park, Utah.
Common mistake
People put the Grand Canyon in Colorado because the Colorado River carved it. The river is named for the state where it starts, but the canyon, and Grand Canyon National Park, are in Arizona. Yellowstone is another trap: it is mostly in Wyoming, with small parts in Montana and Idaho.