FLOWERS AND ANSWERS

Asters and Coneflowers

The answers to yesterday's questions.



1.  What is the highest mountain in the world?
Answer: Mount Everest in Nepal and Tibet is 29,028 feet above sea level.  The five highest mountains in the world are in the Himalayas.


2. What is the highest point in North America?
Answer: Mt. Denali in Alaska, at 20,310 feet, is the highest mountain on the continent.  It was also called Mt. McKinley, but the peak has always been known by the Athabascan name of Denali, which means "The High One" or "The Great One".  (Although my book says the elevation is 20,320 feet, I have since read other numbers.  However, in June 2015, a survey expedition used modern GPS equipment and methods, along with a better geoid model, to determine a new elevation of 20,310 feet, which is why I changed the original number.  So, there you go, my advice is to always check on everything, even though you have read it in a book.  Read several books if interested and cross reference them all to get the correct answer.  I have a voracious curiosity to get to the truth, and I'd say the same for every answer I give.  I'm just not doing that today for the rest as am still having iffy internet connections.)



3.  What is the highest point in the 48-contiguous United States?
Answer: The summit of Mt. Whitney in California is 14,494 feet above sea level.


4.  What is the lowest point on land in North America?
Answer: Death Valley, also in California, bottoms out at 282 feet below sea level.


5.  What is the lowest point on land in the world?
Answer: Earth's lowest point on land is the Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan, which is 1,312 feet below sea level.

I hope you've enjoyed this.  I think I will do this once a month.