Let’s take a trip around Western Washington and test your outdoors and travel IQ:
Q: The Olympic Discovery Trail, when finished, will run from Port Townsend to what town?
A: La Push. The nonmotorized trail will be about 130 miles long when completed. A 4-mile stretch along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and 2 miles through Port Angeles is one of the completed sections (www.olympicdiscoverytrail.com).
Q: What park contains the largest virgin temperate rain forest in the Western Hemisphere?
A: Olympic National Park. It also has the largest intact stand of coniferous forest in the U.S., and the largest wild herd of Roosevelt elk (www.nps.gov/olym).
Q: What town combines a bird festival with bluegrass music?
A: Ridgefield in Clark County (www.ridgefieldfriends.org).
Q: What is the first Tribal Scenic Byway in the state?
A: The Cape Flattery Tribal Scenic Byway was a partnership between the state and the Makah Nation. It is on the northwest tip of the continental U.S. If you go, be sure to visit the Makah Cultural and Research Center. It displays thousands of artifacts from the archaeological dig of the 3,000-year-old Ozette Indian fishing village (tinyurl.com/9cc8t56).
Q: What county in the state does not have a stop light?
A: Wahkiakum County.
Q: When did the first woman climb Mount Rainier?
A: In 1890, Fay Fuller became the first woman to stand atop Mount Rainier, one of 10 climbers to reach the peak. It took until 1961 before more than 500 climbers were successful in that year, until 1992 when more than 5,000 were successful, and 1974 before more than 5,000 climbers reached the peak that year. In 1999, 7,432 climbers were successful, the highest total through 2010 (www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/climbing.htm).
Q: Julia Butler Hansen, who won all 21 elections at three government levels and was the first woman to head a subcommittee of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, had a nature-related area named after her 40 years ago. What was it?
A: The Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge near Cathlamet (www.fws.gov/jbh).
Q: What mountain has the most heavily glaciated peak in the U.S. mainland?
A: Mount Rainier, with 26 glaciers.
Q: The Mima Mounds south of Olympia, 5- to 8-foot tall and up to 30 feet in diameter, have been associated with what theories concerning their origin?
A: Ice Age pocket gophers; Paul Bunyan workers walking off the job, leaving dirt-filled wheelbarrows that rotted and left the mounds; fish nests when the area was underwater, and several others.
Q: What city has a five-ton Angels of Mercy chandelier?
A. Olympia. Its domed capitol building, which included granite from Index, has the chandelier, which was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Q: What mountain is associated with flying saucers?
A: In 1947, a pilot saw nine unusual-looking aircraft flying extremely fast by Mount Rainier. This is considered the first modern UFO sighting. His description included the phrase “flying like a saucer.”
Q: How long did the world’s third-largest suspension bridge last, what was it called and where was it located?
A: Forever known as Galloping Gertie, built across the Tacoma Narrows, it lasted less than five months before doing a roller-coaster impersonation and collapsing in 1940 during a moderate wind (www.wshs.org/podcasts/gertie.aspx).
Q: In what place can you find a bird marsh, an English landscape garden, a moss garden, a reflection pool, a Japanese garden and woodlands?
A: Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island has all that and more on 150 acres (www.bloedelreserve.org).
Q: Cascadia Marine Trail was the state’s first official water trail, but four others have been developed. What are they?
A: Lakes-to-Locks Water Trail, Willapa Bay Trail, Lower Columbia River Water Trail and Northwest Discovery Water Trail (www.wwta.org/trails).
Q: What created Puget Sound?
A: About 13,000 years ago, a glacier carved the valley until an ice dam broke, allowing the Pacific Ocean to flood the valley, creating about 500 square miles of water and 1,400 miles of shoreline.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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