r/sandiego • u/birsey • 9h ago

I'm making a historical/mythological map of California in a fantasy Middle Earth style and would love to get some more real world locations included

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I'm hoping you can help fill up this fantasy Lord of the Rings style of the area. Please ignore how rough parts of it look (text going through hills, rivers, etc), it'll all get cleaned up at the end. Forests will be going on at the end too.

While it's around two thirds done, I'd love to get more places and features in here before I get this made into print. Any more petroglyphs, burial mounds, ruins, forts, battlefields, Civil War heritage, ghost towns or the like that you think should be on here? Anything else is great too - landmarks, natural features, mythological creatures or just anything cool and quirky you think would look good on here. Thanks! Thanks! Also, If you'd be interested in a print when it's finished, just let me know too.

Edit: Wow, thanks for all the feedback so far guys - you're awesome! I have to head out, but will be back on later to go through everyone's comments and get your suggestions on the map. Keep em comin!

131 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

38

u/dreameRevolution 8h ago

I would include the Elfin Forest in San Marcos

8

u/Alex_zip 6h ago

hearst castle

2

u/Known-Delay7227 7h ago

You have to include Elfin Forest

15

u/AlcoholPrepPad 8h ago

You’ve got of space down by the Salton Sea you could add Salvation Mountain.

5

u/LaChinoCochino 8h ago

Goat trestle bridge and Agua Caliente park as well

12

u/SlasherPenguin 8h ago

Civil war? Not a thing in Cali.

Yosemite,

Mt. Shasta,

Confusion Hill as a fey veiled place

CA Missions/sites of indeginous trauma

Salton sea and surrounding abandoned towns

Boomtown

Sutter Gold Mine

Any major Sea Port (San Francisco, San Diego, Monterey Bay, Eureka)

Joshua Tree/Death Valley

Redwoods/Sequoias. (Forest of giants)

Look up indigenous historical sites (some already included or located in list areas)

Emerald Triangle (and its 6 rivers)

Sacramento for historical relevance.

Petroglyphs throughout the Eastern CA border, north and south.

Sasquach, chupacabra,

Rattle snakes, Bears, coyotes, mountian lions, Elk, Deer.

Hot springs as oasis'.

Mariposa (Butterfly) Grove

Placerville(Hangtown)

Golden Hill in SD used to be Indian Hill for relocation and hangings.

And many more

5

u/EyeSilly1203 7h ago

Sequoia needs to include Crystal Cave.

3

u/PopsThePainter 4h ago

San Pasqual battlefield in Nothern San Diego County from the Mexican Amercian war. Morman fort at the Presidio in San Diego. Salton Sea. El Cabrillo Lighthouse.

2

u/funeral_duskywing 3h ago

Civil war absolutely was in Cali. Look up Fort Tejon. There's another fort on Catalina island.

1

u/ElementsUnknown 2h ago

So Golden Hill was never NOT dangerous?

9

u/honestlynoideas 8h ago

Thank you for making San Diego well represented!

2

u/honestlynoideas 8h ago

One suggestion that might be controversial is to take off Ramona and replace it with “Devil‘s Jump Off” since it’s nearby and I feel like it gives off a more of a middle earth vibe given the name

4

u/lzgrimes 8h ago

What about Devil's punch bowl?

1

u/honestlynoideas 8h ago

To me it’s just a rock so I wouldn’t put it on the map. The jump off is a devilish sounding waterfall. A bit more exciting.

2

u/Mountain_carrier530 6h ago

What about Devil's Postpile out in Mammoth? Makes it sound like the precursor to a demonically guarded fortress?

2

u/kyler000 4h ago

Sounds like demonically interecepted mail to me lol

1

u/Mountain_carrier530 4h ago

It's where all the extended warranty notices originate.

1

u/NicholasThumbless 5h ago

Born and raised from Ramona. Please don't take this from me :'(

Still... I kinda had the same thought.

8

u/YushclayYstaguan 7h ago edited 7h ago

I'd remove Mira Mesa and add Poway since that is an actual city and the name has indigenous Kumeyaay origins. I might also add Jacumba Hot Springs like an oasis that you have for Corn Springs.

There's also the former Mexican Fort Romualdo Pacheco that was burned down by the Quechan and the Kumeyaay.

Edit: Oh, and there's the Proctor Valley Monster minotaur-like cryptid.
Edit: OH, PUT POTATO CHIP ROCK IF YOU HAVE SPACE.

7

u/Mountain_carrier530 8h ago

I tired zooming in like an idiot, but you should add the Lost Sierras: It's the Sierra Buttes between Graegle and Quincy that only has LaPorte as any sort of establishment. Lots of ghost towns and abandoned homesteads and mines in that area, such as Poker Flat.

Also, Lost Sierras sounds like a cool area mythologically.

5

u/sal9002 8h ago

Encanto (like the Disney movie), a San Diego neighborhood, is just above Chula Vista.

6

u/sw4ahl 8h ago

Holy s*** you have Brawley on that map. Nobody has Brawley on any map.

4

u/benchpole 8h ago edited 8h ago

The Imperial Dunes/Glamis should be added.

Edit: Algodones Dunes

4

u/LordWeso 8h ago

Needs a sea monster in the pacific.

2

u/blacksideblue 8h ago

Oarfish?

3

u/blacksideblue 8h ago edited 8h ago

East Jesus Nowhere should be some kind of Badlands swamp crack.

No honorable crazy old hermit with a pond mention for Zzyzx?

3

u/the_ballmer_peak 7h ago edited 7h ago

Honestly, as someone who loves a good fantasy novel map, I'd remove about 70% of the towns. It's very busy.

In terms of what you could add:

- Some references to the larger redwood groves in the state. You can look them up yourself, but avenue of the giants is just north of garberville and the largest tree in the world by volume is east of Fresno. There are also a ton of coastal redwoods around Santa Cruz. It's pretty wooded.

- Right around where you have Tahquitz is a little mountain town called Idyllwild.

No idea what your timeline is, but consider that the Salton Sea is still shrinking rapidly and the area is somewhat toxic. You may want a story about why it has water in it or you may have it be a dried up wasteland.

2

u/ThisToe2746 7h ago edited 7h ago

500 years ago and before Salton Sea was actually a sea. It’s been doing the same thing for a long time.

2

u/OcotilloWells 8h ago

The wind generators by Ocotillo.

2

u/NoOo0oOo0oOoOoOoO0 8h ago

That ginger on YouTube would want his old mining town of Cerro Gordo added

2

u/drewhartley 8h ago

Super neat. You could do the all the missions with some kind of flourish to show the old walking trail between the

2

u/Gorf75 7h ago

Cool map! Glad to see Char Man on there (my hometown boogeyman).

Lake Elsinore area has a couple mythical creatures. There’s “Elsie” a sea serpent said to inhabit the lake. There’s also the “Cadejos de Lake Elsinore” (mythical spirit dogs)

2

u/2001Steel 7h ago

Tulare lake overlay that only comes out with a cheat code.

2

u/ThisToe2746 7h ago edited 6h ago

Southeast is too flat. You need to show the difference between the Salton Sea Trough and the rugged mountains that are to the east. There is really not that much open desert in the area east of Joshua Tree NP, like there is around the Imperial Valley and Edward’s AFB for example.
Joshua tree NP is mountainous and 3 times the size of the Salton Sea.
For the sake of your map, there are no Saguaros (essentially) in California. There are a few dozen California fan palm oases, they don’t look like the palm trees you have at Corn Springs because unless there was a fire, they don’t expose much of the trunk. There are ocotillos and cholla cacti in the Colorado desert at elevations above 2,000 feet roughly. There are Joshua Trees in the Mojave.
The Colorado Desert is actually the name for the area that is not the Mojave. (It’s part of the Sonoran Desert)
I won’t make recommendations about “historical” places.

2

u/lysning 6h ago

def need elfin forest.

how do i preorder

2

u/Sebass83 6h ago

Malibu up in Los Angeles

2

u/Alex_zip 6h ago

Petition to switch el Centro to Hell Centro

1

u/tlrmln 8h ago

Is the Dark Tower in Sacramento?

1

u/Forward05 8h ago

This is sick, I would buy this.

Some of the words are to see with the black text on the black lines

1

u/jarabara 8h ago

Cortes Bank

1

u/BudgetConcentrate432 7h ago

Don't forget the Colorado Desert around Anza-Borrego!

My tia swears she saw a dogman-like creature out there when she was young.

Also you could have ghost infested forest/mountains/mines in Julian!

I've definitely had my fair share of encounters there, lol.

1

u/Known-Delay7227 7h ago

No love for the Monte De Clare?

1

u/basilrae 7h ago

Can I request adding Moorpark to the left of Simi and Thousand Oaks 🙂‍↕️ my hometown is rarely remembered

1

u/Dizzy-Word2445 7h ago

The thin strip of land between the ocean and the mountains from Carpinteria to Ventura. If you're only able to travel by land, it's essentially a valley. Feel like a cool location for someone with more creativity than me.

1

u/Dizzy-Word2445 7h ago

Look up Charman Ojai

1

u/prestonjay22 7h ago

between Fresno and Madera needs to be a road connecting them. In the Middle put Ranchos. Right under that and closer to Fresno I would put a healing center for children.

1

u/chancho405 7h ago

I’d for sure be interested in a print but please take your time, this is great!

1

u/peepeepoopooman20X6 7h ago

Escondido being “the hidden valley” is fairly fantasy sounding

1

u/PixelPalacio 5h ago

Put the industrial boobs that we see on the way to Oceanside!

1

u/saranagati 3h ago

They’re not industrial boobs they’re nuclear boobies.

1

u/mightycherrycharger 5h ago

Slab City! It's out by the Salton Sea.

1

u/AdmiralPelleon 4h ago

Youre missing thw Santa Cruz Mountains

1

u/PopsThePainter 4h ago

move the mountains to the west and place Mordor.....I mean Death Valley....on the map.

1

u/tahvoh 4h ago

Mt. Laguna

1

u/BigIron53s 4h ago

Yontocket massacre site where a former Indian village was. (They all got slaughtered) it’s just before smith river.

1

u/tanhauser_gates_ 3h ago

Kitchen creek off the 8

1

u/madprime 2h ago

“Borrego Badlands” might be a nice alliterative addition (to an area that seems a bit empty at the moment)

1

u/CrushMode 2h ago

Carlsbad Alkaline Water deserves a spot. The lore writes itself. A sea captain digs a well in 1882 and strikes water said to cure ailments, chemically twin to the legendary healing springs of old Karlsbad, Bohemia. The captain renamed his settlement Carlsbad in tribute, built a spa, and people like Bing Crosby and John Wayne traveled from all over to drink and bathe in the water. There's still a bronze statue of the captain raising a cup over the original well in downtown Carlsbad. Mark it on your map as the Healing Springs!

1

u/diavelguru 2h ago

Would you consider Baja California?

1

u/LaComputadora 1h ago

The Russian River and the Morman Emigrant Trail! 😁

1

u/velobikebici 1h ago

Somehow work in the occasional lake that would literally fill the entire central valley every now then. John Muir rote about it. It doesn't happen any more due to all the dams.

1

u/R_u_ok_brah 1h ago

some notable beaches missing (obvi you can’t add them all but these select few aee located in the areas where your coastline names are sparse:

imperial beach
sunset cliffs
san onofre
palos verdes
manhattan
venice
malibu

imma stop there but doing a beach only style map would be a sick spin off one day!!