Thank you sir for exploring places I can no longer go to. I'm 81 and in a wheelchair and greatly appreciate your travels that kind of get me out of the house.😅
I worked for the Bridge Gang on the SD&AE RR, 1969 - 1972. Spent many lunch breaks at Dos Cabezas. My boss, Jack Beal and his wife lived at Dos Cabezas when they first got married.
"This is the desert, there's nothing out here....Nothing." The desert IS what's out here and it's amazing. Thanks for posting another great one, Steve.
I fully get what your saying cos that was my 1st thought & then i realised maybe some1 was warning hippies etc that there would be no water or rescuers beyond the signs!!
My Neighbor George who served in WW2, told me that he took this railroad from Texas to San Diego way back in the 40's RIP George and thank you for your friendship and service to our country.
Every time I watch one of your videos, it stirs a massive sense of wanderlust in me, and this one is no different. I'm 70 now, and with mobility becoming increasingly difficult due to arthritic knees, these video are probably the only way I'll get to see the places you go to. Thanks for your continued efforts in bringing places like this to those of us that are physically unable to go there. Your historical research and narration is top-notch... safe travels!
Yes,you're showing us wonderful things that some of us are no longer able to go to.Thank you.I was born and raised in So Cal and I do love it still.Especially the deserts.
Sad to see how little respect people show to historic places. I'm glad to see you showing us around and spending time to find exiting and forgotten places. I have seen lots of videos on the impossible railway, so if any are interested, just search youtube and they will come up. Thakns for showing us Steve! Love from Denmark
I agree. It’s unbelievable people cannot respect historical sites. At least we’re not as bad as they are in the Middle East. Were they destroy entire buildings and statues still not right anyway no matter how small or big the item is.
Don't think normal volks-..think Charles Manson...drugged , psychotic and...bored , tired of dust and sands ,,, anti social is simply gravy . This is wastelands - here civilization hath failed . Repeatedly
The thing you didn't recognize was an upside down truck flatbed. They loaded dolomite at the loading dock. There were mines close to the station and all the way over on the other side of S-2 also.
You mean like the Native American petroglyphs, or the ancient Roman graffiti? I agree, it looks ugly now, but in a 1000 years, more or less, they might blend right in.
I was born and raised in Hemet. My dad and I explored so much of the surrounding area anhills in the 70 and 80s. There is so very much history and things to stumble upon. I get so homesick when I watch these videos. Keep making them and sharing the great history of the southwest.
I don't remember when we explored this area, but sometime in the 70s. My husband started walking the tracks and found the tunnels between Dos Cabezas and Goat Canyon had been blocked. (No doubt for the safety of the dummies who like to walk around in the desert.) Well, that dummy just climbed over the hills the tunnels were cut through. When we found out the tunnels had been cleared, his dream was to build a railcart, but never got around to it. I particularly love your sidetracks to places we explored fifty years ago. The survival of that water tank and phone booth is amazing. It all still looks the same - no buildings to be seen when we were there.
The Kumeyyay would travel from Anza Borrego to what is now Cuyamaca and back again, depending on the season. The desert in the winter and the mountain in the summer. I used to be a park service volunteer for Cuyamaca and the history there is amazing.
I think I'll see your videos every week since i think about 1 year now. For someone from the Netherlands, these videos are really interesting. In the time that I have been following your channel, I have learned more about the Southwestern United States than I learned from television or in school. Your channel is very informative and entertaining, among all the nonsense out there on the Internet. Keep up the good work Steve.
My first camping trips were to the Dos Cabezas area in 1971, camped there many times. The SD&AE was running then. Beautiful nighttime view looking toward Imperial Valley and beyond. Its so sad that people fell they can go out and spray paint what ever they want. Spray paint the inside of your home so we don't have to see your ugliness. Indian Hill also has some nice pictographs
Something new to add to my So. Cal. desert adventure bucket list! I've been exploring the desert for most of my 66 years and yet there is so many more places left to discover, so I thank you Steve for showing me yet another place to head out to for a great day trip. As always when you bring us along with you, you help educate us with history along the way on your adventures. Great production as always, and thanks for adding the pictograph app, as it does help make them pop out of the rocks. Looking forward to next Wednesdays adventure!
