This is a trip for people like me who enjoy four wheeling on unpaved roads, and hiking in rugged, remote, wide open spaces. The desert mountains to the east of San Diego include rocky wilderness areas, noted for bighorn sheep, Swainson's hawks, golden eagles, and oases surrounded by native California palms. The Carrizo Gorge at the southern edge of Anza-Borrego State Park, located about 90 miles east of San Diego, is a spectacular chasm and home to the Goat Canyon railroad trestle. At two hundred feet tall and 750 feet long, it is purportedly the "tallest curved wooden trestle ever built in the world".
The construction of the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railroad began during World War I in the steep-walled Carrizo Gorge near the town of Jacumba. Many people were convinced at the time that it couldn't be done, but John D. Spreckels, the "Sugar King," didn't rest until the "impossible track" was completed in November, 1919, at a cost of $18 million.
In the eleven mile stretch between Jacumba and the desert floor near Ocotillo, the tracks descend only 900 feet while the sheer canyon walls have drops of over 2,000. The difference was spanned by constructing 16 major tunnels and 21 trestles, including the one across Goat Canyon.
Although the route fell into disuse for a number of years and many Websites (even "official" looking ones) suggest using the tracks as trails to explore the Carrizo Gorge, the reality is that as of May 2004, the railroad is now operational again, via The Carrizo Gorge Railway, so, the Carrizo Gorge Railway Police now have a "100%!! No Trespassing Policy" on all railroad property http://www.cgrp.us/Trespassing.html . . . hence, yesterday my hiking friend and I took my SUV out as close as we could to the trestle via dirt/rock/sandy roads, and then hiked the last miles cross country through the rugged mountains, with the aid of a topography map and compass, until we could get to a vantage point to look down at the trestle .... this short video series will chronicle the journey :)
Now that we know the area, the next time we hike this, well hike down the goat canyon itself, to view the trestle from the bottom :) If we'd had more hours of daylight yesterday, we would have included that extra hike in on THIS trip :)
For more information, check out:
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/deanza.htm
http://www.stowell.org/goatcanyon97/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_and_Arizona_Eastern_Railway and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrizo_Gorge_Railway
The song for the video is "When You Walk On" by Eliza Gilkyson, from the album "Paradise Hotel".
This is a trip for people like me who enjoy four-wheeling on unpaved roads, and hiking in rugged, remote, wide open spaces. The desert mountains to the east of San Diego include rocky wilderness areas, noted for bighorn sheep, Swainson's hawks, golden eagles, and oases surrounded by native California palms. The Carrizo Gorge at the southern edge of Anza-Borrego State Park, located about 90 miles east of San Diego, is a spectacular chasm and home to the Goat Canyon railroad trestle. At two hundred feet tall and 750 feet long, it is purportedly the "tallest curved wooden trestle ever built in the world".
The construction of the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railroad began during World War I in the steep-walled Carrizo Gorge near the town of Jacumba. Many people were convinced at the time that it couldn't be done, but John D. Spreckels, the "Sugar King," didn't rest until the "impossible track" was completed in November, 1919, at a cost of $18 million.
In the eleven mile stretch between Jacumba and the desert floor near Ocotillo, the tracks descend only 900 feet while the sheer canyon walls have drops of over 2,000. The difference was spanned by constructing 16 major tunnels and 21 trestles, including the one across Goat Canyon.
Although the route fell into disuse for a number of years and many Websites (even "official" looking ones) suggest using the tracks as trails to explore the Carrizo Gorge, the reality is that as of May 2004, the railroad is now operational again, via The Carrizo Gorge Railway, so, the Carrizo Gorge Railway Police now have a "100%!! No Trespassing Policy" on all railroad property http://www.cgrp.us/Trespassing.html . . . hence, yesterday my hiking friend and I took my SUV out as close as we could to the trestle via dirt/rock/sandy roads, and then hiked the last miles cross country through the rugged mountains, with the aid of a topography map and compass, until we could get to a vantage point to look down at the trestle .... this short video series will chronicle the journey :)
Now that we know the area, the next time we hike this, well hike down the goat canyon itself, to view the trestle from the bottom :) If we'd had more hours of daylight yesterday, we would have included that extra hike in on THIS trip :)
For more information, check out:
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/deanza.htm
http://www.stowell.org/goatcanyon97/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_and_Arizona_Eastern_Railway and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrizo_Gorge_Railway
The song for the video is "Hallelujah" by K.D. Lang.
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