Exploring Alaska Trivia Quiz

Answer: one-fifth

One-fifth of U.S. land is found in Alaska. It is twice as big as Texas. Rhode Island, Trinidad or Cape Verde would fit inside Alaska 425 times!

Answer: forget-me-not

Alaska isn't always snowy and frozen. The wild forget-me-not grows profusely throughout Alaska during the summer. It was adopted as the territorial flower in 1917, long before Alaska became a state.

Answer: No

Juneau has no road access to the rest of the state but there are automobile ferries to the city. It is the only capital city in the United States accessible only by boat or plane. It is also the largest U.S. city, covering 3,108 square miles, almost as large as Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

Answer: gold

No doubt about it, gold in Alaska got a lot of people interested in the territory. Gold was found by Joe Juneau and his partner Richard Harris in what would become the town of Juneau, later the state capital. It was named the state mineral in 1968.

Answer: two

Alaska borders the Pacific and Arctic oceans. These areas include the Beaufort, Chukchi and Bering seas, as well as the Gulf of Alaska. The state has 33,000 miles/53,000 kilometers of coastline, more than the lower 48 states combined.

Answer: boroughs

Alaska uses the term borough instead of county. There are some differences in how they function because of Alaska's size and municipalities, which are separated by large distances.

Answer: jade

Though often associated with China, jade is Alaska's state gem. Native Alaskans used it for trade before Europeans arrived. There are large deposits of it in Alaska, including a mountain of it (literally) on the Seward Peninsula.

Answer: dog mushing

Let's hitch the dogs up to a sled and go for an afternoon spin! Dog-sledding (mushing) has always been a way for Native Alaskans to get around in the winter. What few roads there were got buried in snow so the natives learned to harness their dogs to sledges to travel around. White settlers followed the practice.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, perhaps the premier sled dog race in the world, is held in March of each year from Anchorage to Nome. The state legislature made mushing the official sport in 1972.

Answer: 88,000 barrels worth

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline was built in response to the oil crisis of 1973. It was completed in 1977 and up to 88,000 barrels worth of oil can move through it hourly on the 800-mile trip from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope to Valdez. Because some of the pipeline goes through areas of permafrost, special construction techniques had to be devised.

Answer: Denali

At 20,320 feet/6,194 meters, Denali is the highest peak in North America. In fact, the ten tallest peaks in North America are in Alaska or on the Alaska-Canada border. Part of the Alaska Range, Denali has two summits with the south summit being taller than the north. There are five glaciers connected to the mountain.