Back in the 90s, a friend bought his first 4-wheel drive SUV, and the 'gang' made many jaunts to this area. We visited the stage coach station, and found the 1930s quonset huts, among other things. Such a quiet and interesting area. I wonder if the flowers come earlier to low-lying areas where the water pools; I've seen them on low hillsides and the desert floor. Glad you were able to capture the pictographs; thank you for sharing a bit of the early history of the area, and reminding people to be respectful. Yeah, those windmills. So weird that you can practically see the pulsing red lights from Arizona as you drive the 8 West back toward San Diego.
The big thing you say you didn't recognize sure looks like an upside-down flatbed trailer since it appears to have a strap cincher, and boards for the deck.
Hooligans! Such a shame that people feel they can destroy things! No respect. Pictographs are so fascinating. Interesting video Steve. Thanks for sharing
I hope you wrote them down or recorded him speaking.... When an old person dies... It's like a library burning down... Those experiences and history are lost forever!
I’ve been there. What you I.D.’d as a concrete phone booth, is actually a military guard shack. A guard was posted there 24/7 during WW2 due to the railroad’s strategic importance.
I great video! I love Anza Borrego State Park. When I was a kid in San Diego, we would go out there every Spring. I know you said there weren't wildflowers, but the ocotillo were fully leafed out. Flowers to follow.
I had heard that the flowers were in bloom, but it must be another section of the park. I'm actually glad it wasn't in this area, because the flowers bring a lot of people usually.
I'm old and living in New York City. I love your videos. Rode the ATSF through the southwest in the '50s from Colorado Springs, through Needles, into LA. Also, the music on this one is great! Nice job, Steve.
Very cool video! Really appreciated all the historical information you provided. I drove my Corolla out to that water tower back in August 2009. I don’t recall having any problems with the road. Looks like the road may have gotten a bit worse since those days. Hard to believe those railroad tracks haven’t been used since 2008! I think one of the first tunnels you come to if you continued walking the tracks is partially blocked by a huge collapse that happened several years ago. I don’t think whoever still owns the railroad has bothered to make any repairs or safety upgrades. Therefore, I don’t think it will ever be opened to traffic again. Truly abandoned! I enjoyed the pictograph section near the end of the video. I’d always heard about that place. Regarding the water tower there at the station, when I was out there in 2009, someone had drawn a huge, female face on that water tower. I didn’t notice it in your footage, but maybe you didn’t film the side of the tower where the face is. Is it still there? It was really iconic looking and quite remarkable! Maybe 16 years’ worth of unrelenting sunshine and heat has caused it to fade away.
As for abandoned mines... The old original highway 8, the concrete one that still exists in bits and pieces had lots of mines, mostly gold I think that you could see from the road when I was a kid and heading over to Arizona from InSane Diego. {before Interstate 8 and multi-lane separating up and down the mountains and passes}
I think it's been cleaned at some point then new graffiti replaced it. There were a few sedans that made it most of the way but the last bit was too rough with some bug ruts.
@7:36 that weird corrugated brick style was apparently common a hundred years ago. In Mesa, AZ the US government had constructed a Post Office and federal building that uses that style of tall square brick. The space has been turned into an events center after a renovation. The exterior of that section of the building was done in that austere federal concrete style so common in the roaring twenties and the great depression, but the interior the brick is visible. It looks like roofing tiles for what it's worth, and I expect that this style of brick fell out of fashion fairly quickly as I've never seen it anywhere else including in other public buildings and schools constructed from the late 1940s onwards.
Excellent excursion Steve! You as always managed yet again to make it Possible to see The Impossible Dos Cabezas Railroad Station! LOVED the "Historical Marker" at Anza-Borrego State Park entrance. Precisely @ 1:35 we can actually hear you trying not to laugh as you say "No, this is the message"! 🤣 As always your humor is much appreciated! You preparation and research is not lost on your Fans either Steve. Always bonus when you show past photos of the topic you are commenting on. What a story about Mr. Berg going above and beyond to stop that passenger train. You always Deliver The Goods and The Sidetrack Adventures Posse LIVE For Hump Days! Cheers and MOO From COW-lumbus, Ohio 👋
That monument got a good laugh out of me. I never noticed it before, but apparently its been there for years. Usually the Border Patrol is set up there so can't really stop, but the checkpoint was closed that day.
