The Cleetwood Cove Trail in Crater Lake National Park is the only trail from the rim of the volcano to the surface of the lake.
If the trail is one mile long and the trailhead is 1000 feet from the rim to the surface of the lake, what is the average slope
of this trail?
Solution to the Problem:
The answer is .193.
Think of the trail as the hypotenuse of a right triangle.
The vertical leg of the triangle is 1,000 feet.
Solve for the horizontal leg by using the Pythagorean Theorem.
x2 + 1,0002 = 52802
x = 5184 feet.
So, the slope = 1000 / 5184 = .193.
Correctly solved by:
| 1. John Funk | Ventura, California |
| 2. Dylan Martin |
Mountain View High School, Mountain View, Wyoming |
| 3. Tom Robb |
John Handley High School Winchester, Virginia |