# Trivial Pursuit errors-a desert in Maine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383 "2008-01-21T16:58:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/1 "2008-01-21T16:58:54Z")
Cold winter evenings sometimes find my SO and me over the TP board, testing each other’s recall of stray knowledge bits. Some of the answers have given us pause, so we now jot them down and go hit the intarwebs after the game to check the accuracy of the TP writers. We looked last night, but found no site listing admitted errors on the question cards-do any of you dopers know of such a site? A question from last night-in what state is the easternmost desert found in the US? I answered: New Mexico, figuring it to be further east than AZ, CA, and NV. The card says: Maine. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Every search I’ve run on Google regarding deserts and the US refer to four desert areas in the SW. Nothing east of the Mississippi River. Checking Maine specifically, yields nothing about a desert. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/2 "2008-01-21T17:01:51Z")
Did you try googling “maine desert”? Doing so got me [this](http://www.desertofmaine.com/), which sounds like what your trivia question was referring to. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/3 "2008-01-21T17:02:29Z")
[Desert of Maine](http://www.desertofmaine.com/) Really more of a big sandy spot than a true desert (Maine gets plenty of rain), but Trivial Pursuit has never gotten hung up on the details. I’ve run across several flat out wrong answers. ETA: **cmkeller** beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/4 "2008-01-21T17:03:59Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Cold winter evenings sometimes find my SO and me over the TP board, testing each other’s recall of stray knowledge bits. Some of the answers have given us pause, so we now jot them down and go hit the intarwebs after the game to check the accuracy of the TP writers. We looked last night, but found no site listing admitted errors on the question cards-do any of you dopers know of such a site? A question from last night-in what state is the easternmost desert found in the US? I answered: New Mexico, figuring it to be further east than AZ, CA, and NV. The card says: Maine. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Every search I’ve run on Google regarding deserts and the US refer to four desert areas in the SW. Nothing east of the Mississippi River. Checking Maine specifically, yields nothing about a desert. [/QUOTE] Perhaps they were referring to [this](http://www.desertofmaine.com/)? 😃 Edit: It seems that my google-fu wasn’t as fast as I thought… ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/5 "2008-01-21T17:05:05Z")
Yeah, this is sorta like the Yukon’s [Carcross Desert](http://arcticwebsite.com/CarcrossDesert.html), the “World’s Smallest Desert.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/6 "2008-01-21T17:06:59Z")
I’ve been there. It’s a weird, not terrifically large area of sand in Maine, of all places (see the links above). They give you a tour on a golf cart-like train. There’s a little museum with vials of sand from deserts all over the world. I’ve long suspected that H.P. Lovecraft (a New Englander) got his inspiration for The Blasted Heath, that barren area where nothing will grow in “The Colour Out of Space”, from the Desert of Maine. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/7 "2008-01-21T17:49:08Z")
Yes-I saw the ‘desert of Maine’ search returns, but figured it took more than a name to constitute a true ‘desert’, and disregarded those hits. I’d read of ‘cold deserts’ where less than 10" of liquid precipitation falls per annum, but that still doesn’t apply, given what I’ve read of Maine’s climate. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/8 "2008-01-21T18:07:05Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Yes-I saw the ‘desert of Maine’ search returns, but figured it took more than a name to constitute a true ‘desert’, and disregarded those hits. I’d read of ‘cold deserts’ where less than 10" of liquid precipitation falls per annum, but that still doesn’t apply, given what I’ve read of Maine’s climate. [/QUOTE] Near as I can tell a desert is defined as having less than 10" of precipitation per year. I seriously doubt that is the case for the Maine desert. Heck, the coast of Maine which is very close to the “desert” ranks second behind the Pacific Northwest in annual rainfall. This looks more like an oddly placed dune than anything else but certainly not a desert by any definition I can think of whatever they want to call it. ---
**Author:** ![Omphaloskeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/9 "2008-01-21T18:10:12Z")
[This](http://www.acadiamagic.com/Park.html) is what I thought of when I read the OP. Also not a desert; also in Maine (and farther east than the “Maine Desert”). ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/10 "2008-01-21T18:13:05Z")
[QUOTE=Whack-a-Mole] Near as I can tell a desert is defined as having less than 10" of precipitation per year. I seriously doubt that is the case for the Maine desert. Heck, the coast of Maine which is very close to the “desert” ranks second behind the Pacific Northwest in annual rainfall. This looks more like an oddly placed dune than anything else but certainly not a desert by any definition I can think of whatever they want to call it. [/QUOTE] Okay, now in fairness to Trivial Pursuit: The question can be read as requiring knowledge of the easternmost part of the United States that has less than 10" of rainfall annually. Such a place may and or may not be thought of as a desert. Certainly, most people don’t think of Los Angeles as a desert, though it is by that definition, IIRC. The question could also be read as requiring knowledge of the quite trivial piece of information: what state has the easternmost patch of land called a desert? In that case, Maine would be the answer. Such a question requires knowledge of precisely the sort of trivial stuff that TP exists to glorify. Which doesn’t mean that TP doesn’t get things wrong from time to time; we know they did/do. This just isn’t one of them. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/11 "2008-01-21T18:39:12Z")