My grandpa said when they did that interstate construction if you didn’t pay the politicians in your area your town was cut completely out of the interstate highway. This is why so many little towns failed afterwards. So basically this gas station owner must have refused the extortion and he got left in the dust. Also why the interstate is so ridiculous in some places. They had to deliver what they promised the people that payed. So it got rerouted thru towns that paid.
Thank you for this video. My uncle Jose Gonzalez worked for the A&E RR. He lived in the crew quarters in the pic that showed them. He lived with his wife Julieta in the end unit on the left. In one shot near the units there is a big dead tree that has fallen over. That was their shade tree. I spent a few summers with them with my Cousin Dennis Olson. This was in the early 50's. .
I hiked the rails from Ocotillo to Jacumba around mid 2000’s. At the time there were train cars loaded with drywall on the tracks just sitting there with no engines. It also looked like someone was attempting to repair certain parts of the railway mostly in the canyon toward Jacumba.This area has such stunning beauty from the rock features, plant life and ancient human history. No matter what random place one picked to explore around you were guaranteed to find something interesting.
Odd in my area also - a few yellow flowers and purple ones but scattered. I'm thinking once it warms up, it finally hit the 70s yesterday, the flowers will follow. Spring is today.
Dirt roads always excite me I love to go down them and see any old sites! And the petroglyphs are amazing, that new function on your camera helps a lot! And I sure wouldn't want to bring an old two-wheel drive car out there! Thanks for the trip!
We saw a few 2WD sedans including a Tesla. They all stopped about 3/4 of the way there though and didn't try the last section where it gets a bit rougher.
You mean the bird choppers? It's a lot quieter when they're not. They ruin the scenery, catch fire and kill birds. Nothing environmentally friendly about that!
Construction of those wind turbines caused devastating flooding. Not green.
9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2
Great video. Enjoyed it. I've lived in Arizona for over 20 years and haven't visited any of these places, mainly because my wife and kids would have zero interest in this kind of subject. It wasn't necessarily vandalism that affected that rock art. We get a lot of adverse weather in this part of the country, rainstorms (even hail sometimes) and dust storms plus violent changes in temperature from winter to summer. All of those will cause rock paintings to degrade over the centuries.
Thank you Steve. I love watching your videos and plan to visit some of the places that you highlight in the future. And thank you to your wife for supporting you in this venture. Plus, I really appreciate how respectful you are of the land, sites and people.
In the early 70s (72-73) I was in the navy & was on a detachment out to NAF EL CENTRO to belt ammo for the F8s I worked on. On an off day I drove my 1966 Belvedere out to Dos Cabesa & then hiked to & back the goat canyon trestle from the East. It ended up being an all day excursion since we didn't get out to the station (Dos Cabesa)to start hiking until about 11:00 As I remember it was in January so it was good hiking weather.
Thank you!! My wife and I absolutely love listening and learning about what’s in our backyard. We look forward to your videos every week. Your content is bringing us closer together. Thanks again!
Graffiti must be a deep seated human imperative. In the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, some of the royal tombs were graffiti-ed by Greek-speaking tourists almost a thousand years after the tombs were created.
Thanks Steve! Contrary to the monument at the start- there is a lot out in the desert! It never gets old exploring the deserts of the Southwest. It truly restores the soul. Love your travels👍
That monument used to have a bronze plaque telling the story on Juan Baptista d'Anza and his expedition but it was stolen by metal recycling thieves in the 90s, as were most of the plaques of this type. Our winter home is fifteen miles or so north of here, and we can assure you theat this plenty to experience if you know what to look for.
Great video Steve as always. I camped here with friends about 20 years ago, amazing history. The highlight was hiking to the Goat Canyon bridge. Thanks for the memories!
As always great video. If I were a younger man, I'd love to experience these adventures with you. But I'm wheelchair bound and can enjoy you wonderful explorations on my tablet. Thank you!
