Mapping Indigenous Places

One of the goals of this site is to make the trail corridor's human history visible — not just the hiking route, but the older geographies it crosses. Here's how we're building it and what we've learned along the way.

Heritage markers

The map already supports categorized waypoints — check-ins, flora, fauna, and landmarks. We're adding a heritage category for indigenous sites:

category: "heritage"

Each marker gets: - A name — the indigenous place name first, with the colonial name in context - Coordinates — lat/lng, sourced from archaeological surveys, tribal cultural offices, and historical accounts - A note — what this place was, what happened here, who still holds it sacred - Attribution — which tribe or tribal nation this knowledge belongs to

Visual language

Heritage markers render differently from check-ins. Instead of the sage-green dots we use for past campsites, heritage points use a warm ochre — the color of madrone bark and old earth. On hover, they show the indigenous name and a brief description. The goal is for the map to feel layered: the trail line we're walking, overlaid on a much older web of named places.

Data sources and sensitivity

This is delicate work. Many indigenous sites are intentionally unpublicized — sacred places that shouldn't become tourist destinations. The Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation, Karuk Tribe, Yurok Tribe, and Winnemem Wintu all have cultural resources departments that decide what's appropriate to share publicly.

What we can map without permission: - Village locations already documented in published ethnographic sources (Kroeber, Heizer, Baumhoff) - Place names recorded in linguistic surveys and publicly available - General tribal territory boundaries - Contemporary tribal headquarters and cultural centers

What we won't map without explicit tribal approval: - Active ceremonial sites - Burial grounds - Specific locations of rock art or archaeological features - Any site a tribe has asked to keep off public maps

Our first heritage waypoints are sourced from A.L. Kroeber's Handbook of the Indians of California (1925) and the California Place Names of Indian Origin (Gudde), cross-referenced with contemporary tribal websites and published cultural resource surveys. This is a starting point — the best information will come directly from the tribes themselves.

Coordinates queue

These are the first heritage points we're adding to the map database:

Place	Indigenous Name	Lat/Lng	People
Yan'-daa-k'vt (Burnt Ranch)	Tolowa genesis site — "South There Upon"	41.937, -124.203	Tolowa Dee-ni'
Taa-'al-dvn (Crescent City)	Major Tolowa village — "Outward-At-Place"	41.755, -124.202	Tolowa Dee-ni'
'Ee-chuu-le' (Lake Earl)	Tolowa lagoon village — "Large Body of Water"	41.828, -124.195	Tolowa Dee-ni'
Nii~-lii~-chvn-dvn (Nelechundun)	Smith River village — "Fish Dam Site"	41.928, -124.147	Tolowa Dee-ni'
Tr'ee-ghii-dvn (Rowdy Creek)	Seasonal camp on Smith River tributary	41.935, -124.135	Tolowa Dee-ni'
Tayja'te (Point St. George)	Coastal village — "Pointing Seaward"	41.778, -124.253	Tolowa Dee-ni'
Xaa-wan'-k'wvt (Howonquet)	Major Tolowa village at Smith River mouth	41.940, -124.205	Tolowa Dee-ni'
Tr'un-le' (Troolet)	Fishing village near Yan'-daa-k'vt	41.933, -124.200	Tolowa Dee-ni'
MesLteLtun (Pebble Beach)	Crescent City shoreline village	41.777, -124.248	Tolowa Dee-ni'
Re'kwai (Requa)	Largest Yurok coastal village — Klamath mouth	41.556, -124.078	Yurok
Wohkero	Lower Klamath Yurok village	41.518, -123.995	Yurok
Turip	Middle lower Klamath Yurok village	41.482, -123.920	Yurok
Weitpus (Weitchpec)	Yurok town at Klamath–Trinity confluence	41.236, -123.660	Yurok
Kepel	Yurok Jumping Dance site near Weitchpec	41.245, -123.640	Yurok
A'u-yee-chvn (Happy Camp)	Karuk settlement on the Klamath	41.793, -123.378	Karuk
Ka'tim'iin (Katimin)	Center of the Karuk world — Salmon R. confluence	41.377, -123.492	Karuk
Ishípishi (Ishi Pishi Falls)	Karuk dip-net fishing station	41.380, -123.495	Karuk
Panámniik (Orleans)	Karuk New Year ceremony site	41.382, -123.500	Karuk
Inam (Clear Creek)	Karuk district center at Clear Creek confluence	41.726, -123.425	Karuk
Ti-bar-uk (Scott R. confluence)	Karuk–Shasta trade point	41.780, -123.040	Karuk / Shasta
Ah-hot'-teah (Yreka)	Shasta village in Shasta Valley	41.731, -122.635	Shasta
Wat-sa'-nah-chi (Fort Jones)	Shasta village in Scott Valley	41.608, -122.845	Shasta
Kutsavidar	Shasta village in Shasta Valley	41.650, -122.520	Shasta
Panther Meadows	Winnemem Wintu emergence site	41.359, -122.200	Winnemem Wintu
Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki (Mt. Shasta)	Sacred peak — Shasta, Wintu, Karuk, Ajumawi	41.409, -122.195	Shasta / Wintu / Karuk

Implementation in code

The site's existing CheckIn type already supports a category field:

export interface CheckIn {
  id: string;
  lat: number;
  lng: number;
  elevation?: number | null;
  note?: string | null;
  photo_url?: string | null;
  created_at: string;
  category?: "checkin" | "flora" | "fauna" | "landmark" | "heritage" | null;
}

Adding heritage markers is straightforward — they're rows in the same check_ins table with category: "heritage". On the map component, we filter by category and render a different marker style:

• Ochre dot (12px, #c4956a) for heritage points
• Solid style — no ripple animation (these are quiet, permanent places)
• Popup shows indigenous name first, then description, then attribution line
• Optional: a map layer toggle to show/hide the heritage overlay

The seed data gets a HERITAGE_SEED array parallel to the existing FLORA_SEED. The map component gets a ~15-line addition to render the heritage markers. It's a lightweight change that adds a meaningful layer to the trail visualization.

What's next

The coordinate list above is a starting point. The best information will come directly from the tribes themselves — their cultural resources departments know these places better than any ethnographer ever did. If you're reading this and you're from one of these communities, we'd love to hear from you about what should be on the map and what shouldn't.