National Geographic Traveler: Intelligent Travel Blog
April 8, 2010

Today National Geographic and local partners reveal a unique and interactive way to explore Yosemite National Park: The Yosemite Gateway MapGuide. NG worked with the Sierra Business Council and Sierra Nevada Conservancy to gather area residents' secrets--more than 800 of the best places to visit off-the-beaten tourist path. The MapGuide points out "one-of-a-kind coffeehouses" and deserted historic sites otherwise undetected by folks visiting the usual spots like Kings Canyon and Lassen Volcanic National Park or Lake Tahoe.
Take your status from tourist to geotourist when you visit spots like the "oldest continuously family-owned and operated farm in the area," Larsen Apple Barn, or relax at the Yosemite Bug Mountain Resort & Spa, affectionately known as "the Bug" by regulars. The WebMap has features that allow you to tell your friends--via Twitter or Facebook--what you've discovered. You can comment, suggest, and add content to the "living and breathing, constantly being updated" map after you've seen the place for yourself.

Project directors divided the 400-mile-long Sierra Nevada region into four parts; the Yosemite Gateway MapGuide is the first of four, so stay tuned for the next guide to the Tahoe Emigrant Corridor area of the Sierra Nevada due out this summer.

Also, be sure to check out the other geotourism MapGuides from National Geographic for California's Redwood Coast, Central Cascades, Montreal, Greater Yellowstone, Crown of the Continent, Sonora Desert, Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, Appalachia, to name a few.

Click to Learn More: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2010/04/to-yosemiteand-beyond.html