Yay! It's Wednesday - time for another video from Steve with Sidetrack Adventures. I always look forward to these. Thank you Sir! I'm amazed a train was on those tracks as recently as 2008 . . . I wonder what for?
There was gypsum mining in the area, and the successors to the San Diego Arizona Eastern Railroad kept freight operations on the isolated Eastern branch.
I have driven back and forth on I-8 many many times over the last sixty years and really enjoy your videos on so many of the places that I have passed and wondered about. Thank you.
Wow, I've been visiting Dos Cabezas once a year for four-wheeling, and the hike up the railway. Kudos to you as I know you're not a "4 wheeler" and I'm aware that the area has a LOT of soft sand that will bog down even an off-roader unless you know how to drive on it. The real gem in that corner of the desert is the Thousand Palm Oasis at the top of the mountain!
Do the walk and spend a couple of days up there in the mountains... You also may get to see the the Bighorn Sheep like I did many years ago when I walked the rails from well before Jacumba. Find someone to drop you off at one the areas that are close to the tracks and start you walk there... Take LOTS of water... at least 3 gallons. Also, Pack it in, Pack it Out... leave only footprints... {:~)
Very very cool. I've been to Dos Cabezas plenty of times and never knew that's a phone booth. I come in the opposite direction through Jojoba Canyon, it's a very cool road once you turn right from Mortero Canyon Rd. Also, the wildflowers are definitely blooming more towards borrego springs off Henderson canyon Rd or Coyote canyon if you have an off road vehicle. So you were about an hour away from the bloom
My friends and I used to ride those rails through the Carrizo Gorge and we have crossed the Goat Canyon trestle many times in our home built cart. Now you see them all over You Tube but I believe that we were the first to do it on these rails back in the 1970s. When we rode them they were in disrepair. Then they were rebuilt again and again ruined by mother nature so now you can ride them once more. I'm thinking of building another cart.
No I'm not on FB. We did this way back in the 70s. I believe we were the first to do this for fun. I've only been on the S&D/AZ tracks and the Eagle Mountain tracks. Back then the Eagle Mountain tracks were live and we knew the track maintainers who gave us the train schedule so there would be no conflicts. They actually allowed us on their tracks.@@pappysproductions
Thanks again Steve for your post which as always you do with a respect & sensitivity to the history + heritage of the areas you visit. Thanks also for showing any informative plaques you come across as i often pause at these moments to read & digest the notices. UK
0:02 Dear Steve, thank you for the great video. The loading area might have been related to the Dos Cabezas quarry, which is just half a mile away. We visited that place about four weeks ago. There is evidence of a rock, crusher and a lot of quartz crystal. Maybe they were looking for gold ore and shipping it out from that loading dock. Two days ago, we went up to Borrego Springs, and we only found flowers at Henderson Meadows. I guess it’s late in the season. Thanks again.
An amazing amount of research and information! Thanks for sharing and brightning our day. Wishing you and your family safe travels in all of your adventures.
Wow! Talk about "out in the dingles"! Enjoyed this > especially your mention of the heroic railroader, and where he lived. That was kind. I love the southwest, but never really included Nevada in my view. Now I can see where the Silver State may be 'destination worthy'! Your approach is a thoughtful one, and is appreciated.
Thank you. I really appreciate it. We saw an eagle sitting on a rock, pretty close to us, and I guess it saw us getting the cameras out and it flew off before we could get a shot.
@@SidetrackAdventures That’s typical. I used to try to photograph wildlife. They’ll let you stare at them for 15 minutes, but try to aim a camera at them, and they act like you’re going to attack them. 😂
Thank you for filming this like your adventures. I had plans to do what you do old towns places of history western but when l retired l become sick then disabled now l can’t but l love your adventures thank you so much l enjoy and dream may be l will get better. 😊✝️🙏🛐🇺🇸
Excellent video thank you Steve. Dam vandals have to ruin everything. Would be interesting to talk to some older native American Indians in the places you visit. They would have great knowledge and stories to tell.
A couple of days ago a channel called Preston Goes drove one out there, he couldn't make it to the Trestle, but was able to hike the last bit to see it. th-cam.com/video/stsGKb_KMmM/w-d-xo.html
At least they didn’t use nuclear bombs to clear a path for the railroad, like in another one of your videos when they wanted to build a new highway through a mountain range…and I think you said that they wanted to detonate something like 26 nuclear bombs to open up the area…but sounder minds prevailed, thank God!!! I enjoy your videos and I appreciate your narration and facts that you include in your videos. ❤
The origin of the word/term vandal. The word vandal comes from the Vandals, the Germanic tribe that attacked Rome in 455. The tribe's name meant "wanderer," but the word vandal was used in the 1600s to mean "destroyer of what is beautiful." As I used to live in San Diego for decades I've visited this site many times.
Thank you sir for exploring places I can no longer go to. I'm 81 and in a wheelchair and greatly appreciate your travels that kind of get me out of the house.😅
I'm just 72 ,but to damn lazy to go anywhere!!😂
@@chrisarmstrong411 i am going to that worthless piece desert if it has gold on it .i am 60
SAD@@zcam1969
@@chrisarmstrong411 L😂L
That is awesome. Respect Sir
I worked for the Bridge Gang on the SD&AE RR, 1969 - 1972. Spent many lunch breaks at Dos Cabezas. My boss, Jack Beal and his wife lived at Dos Cabezas when they first got married.
What is your fondest memory of Dos Cabezas?
Dos Cabezas is Spanish for Two Cabezas.
Dis Cabezas means two heads in Spanish.
"This is the desert, there's nothing out here....Nothing." The desert IS what's out here and it's amazing. Thanks for posting another great one, Steve.
I fully get what your saying cos that was my 1st thought & then i realised maybe some1 was warning hippies etc that there would be no water or rescuers beyond the signs!!
My Neighbor George who served in WW2, told me that he took this railroad from Texas to San Diego way back in the 40's RIP George and thank you for your friendship and service to our country.
We love you George
Every time I watch one of your videos, it stirs a massive sense of wanderlust in me, and this one is no different. I'm 70 now, and with mobility becoming increasingly difficult due to arthritic knees, these video are probably the only way I'll get to see the places you go to. Thanks for your continued efforts in bringing places like this to those of us that are physically unable to go there. Your historical research and narration is top-notch... safe travels!
Medicare will replace your knees, just saying.
Yes,you're showing us wonderful things that some of us are no longer able to go to.Thank you.I was born and raised in So Cal and I do love it still.Especially the deserts.
Nothing like watching/seeing American history! Books are one way, this is the best way! 🇺🇲
Sad to see how little respect people show to historic places. I'm glad to see you showing us around and spending time to find exiting and forgotten places.
I have seen lots of videos on the impossible railway, so if any are interested, just search youtube and they will come up.
Thakns for showing us Steve!
Love from Denmark
The history of the railroad is fascinating. I'm hoping to do something else on a section of it people don't get to see often soon.
Nicely done!
I agree. It’s unbelievable people cannot respect historical sites. At least we’re not as bad as they are in the Middle East. Were they destroy entire buildings and statues still not right anyway no matter how small or big the item is.
Don't think normal volks-..think Charles Manson...drugged , psychotic and...bored , tired of dust and sands ,,, anti social is simply gravy . This is wastelands - here civilization hath failed . Repeatedly
This is a Great way to get out of the house due to health issues, Thank You Sir. THE SARGE
People suck. Ugh. Thank you Steve for taking me places I couldn’t go to otherwise. ❤
It’s sad. People even tag rocks and trees these days.
The thing you didn't recognize was an upside down truck flatbed. They loaded dolomite at the loading dock. There were mines close to the station and all the way over on the other side of S-2 also.
Why do People '''FEEL THEY''' have the right to Tag and Paint Buildings ???
Great Tour and History ... Thank You ..
You mean like the Native American petroglyphs, or the ancient Roman graffiti? I agree, it looks ugly now, but in a 1000 years, more or less, they might blend right in.
Even the natives were into tagging the walls.
I Honestly don't think Native
Americans would Disrespect
areas as that ...
The natives would have covered the rocks with their symbols and graffiti if they had had the means to do so. People are people.
Why were four faces hacked into a cliff in turtle island (america)?
I was born and raised in Hemet. My dad and I explored so much of the surrounding area anhills in the 70 and 80s. There is so very much history and things to stumble upon. I get so homesick when I watch these videos. Keep making them and sharing the great history of the southwest.
Vandalism sucks. Great video as always!!
I don't remember when we explored this area, but sometime in the 70s. My husband started walking the tracks and found the tunnels between Dos Cabezas and Goat Canyon had been blocked. (No doubt for the safety of the dummies who like to walk around in the desert.) Well, that dummy just climbed over the hills the tunnels were cut through.
When we found out the tunnels had been cleared, his dream was to build a railcart, but never got around to it.
I particularly love your sidetracks to places we explored fifty years ago. The survival of that water tank and phone booth is amazing. It all still looks the same - no buildings to be seen when we were there.
The Kumeyyay would travel from Anza Borrego to what is now Cuyamaca and back again, depending on the season. The desert in the winter and the mountain in the summer. I used to be a park service volunteer for Cuyamaca and the history there is amazing.
Hi , nice area , do you know where knappers point is ? ...great gig...your lucky ...I'll get back there someday..
@@TomG-f4r I’m thinking that’s on the Harvey Moore Trail.
Cuyamaca State Park was my first camping trip! We took the 🐎 🐎 & kids for a week end. (Late 1960s?). Always ❤ treasure that trip!!
I think I'll see your videos every week since i think about 1 year now. For someone from the Netherlands, these videos are really interesting. In the time that I have been following your channel, I have learned more about the Southwestern United States than I learned from television or in school. Your channel is very informative and entertaining, among all the nonsense out there on the Internet. Keep up the good work Steve.
Just out of curiosity, could you tell me what they teach about the American Southwest in the Netherlands?
Railfans keep dreaming of bringing that railroad back to life. I doubt that will happen. Excellent video as usual!
PETE B WILL GIT ER DONE
Oh yeah, it would cost so much at this point. All of those bridges and tunnels not to mentions the sections of tracks that are under rock slides.
My first camping trips were to the Dos Cabezas area in 1971, camped there many times. The SD&AE was running then. Beautiful nighttime view looking toward Imperial Valley and beyond. Its so sad that people fell they can go out and spray paint what ever they want. Spray paint the inside of your home so we don't have to see your ugliness. Indian Hill also has some nice pictographs
Something new to add to my So. Cal. desert adventure bucket list! I've been exploring the desert for most of my 66 years and yet there is so many more places left to discover, so I thank you Steve for showing me yet another place to head out to for a great day trip. As always when you bring us along with you, you help educate us with history along the way on your adventures. Great production as always, and thanks for adding the pictograph app, as it does help make them pop out of the rocks. Looking forward to next Wednesdays adventure!
Back in the 90s, a friend bought his first 4-wheel drive SUV, and the 'gang' made many jaunts to this area. We visited the stage coach station, and found the 1930s quonset huts, among other things. Such a quiet and interesting area. I wonder if the flowers come earlier to low-lying areas where the water pools; I've seen them on low hillsides and the desert floor. Glad you were able to capture the pictographs; thank you for sharing a bit of the early history of the area, and reminding people to be respectful. Yeah, those windmills. So weird that you can practically see the pulsing red lights from Arizona as you drive the 8 West back toward San Diego.
The lights suck because you see them and think you are getting close to the mountains and home, and then it takes forever to get to them.
Flowers depend on the rainfall, which varies from year to year.
The big thing you say you didn't recognize sure looks like an upside-down flatbed trailer since it appears to have a strap cincher, and boards for the deck.
Hooligans! Such a shame that people feel they can destroy things! No respect. Pictographs are so fascinating.
Interesting video Steve. Thanks for sharing
Salute and Give Tonto a Rub from COW-lumbus, Ohio MOO👋
Yeah, there is a cave near there that has some really amazing pictographs too.
@@TheStuport will do. Thanks
@@SidetrackAdventures tucked away so they can remain safe!
I'm amazed that the government hasn't removed all signs of the existence of the railroad.
Hey Steve!!😊 my grandfather worked on building that railway when he was 17 year's old,, plenty of stories he had!!❤
I hope you wrote them down or recorded him speaking.... When an old person dies... It's like a library burning down... Those experiences and history are lost forever!
Your detailed historical facts are an amazing compliment to all of your first class videos. Thank you for all of your hard wok.
Excellent job filming that bird of prey.
I’ve been there. What you I.D.’d as a concrete phone booth, is actually a military guard shack. A guard was posted there 24/7 during WW2 due to the railroad’s strategic importance.
Thank you my name is Steve! Love your work, brother. 👍👍👍
Another fantastic tour of a place I’ll never be able to visit but completely enjoyed. Your videos are amazing. Greetings from Northern California.
I great video! I love Anza Borrego State Park. When I was a kid in San Diego, we would go out there every Spring. I know you said there weren't wildflowers, but the ocotillo were fully leafed out. Flowers to follow.
I had heard that the flowers were in bloom, but it must be another section of the park. I'm actually glad it wasn't in this area, because the flowers bring a lot of people usually.
I'm old and living in New York City. I love your videos. Rode the ATSF through the southwest in the '50s from Colorado Springs, through Needles, into LA. Also, the music on this one is great! Nice job, Steve.
I've got too old to visit the desert so I can still see the hills in the Big Open, courtesy Side Track Steve.
Very cool video! Really appreciated all the historical information you provided. I drove my Corolla out to that water tower back in August 2009. I don’t recall having any problems with the road. Looks like the road may have gotten a bit worse since those days. Hard to believe those railroad tracks haven’t been used since 2008! I think one of the first tunnels you come to if you continued walking the tracks is partially blocked by a huge collapse that happened several years ago. I don’t think whoever still owns the railroad has bothered to make any repairs or safety upgrades. Therefore, I don’t think it will ever be opened to traffic again. Truly abandoned! I enjoyed the pictograph section near the end of the video. I’d always heard about that place. Regarding the water tower there at the station, when I was out there in 2009, someone had drawn a huge, female face on that water tower. I didn’t notice it in your footage, but maybe you didn’t film the side of the tower where the face is. Is it still there? It was really iconic looking and quite remarkable! Maybe 16 years’ worth of unrelenting sunshine and heat has caused it to fade away.
Maybe another fool with another spray can! 😂
As for abandoned mines... The old original highway 8, the concrete one that still exists in bits and pieces had lots of mines, mostly gold I think that you could see from the road when I was a kid and heading over to Arizona from InSane Diego. {before Interstate 8 and multi-lane separating up and down the mountains and passes}
@@LanceX-hv3gr I’ve been in some of those mines that you’re speaking of. Definitely a lot of history out there that is slowly being forgotten.
I think it's been cleaned at some point then new graffiti replaced it. There were a few sedans that made it most of the way but the last bit was too rough with some bug ruts.
I camped here with some friends back in 1998. We hiked to the Goat Canyon trestle. Great memories, thanks Steve!
@7:36 that weird corrugated brick style was apparently common a hundred years ago. In Mesa, AZ the US government had constructed a Post Office and federal building that uses that style of tall square brick. The space has been turned into an events center after a renovation. The exterior of that section of the building was done in that austere federal concrete style so common in the roaring twenties and the great depression, but the interior the brick is visible.
It looks like roofing tiles for what it's worth, and I expect that this style of brick fell out of fashion fairly quickly as I've never seen it anywhere else including in other public buildings and schools constructed from the late 1940s onwards.
Another great episode. I hiked from Jacumba the first time whike in the Boy Scouts around 1979. Carrizo Gorge has always had a magical feeling for me.
I have made that hike as a scout also!!!
... As have I, probably closer to 74 or so...
Excellent excursion Steve! You as always managed yet again to make it Possible to see The Impossible Dos Cabezas Railroad Station! LOVED the "Historical Marker" at Anza-Borrego State Park entrance. Precisely @ 1:35 we can actually hear you trying not to laugh as you say "No, this is the message"! 🤣 As always your humor is much appreciated! You preparation and research is not lost on your Fans either Steve. Always bonus when you show past photos of the topic you are commenting on. What a story about Mr. Berg going above and beyond to stop that passenger train. You always Deliver The Goods and The Sidetrack Adventures Posse LIVE For Hump Days! Cheers and MOO From COW-lumbus, Ohio 👋
That monument got a good laugh out of me. I never noticed it before, but apparently its been there for years. Usually the Border Patrol is set up there so can't really stop, but the checkpoint was closed that day.
