Naming Conventions

Each park service unit has a unique four letter code for quick identification. The code is usually pretty predictable. If the name of the park is just one word, the four letter code is typically the first four letters of the park name. For instance, Yellowstone's code is "yell". When the park name goes to two words, the code usually consists of the first two letters of the first name, and the first two letters of the second name. Mount Rainier's code is "mora". This is just a guideline though. I discovered this the other day when I was guessing the code for Carlsbad Cavern. I guess they figured "caca" was to smelly to attach to a cavern, so instead, it's code is "cave".

Other codes that I thought were funny sounding or interesting:

People Names:

• carl - Carl Sandburg Home, National Historic Site
• pete - Petersburg National Battlefield
• fred - Fredericksburg National Cemetery
• greg - Great Egg Harbor National Wild & Scenic River

Common Words:

• band - Bandelier National Monument
• care - Capitol Reef National Park
• chat - Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
• chic - Chickasaw National Recreation Area
• demo - Deshler-Morris House

Funny Sounds:

• bawa - Baltimore-Washington Parkway
• caco - Cape Cod National Seashore
• fofo - Fort Foote Park
• gaar - Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve
• qush - Quinebaug & Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor

You can discover these codes by looking at the URLs for parks here. The code is the four letters after "nps.gov/". Find any good ones?