Mapman’s journey took him to this rainbow-colored hot spring. At 370 feet across, it’s bigger than a football field.

Lorcel/Shutterstock.com

STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.7, RH.6-8.10, WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.7, RI.6-8.7, RI.6-8.10, W.6-8.4, W.6-8.7, SL.6-8.1

NCSS: Culture • Time, Continuity, and Change • People, Places, and Environments

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GEOQUEST

Political Map

Can YOU Find Mapman?

Where did our cartographer go? Draw a map of the mystery location to enter the contest.

Helen McMahon

Jim McMahon

Jim McMahon, aka Mapman®, is Junior Scholastic's cartographer (mapmaker). This past summer, he went on a road trip to our country’s first national park, which is famous for its unique geographic features. Each year, millions of visitors flock to this park to see its rainbow-hued hot springs and geysers—a type of hot spring that shoots steam and water as high as 180 feet into the air. The park also features mud pots, pools of highly acidic muddy water that smell like rotten eggs.

Mapman traveled to the national park, established in 1872, to experience these geological wonders in person. To get there, he had to drive through a few states in the Northern Great Plains. Situated in the center of the United States, the area includes North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska, as well as the eastern halves of Montana and Wyoming.

Patrick Gorski/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Jon G. Fuller/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

This year’s mystery location is known for its bison (pictured here) and geysers (above).

One of the largest grasslands in the world, the Northern Great Plains was for centuries home to millions of bison (commonly called American buffalo). But by the 1880s, settlers expanding west had hunted the bison to near extinction. Today, Native Americans and other local residents are working with environmental groups to protect the region’s wildlife, including bison and elk.

Want to learn more about our nation’s oldest national park? Enter this year’s Can You Find Mapman? contest! If you correctly answer the five questions at right, figure out Mapman’s final destination, and draw a map of the national park in which it’s located, you could be chosen as one of the winners.

The grand-prize  winner will receive $250. (Your teacher will also win $250.) Twenty-five runners-up will each get a Mapman T-shirt. 

All entries must be postmarked by February 15, 2022. Good luck!

ENTER THE CONTEST!
Click here to download the entry form and rules.

Travel Along With Mapman!

This map, called a political map, features part of the Northern Great Plains. Political maps show government-defined borders for countries and states as well as the locations of capitals, cities, national parks, and other places. Use the map to answer the questions. Then draw a map of the national park in question 5. Send us the answers—and your hand-drawn map—for a chance to win $250!

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

MAP SKILLS

1. Mapman began his trip in Cheyenne, which is the capital of what state?

2. Then he drove to Belle Fourche, South Dakota, which is 20 miles south of what landmark?

3. Next, he cut across the Black Hills to a nearby national monument called Devils Tower. In which direction did he travel?

4. From there, he drove northwest to the Crow Reservation. What national monument is located there, along the Little Bighorn River? 

5. When he arrived at 44°N, 111°W, his final destination, Mapman reached a famous geyser. Which national park was he in when this showstopper spewed hot water into the air?

Geography
Place, Location
Skills Sheets (2)
Skills Sheets (2)
Text-to-Speech