Places worth the detour

Falling water, mapped to the roads that reach it. Some run all year; some only after a storm, and the record says which.

Geothermal water at the surface. Only springs recorded as hot are listed here — a spring is not a hot spring unless the record says so.

The towers at the edge of the road. Many carry a build date and a place on the National Register, and where they do it is on the page.

Roofed timber crossings still carrying a road. They are short detours by nature — the bridge is the destination and the drive to it.

Where the road meets the water. Only named beaches are listed — most of the sand on the map has no name, and an unnamed shore is not a destination.

Monuments, forts, ruins and memorials standing where they were built. What the record knows is what the page says.

Mountains, buttes and volcanoes the map knows by name, with the recorded elevation where the survey has one.

Signed stops along the through road — somewhere legal to pause, stretch, and read the map. Named what the road record names them.

Settlements abandoned and left standing, from mining camps to rail stops. What the public record says about each is what the page says.

Collections with a door and posted hours, from county history to aviation and rail. What the record knows about each is what the page says.

The signed sights of the road — landmarks, curiosities and roadside stops mapped as destinations in their own right. Named what the record names them.

Green ground with a name and a boundary — city commons, county grounds and state parks alike. The ones with a record behind them are the ones we point you to.

Land set aside and kept that way — refuges, game lands and wilderness, each held by somebody who says so on the record.

Sculpture, murals and the outsized roadside piece you slow down for. Public work, standing where anyone can see it without paying to.

Where water comes out of the ground cold. The hot ones have their own page; these are the wells, seeps and sources people have named for centuries.

Planted ground meant to be walked through — botanical collections, arboretums, community plots and the sculpture garden behind the museum.

The abrupt edge — sea cliff, escarpment, canyon wall. Named rock faces, mapped against the roads that run under and over them.

A table, some shade and a reason to stop for twenty minutes. Modest by definition, and worth knowing about before the next long stretch.

Rock the weather cut a hole through. Rare enough that people drive a long way for one, and mapped here against the road that gets closest.

Where a trail leaves the road. Each one is a named trailhead on the public map record, mapped against the road that reaches it.