Talk:Mount Tamalpais
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[edit] Initial assessment
article needs more breadth especially in ecology. Anlace 18:09, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
This page is coming along nicely, I've made a few contributions over the past year. Few notes:
- The additional mountain biking photos are nice but aren't quite wiki styled yet. Author/photographer should indicate release status. Thumbnail + link would also be better.
- IMO the mountain bike section may be OTT.
- Changed "route" to indicate RR grade, my understanding is that this should indicate a hiking/climbing route. If we want to note vehicle-accessible summits, that's a change that might be made globally to mountain pages. Note that many popular peaks will be nonchallenging (technical difficulty should be added/noted?) and route info somewhat gratuitious. Noting public/private vehicle access, paved/dirt, and unlimited/restricted access would also help.
Tam is publically accessible via 2-lane paved road generally 30 minutes before/after sunrise/sunset, excepting red-flag fire days, with no toll, but a self-service parking fee. How much of this to be noted might be a topic for further discussion.
Also just added a trailheads inventory under "hiking". I guess there's a few things that make Tam special, including the sheer scope of area that it's part of (the northern tip of the Golden Gate bridge to the northern tip of Pt. Reyes), the number of trailheads, and the interconnectedness of the trail network encompassing not only Tam proper but the headlands, Pt. Reyes, and other sections of west Marin, and the hiking conditions (well-maintained trails, water at most trailheads, relatively little poison oak on major routes). Even in northern California this is a rarity, and as you go further abroad, even more so.
KMSelf 2006-10-22
[edit] Pronunciation
Can somebody add the proper pronunciation? Jordan Brown 07:17, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
I see that Uriel8 has added it. Thanks. Jordan Brown 05:39, 13 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Mountain Biking section (criticism)
This section would seem appropriate to Mt. Tamalpais State Park, and not "unencyclopedic". Mt. Tam is the birthplace of mountain biking and provides ideal beginner to advanced mountain biking terrain on its extensive trails system. It is a premier and renowned mountain biking recreation destination. uriel8 (talk) 02:10, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
- The way it reads now is most certainly unencyclopedic and most of it should be deleted. Wikipedia is not a random collection of information, is not a travel or hiking guide, and is not a "how to" manual. The kind of information that's in these sections mostly belongs in Wikibooks, not in Wikipedia. The fact that Mount Tamalpais played an important role in the development of mountain biking is encyclopedic and deserves mention. A guide to scenic places to go mountain biking is unencyclopedic "how to" information. And a section titled "List of Rides with Maps and Detailed Trail Descriptions - Hikers Welcome!" is the very definition of "unencyclopedic". Peter G Werner 01:17, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] The "Sleeping Lady": Miwok Legend or Urban Legend?
I've tagged the statement "Its name, first recorded in 1845, is said to be derived from a Miwok word meaning "Sleeping Maiden", because it resembles the silhouette of a reclining woman" as "dubious". I'll have to track down sources for this, but if I'm not mistaken, the origin of the name "Tamalpais" is not well-established and almost certainly has no relation to any Miwok term for "sleeping lady". In fact, if I'm not mistaken the so-called Legend of the Sleeping Lady has no basis at all in Coast Miwok mythology and instead is based on a late 19th-century pseudo-Indian romance written about Mt. Tamalpais. I'll try to track down some facts on the subject and revise this material for accuracy. Peter G Werner 02:07, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
- Yep, its definitely apocryphal. I found an article called "Mt. Tamalpais: The Legendary Birth of a Holy Mountain" and a book called "Dreams of Tamalpais" which discuss this piece of folklore in considerable detail. (Interestingly, there's a mountain in Alaska and another in Mexico with almost exactly the same mythology.) I've started a breakout article on The Sleeping Lady – just a stub now, but I hope to expand it as I find time. Peter G Werner 07:41, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Natural history expansion needs
I had originally tagged the "Natural history" section with an "expand" tag because there are entire sections missing, as well as established sections that need expansion. I recently added one of the more glaring omissions, on plant communities. It absolutely still needs a section on wildlife (eg, animals). It also could use something on hydrology – streams, lakes, etc, though I suppose that could also go under "Geography". "Geology and soils" could use significant expansion as well. Some material on conservation and management issues would be useful as well, but that could go in a separate section outside of "natural history", perhaps. Peter G Werner 02:52, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
