does the location card go to discard pole as it explored?

I don't believe a Location can get Progress tokens until you Travel to it, at which time it leaves the Staging area. A Location in the Staging area is not being explored, so any Progress tokens received will be sent to the Quest card.

The above poster is incorrect.

pg 15: "If a location ever has as many progress tokens as it has quest points, that location is considered explored and is discarded from play."

Ever means ever. (Including the staging area)

Also, when the Northern Tracker from the Spirit deck commits to a quest, progress tokens are placed on each location in the staging area.

Indeed, I have not played all the Spheres and forgot that there might be cards that grant Progress tokens independent of the Quest phase. Thanks for the assist.

It's worth checking out the FAQ thread if you have any more issues as that has answers to a lot of the common questions

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=201&efcid=4&efidt=479840

Hope this helps