The steepest mountains in the US are the Rockies in the center-west states. The Appalachian Mountains in the eastern U.S. are shorter and rounder and heavily forested. The steep Sierra Nevada and Coastal Ranges are in the West, past the Rockies. On most maps, mountain ranges are shown through shaded areas and the color brown with white to indicate snowy peaks. A small black triangle next to a name and number is the name and elevation of the range's highest mountain.
Prairies, exclusive to North America, are the elevated flatlands covering the Midwest from Ohio to the Rockies. Their rich soil makes them ideal for ranching and farming, especially cash crops like wheat and corn. Some maps have little drawings of crops and animals to show what is produced on that part of prairie. On maps, prairies are usually either light green or yellow.
America has four major deserts, all located in the West: the Great Basin between the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas, the Sonoran in the Southwest, the Mojave between them and the Chihuahuan in southern Texas and New Mexico. While each has its own distinct characteristics, all are hot and dry, receive little precipitation and have relatively few lifeforms. Deserts on maps are usually tan, brown or burnt orange.
Dense forests cover almost all the eastern northwestern United States, including the Appalachian Mountains and Alaska. Hawaii is a rain forest. Eastern forested regions are in temperate climate zones and contain deciduous trees, those that lose their leaves in the fall and regrow them in the spring and coniferous, or evergreen trees. Northeastern forests are coniferous and rainy much of the year. On maps, forests are usually dark green.
The largest lakes in America are the five Great Lakes in the upper Midwest on the Canadian border, Lake Okeechobee in Florida and the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the longest rivers are the Mississippi and the Missouri. On maps, water is always blue. Rivers are squiggly blue lines and lakes are blue areas in the middle of land. Sometimes the shade of blue gets darker as the water gets deeper.