Exploring Parks' Landscapes

National parks contain many of our nation's most treasured landscapes. We have waterfalls, mountains, caves, glaciers, prairies, volcanoes and so much more for you to explore! Find a park and explore the beauty of nature. You can even see what’s happening live at parks without leaving your home with these parks’ webcams!

In this activity you will see webcams in different parks and you’ll have to guess the name of the landscape type or feature the camera is showing. Is it a mountain or a canyon? Is it a volcano or a geyser? Then click on the arrow under each question to see if you guessed correctly.

Don't see anything on a webcam?

There are more than 200 webcams in national parks! We picked a few for you to check out for this activity. Please keep in mind that sometimes you may not see anything on the webcams on this page because of weather, darkness over night, maintenance, or other happenings.

Question 1

Yellowstone National Park has about 500 of these hot springs that periodically erupt shooting very hot water into the air. This one known as "Old Faithful" is one of the most famous in the world!

What kind of landscape feature is it?

A geyser

Question 2

A volcano erupted about 7,770 years ago creating this giant crater. It has since filled with rain and snow to create this kind of landscape feature, which is currently the deepest in the country! There is even an island in it.

View Webcam

Status: Inactive

What kind of landscape is it?

This lake is located in Crater Lake National Park. 

Question 3

This webcam is looking at a landscape that is full of the smallest and tallest kinds of plants in the world! It is made up of many trees and shrubs that also provide home to a variety of wildlife.

View Webcam

What kind of landscape is this?

This forest is located in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park.

Question 4

Scientists in Hawaii have many cameras set up to watch these kinds of mountains that have lava flowing from them, even creating lava lakes. This camera is looking at Kīlauea, the youngest and most active of these landscape features on the island of Hawaiʻi.

(Webcam courtesy of USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory)

View Webcam

What kind of landscape feature is this?

This volcano is located in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.

Question 5

For two millions years, the Gunnison River has been carving this impressive landscape feature wearing away at the rock to make steep cliff walls lining it on both sides. This landscape feature gets up to 2,722 feet deep along this river, which continues to make it deeper.

View Webcam

What kind of landscape is this?

A canyon at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. 

Question 6

Look close at this webcam to see water flowing over the side of this mountain. The water falls from a height of 2,425 feet! But you can also find many of these landscape features not quite as tall.

View Webcam

What kind of landscape feature is this?

This waterfall is located in Yosemite National Park.

Question 7

These very tall landscape features can be found throughout the country. Many in the Rocky Mountain range meet here at the Continental Divide, a place on North America that marks where rivers to its east flow to the Atlantic Ocean and rivers to its west flow to the Pacific Ocean.

View Webcam

What are these landscape features?

Thes mountains are located in Rocky Mountain National Park. 

Question 8

This kind of landscape covers thousands of square miles of the middle of the country. It can range from short to very tall grass bustling with wildlife. Here in Florrisant Valley, this landscape is decorated with petrified—or fossilized—tree stumps.

View Webcam

What kind of landscape is this?

This prairie is located in Florrisant Fossil Beds National Monument.