Calaveras Enterprise
From the Editor's Desk by Buzz Eggleston
Tuesday, November 3, 2009

A plan announced in mid-August to map the tourist hotspots in the Sierra Nevada hasn't gotten enough attention.

“The National Geographic Society has partnered with the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and Sierra Business Council to capture the history and heritage of the Sierra Nevada Region in order to create an interactive Web site and print map,” the groups announced back then.

The public was asked to nominate just about anything interesting, from geologic and natural wonders to favorite restaurants and art galleries, to be included on the map. Each entry is a portal to more information about the place or event. As the nomination window closed Saturday, only a handful of the potentially thousands of possibilities in the Mother Lode were on the list.

Some of those nominations are indeed star quality: Calaveras Big Trees State Park, the Sierra Nevada Logging Museum in White Pines, the newly christened Arnold Rim Trail, sections of the Mokelumne River at Tiger Creek and farther down between Electra and Middle Bar, the various caverns here, the Dorrington Hotel and, for fun, Millerosa's Star for a Day in Vallecito, where you can act in your own Old West movie. And there are some other listings, all noteworthy.

What's amazing to me is what's been left out, or at least were still not on the list late last week. Wineries, for instance. I'd list most of them. Irish Family Vineyards and Muir's Legacy Vineyard Tasting are listed, but I would certainly put Kautz Ironstone Vineyards on there, along with many of the others in the Murphys area and farther north in the Shenandoah Valley of Amador County. Heck, I'd list all of them.

Museums: When I looked, the great museums in San Andreas, Angels Camp and Murphys were not yet identified.

Golf courses: Any list has got to include these, but so far this one doesn't. Ski areas, ditto.

Events: the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee and the fairs in adjacent counties don't appear, nor do Grape Stomp, West Point's Logging Jamboree, or any of the other great parades and festivals this area produces every year.

Lakes: New Melones Reservoir is on the map, but not as an interactive part of it, so some work needs to be done there. The same is true of Lake Alpine, New Hogan, Camanche, Pardee and countless others in the region. And not just lakes, but rivers and swimming holes and countless picnic areas that overlook waterways around here.

There are more peaceful things to look at as well, cemeteries being one of them, historic churches another, old saloons for sure, and historic buildings that have withstood the rigors of time.

And the list goes on. There's no doubt that these folks have tackled a monumental project, but it's a worthwhile one and the community should support it.

I might be overreacting, of course. The organizers said they received 212 nominations in just a seven-day period ending the middle of last week. And in just 10 weeks or so, the time since it was first announced, it would be impossible to be comprehensive anyway. Certainly they will want to continue to update the map after it is unveiled in its inaugural edition. It wouldn't make sense not to do so. It's a great idea.

In their own words:

“The Sierra Nevada Geo-tourism Project seeks to celebrate the Sierra Nevada as a world-class destination, while contributing to the economic health of the region by promoting sustainable tourism. History buffs and adventurers, backpackers and foodies, birders and sightseers can discover unique destinations based on recommendations from those who know best – residents of the Sierra Nevada.”
If you want to see the map for yourself go to sierranevadageotourism.org on the Web, then click on the small version of the map at the right side of the page.

Contact Buzz Eggleston at editor@calaverasenterprise.com.

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