At 9,514 miles, no two locations under U.S. jurisdiction lie further apart than Orote Point in Guam and East Point in St. Croix of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The longest distance between U.S. states is the 5,823-mile gap that separates Rivera Beach, Florida, from Kure Island, Hawaii.

The northernmost point in Alaska — and thus anywhere in the United States — is Point Barrow. This promontory sits along the Arctic Ocean between the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea. It was named after British geographer Sir John Barrow in 1826.

Oregon’s Crater Lake is the deepest lake in America, descending to depths of 1,943 feet. The lake’s water comes entirely from snow and rain, as there are no other water sources feeding into Crater Lake. Given the lack of sediment from other water sources, Crater Lake is one of the clearest lakes in the world and features a rich, blue color.

Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the lower 48, reaching an elevation of 14,494 feet above sea level. Located in eastern California within the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Mount Whitney lies adjacent to the eastern border of Sequoia National Park. The peak is named after geologist Josiah Dwight Whitney.

Salem, Oregon, has served as the westernmost capital in the contiguous U.S. since 1854. When you consider the entire country, Juneau, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii, sit further west. Juneau is also the largest state capital by area, spanning 3,255 square miles.

St. Matthew Island is located in the Bering Sea about halfway between Alaska and the Russian mainland. At 184 miles from the closest human settlement, St. Matthew Island is considered to be more remote than any other point in the U.S.

On April 12, 1934, the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire recorded winds reaching speeds of 231 mph, the fastest wind speed ever recorded at the time. Though the record was broken by Australian winds of 253 mph in 1996, it remains the fastest wind recorded on U.S. soil.

While 98% of the population in the lower 48 states lives within one hour of an urban center of at least 75,000 people, that’s certainly not the case in Glasgow. Situated near the Canadian border and home to just over 3,000 people, it’s the most isolated town in the contiguous U.S. according to the Malaria Atlas Project from Oxford's Big Data Institute.

At 10,200 feet above sea level, no incorporated American city sits at a higher elevation than Leadville, Colorado. Leadville was built during the 19th-century gold rush, as it was located near precious stores of gold, silver, lead, and other valuable resources. At one time, Leadville was the second-largest city in Colorado.

Located two miles northwest of Lebanon, Kansas, the geographic center of the U.S. is denoted by a plaque at the end of the K-191 state road. The actual exact midpoint is about a half mile from the plaque and can be found in the center of a nearby field that once served as a hog farm.

Located within Washington’s Olympic National Park, Cape Alava is the westernmost point in the contiguous U.S. Part of the Olympic Peninsula, the cape can only be accessed on foot during low tide. Nearby Cape Flattery to the north and Cape Blanco in southern Oregon boast similar longitudes as well.

No spot on American soil sits further south than Rose Atoll in the territory of American Samoa. The country’s easternmost point, including territories, is Point Udall in Saint Croix, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Interestingly, the westernmost point, in Guam, is also called Point Udall. The northernmost point in the country lies within the state of Alaska.

Nicknamed “the Big Island,” Hawaii is the largest of the Hawaiian Islands at over 4,000 square miles in area. On the flip side, Niihau is the westernmost of the Hawaiian Islands with a population of only about 200 people. The smallest of the Hawaiian Islands in terms of area is Kahoolawe, which was utilized by the military during World War II.

Maine’s Quoddy Head State Park is the easternmost point in the U.S., encompassing 541 acres of parkland at the tip of a peninsula. The location is highlighted by the West Quoddy Head Light, denoting this easternmost location and allowing visitors to gaze out over the Quoddy Channel toward the cliffs of Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick, Canada.

At 2,540 miles, the Missouri River is the longest river in the United States. The river begins in Montana before it joins up with the Mississippi River near St. Louis. The Mississippi is the country’s second-longest river, measuring 2,350 miles from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.

Towering 6,684 feet above sea level, North Carolina’s Mount Mitchell is the tallest U.S. peak east of the Mississippi River. It was named after scientist Elisha Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina who first measured the mountain in 1835. The mountain became part of North Carolina’s first state park in 1915.

Northwest Angle, Minnesota, is the northernmost point in the contiguous U.S., but it is mostly surrounded by Canada thanks to a 17th-century mapmaking error. The only way to travel there from the lower 48 by car is to go through the Canadian provinces of Manitoba or Ontario. If you don’t have a passport, your only option is to take a boat across Lake of the Woods.

Reaching 20,310 feet above sea level in south-central Alaska, Denali is the highest point in the country. Formerly called Mount McKinley, Denali is also the tallest mountain in North America and the third-highest of the Seven Summits (the tallest peak on each continent).

Covering 3.4 million acres in the northern Mojave Desert, Death Valley National Park is home to the lowest point on the North American continent: Badwater Basin, which sits at 282 feet below sea level. The park is also home to the hottest place on Earth — the hottest temperature ever recorded in North America (134 degrees Fahrenheit) was measured in Death Valley in 1913.

No point in the contiguous U.S. is located further south than Ballast Key, an island in the Florida Keys which is part of the Key West National Wildlife Refuge. A few other small tracts of land sit a bit further south, but since they are periodically submerged beneath water they do not qualify. The southernmost incorporated place in the contiguous U.S. is Key West, Florida.

When you think of Maine, its proximity to the deserts of Africa probably doesn't come to mind. Surprisingly, though, the easternmost point in Maine is within 3,154 miles of El Beddouza, Africa — which makes it the closest part of the United States to the African continent. The two are divided by the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean.