ON THE MAP
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BY MEGAN PETERSON
drive through education E A S T E R N S I S K I YO U A U D I O T O U R S EASTERN SISKIYOU County is a rugged volcanic landscape full of natural wonders that include the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge and the Lava Beds National Monument. And now, thanks to a couple of free audio tours that combine sightseeing, history, storytelling and a novel driving tour technology, you can visit these iconic spots in your own car at your own pace – with all the benefits of a guided tour and none of the drawbacks. “We wanted to bring more people into our area to experience the valuable national and local history. We also wanted to involve multiple rural communities in one featured attraction so the audio tour was a perfect fit,” explains Linda Woodley of Rural Klamath Connects, a regional economic development group that created the first audio tour to bolster tourism in the area. The initial tour, entitled “The Modoc War: A Homeland Lost,” is an epic story about the origins of the Modoc War and takes visitors from the starting point just over the Oregon border in Klamath Falls, through 60 miles of important and scenic landmarks to the Lava Beds National Monument in Tulelake. Fought over a six-month period, the Modoc War was a series of skirmishes from 1872-1873 that saw 55 to 60 Modoc warriors from their Stronghold keep as many as 1,000 Army soldiers at bay – without ever losing a battle. Today, the war is recognized as one of the costliest in United States history in terms of lives lost and dollars spent per enemy combatant, and its effect on the Modoc People and eastern Siskiyou has been profound. But unlike a standard museum tour that moves from site to site with “dead space” in between, much of the audio tour unfolds during the driving sections of the tour and incorporates the geography into the tour. Touted as an “immersive, GPS-enabled tour,” it works something like a “location-aware” podcast with music and sound effects. The route is also carefully constructed to build the narrative with the environment, forming a truly three-dimensional storytelling experience. “I love the fact that the speed of the tour is the decision of the people in the car – where if they want to spend more time at a site, they can. If they want to talk about what4 continued on page 26
Photos courtesy of Discover Siskiyou
JUNE 2020
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