> [@](#): > > This is what I thought of when I read the OP. Also not a desert; also in Maine (and farther east than the “Maine Desert”). Been there as well as the Desert of Maine. Mt. Desert Island is a well-forested island (containing the resort town of Bar Harbor – “Baahhhh Hahhhbahhh” to the locals – and Acadia National Park (which has no “r” in it)), but in Colonial Times I understand that it was barren of trees, hence the name. It was never a “desert”. But the similarity is pretty close and defensible in the case of the Desert of Maine. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/12 "2008-01-21T23:33:51Z")
Wasn’t the Maine desert colonized by the Moops? 😃 I hope this joke doesn’t sail over everyone’s heads. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/13 "2008-01-22T01:13:55Z")
[QUOTE=BwanaBob] Wasn’t the Maine desert colonized by the Moops? 😃 [/quote] Not mine, bubbleboy. But anyway, if you define a “desert” as a sandy area, doesn’t a beach count? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/14 "2008-01-22T01:37:11Z")
Did anyone else Google Earth the Desert of Maine? ([It’s not naturally made](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_of_maine)) Come to think of it, there’s a similar desert in England, uncannily shaped like a [horse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffington_White_Horse) ---
**Author:** ![Dusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/15 "2008-01-22T01:58:46Z")
Of course it’s naturally made, it’s the dry bed of an ancient glacial lake. It was once covered in a thin coating of topsoil, but over farming in the 18th and 19th centuries led to erosion, which continued unabated until the glacial silt was fully exposed. It’s not a desert, per se, but it’s not like they just dumped a bunch of sand in the woods. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/16 "2008-01-22T02:05:14Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] A question from last night-in what state is the easternmost desert found in the US? I answered: New Mexico, figuring it to be further east than AZ, CA, and NV. [/QUOTE] Even without the Maine desert, that would be wrong. Ever driven through West Texas? ---
**Author:** ![Barrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Barrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrington)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/17 "2008-01-22T02:15:29Z")
Apropos of not very much, the other day the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel game [Just a Minute](http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/justaminute.shtml) had someone successfully challenged because they mentioned a “desert island” off the Scottish coast, which was deemed to be impossible, and hence “deviation”. I don’t normally shout at the radio, but I did this time, annoying pedant that I am. The ‘desert’ in “desert island” is not quite the same meaning as in “Sahara desert”. Literally, it means ‘deserted’, so a desert island is one that was once inhabited but no longer is. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/18 "2008-01-22T03:55:51Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] Even without the Maine desert, that would be wrong. Ever driven through West Texas? [/QUOTE] True-I learned that I was wrong on another level, after further research. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/19 "2008-01-22T04:23:37Z")
[QUOTE=Barrington] Apropos of not very much, the other day the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel game [Just a Minute](http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/justaminute.shtml) had someone successfully challenged because they mentioned a “desert island” off the Scottish coast, which was deemed to be impossible, and hence “deviation”. [/QUOTE] I hope that person got his or her just deserts[sup]1[/sup]. Going back to the OP, I propose a different, double-sneaky answer to the Trivial Pursuit question: Alaska. Trivia games often, for the purposes of trickiness, refer to Alaska as the easternmost state. Wikipedia [mentions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert) a region which could meet the technical definition of a desert. > [@](#): > > The [North Slope](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_North_Slope) of Alaska’s [Brooks Range](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Range) also receives less than 250 millimeters (10 in) of precipitation per year, but is not generally recognized as a desert region. So while it isn’t anything that a sensible person would think of, it could be considered. [sup]1[/sup] This is neither a pun nor a misspelling. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383/20 "2008-01-22T06:30:49Z")
[QUOTE=Number] Trivia games often, for the purposes of trickiness, refer to Alaska as the easternmost state. Wikipedia [mentions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert) a region which could meet the technical definition of a desert. [/QUOTE] But alas, the dry parts of Alaska aren’t the “eastern” parts. The Aleutians, the only part of Alaska in the eastern hemisphere, are soaking wet. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-pursuit-errors-a-desert-in-maine/434383.md?page=2)