Travel
Discover facts about travel. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
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Crater Lake aggressively plunges deeper than all US lakes
Its basin formed when a volcano’s summit collapsed, then filled with rainwater to nearly 2,000 feet deep.
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A hydroelectric dam completed Canada's giant crater lake
Manicouagan's ring follows an ancient impact structure, but the striking reservoir seen from space is modern. Flooding for a hydroelectric project joined…
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Great Bear Lake aggressively dominates Canadian wilderness
It is the largest lake located entirely within Canada, and it stays frozen for much of the year.
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Tristan da Cunha stubbornly reigns as isolated archipelago
With no airstrip on the island, reaching it requires a long boat trip from South Africa.
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Most of Saskatchewan skips the clock-changing ritual
Most communities stay on Central Standard Time throughout the year, while places such as Lloydminster follow a different arrangement. That means a trip across…
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South America is farther east than you think
The northern end of South America lies much farther east than many mental maps suggest. Even its westernmost mainland point is near the longitude of Michigan,…
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Tiny Rhode Island has an unexpectedly long coastline
Its coastline is unusually long for such a small state because bays and inlets carve it into a jagged edge.
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Montreal is a city of islanders
The St. Lawrence River surrounds the densely populated island, making millions of Montrealers literal islanders.
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Nile fiercely outstretches every single global river system
The Nile is often considered the world's longest river, flowing north through one of Earth's driest deserts.
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Why Australia isn't called an island
Cartographers classify Australia as a continent rather than an island because of its immense size, despite its being surrounded by water.
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Michigan touches four of the five Great Lakes
Its peninsulas border Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie, giving the state shoreline on four of the five Great Lakes.
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Borneo fits three countries on one island
Indonesia occupies the largest share, Malaysia has territory in the north, and Brunei forms a small third state on the northern coast. A journey across the…
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The Caspian Sea is an immense body of water with no ocean outlet
Despite its name, it is landlocked between Europe and Asia and is commonly described as the world's largest lake. Rivers bring water in, while evaporation…
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Denali violently pierces the sky as the tallest US peak
Unlike mountains that rise from high plateaus, Denali climbs from near sea level, giving it a dramatic base-to-peak rise.
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Lake Michigan fiercely traps itself within a single nation
It is the largest lake located entirely within one country.
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Bouvet Island is mostly glacier and very far from company
The Norwegian island lies in the South Atlantic, roughly 1,600 kilometers from Gough Island and 1,700 from Antarctica. About 89 percent is glacier-covered.…
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No bridge spans the Amazon's main channel
The huge river winds through sparsely populated areas, with wide floodplains and banks that change with the seasons. A bridge would need costly approaches as…
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Earth's longest mountain range is underwater
The mid-ocean ridge system stretches about 40,000 miles, with a jagged chain of peaks running along the seafloor.
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The farthest point from an ocean lies deep inside China
Eurasia's continental pole of inaccessibility is in Xinjiang, roughly 1,600 miles from a coastline. Its precise location depends on how river mouths and…
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Sable Island keeps redrawing its own shoreline
Waves and wind move sand around the narrow Atlantic island, eroding some stretches and building others. Its outline changes because the material itself is…
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Antarctica makes wind by sending cold air downhill
Air chilled over the high ice sheet becomes dense and flows toward the coast. Valleys can funnel and accelerate these katabatic winds, while coastal weather…
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Amazon river aggressively out-flows every global competitor
The Amazon carries more water than the next seven largest rivers combined, even as people debate which river is longest.
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New York City has hundreds of miles of coastline
New York City's jagged borough shorelines add up to hundreds of miles when traced around their edges.
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Colorado's straight-looking border hides a surveyor's zigzag
A USGS account describes a jog of nearly half a mile in an early survey of the Colorado–New Mexico boundary. Marking a latitude on rugged ground was messier…
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