My grandpa said when they did that interstate construction if you didn’t pay the politicians in your area your town was cut completely out of the interstate highway. This is why so many little towns failed afterwards. So basically this gas station owner must have refused the extortion and he got left in the dust. Also why the interstate is so ridiculous in some places. They had to deliver what they promised the people that payed. So it got rerouted thru towns that paid.
Interesting to know
Lots of bribes and kickbacks helped shaped our highways and interstates for sure.
Thank you for this video. My uncle Jose Gonzalez worked for the A&E RR. He lived in the crew quarters in the pic that showed them. He lived with his wife Julieta in the end unit on the left. In one shot near the units there is a big dead tree that has fallen over. That was their shade tree. I spent a few summers with them with my Cousin Dennis Olson. This was in the early 50's. .
thank you Steve for taking the time and effort to bring us along . what fun 😊
I hiked the rails from Ocotillo to Jacumba around mid 2000’s. At the time there were train cars loaded with drywall on the tracks just sitting there with no engines. It also looked like someone was attempting to repair certain parts of the railway mostly in the canyon toward Jacumba.This area has such stunning beauty from the rock features, plant life and ancient human history. No matter what random place one picked to explore around you were guaranteed to find something interesting.
Odd in my area also - a few yellow flowers and purple ones but scattered. I'm thinking once it warms up, it finally hit the 70s yesterday, the flowers will follow. Spring is today.
Another great vid. You do a wonderful service, showing us Californians the overlooked history of this special place.
Dirt roads always excite me I love to go down them and see any old sites! And the petroglyphs are amazing, that new function on your camera helps a lot! And I sure wouldn't want to bring an old two-wheel drive car out there! Thanks for the trip!
We saw a few 2WD sedans including a Tesla. They all stopped about 3/4 of the way there though and didn't try the last section where it gets a bit rougher.
I see all those fancy, 'renewable energy' windmills, as usual, were not doing their job. Another great episode - thank you.
A rarity, the Anza Borrego desert is really windy and lot of the time.
Did you get any idea where the eponymous boulders and spring are?
You mean the bird choppers? It's a lot quieter when they're not. They ruin the scenery, catch fire and kill birds. Nothing environmentally friendly about that!
Construction of those wind turbines caused devastating flooding. Not green.
Great video. Enjoyed it. I've lived in Arizona for over 20 years and haven't visited any of these places, mainly because my wife and kids would have zero interest in this kind of subject. It wasn't necessarily vandalism that affected that rock art. We get a lot of adverse weather in this part of the country, rainstorms (even hail sometimes) and dust storms plus violent changes in temperature from winter to summer. All of those will cause rock paintings to degrade over the centuries.
Thank you Steve. I love watching your videos and plan to visit some of the places that you highlight in the future. And thank you to your wife for supporting you in this venture. Plus, I really appreciate how respectful you are of the land, sites and people.
In the early 70s (72-73) I was in the navy & was on a detachment out to NAF EL CENTRO to belt ammo for the F8s I worked on.
On an off day I drove my 1966 Belvedere out to Dos Cabesa & then hiked to & back the goat canyon trestle from the East.
It ended up being an all day excursion since we didn't get out to the station (Dos Cabesa)to start hiking until about 11:00
As I remember it was in January so it was good hiking weather.
Thank you!! My wife and I absolutely love listening and learning about what’s in our backyard. We look forward to your videos every week. Your content is bringing us closer together. Thanks again!
Thank you for having awesome and normal educational content. Very appreciated. You're awesome.
Let’s load up the car with a case of spray paint, and had 100 miles out into the desert. What is it with people?
Graffiti must be a deep seated human imperative. In the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, some of the royal tombs were graffiti-ed by Greek-speaking tourists almost a thousand years after the tombs were created.
Thanks Steve! Contrary to the monument at the start- there is a lot out in the desert! It never gets old exploring the deserts of the Southwest. It truly restores the soul. Love your travels👍
That monument used to have a bronze plaque telling the story on Juan Baptista d'Anza and his expedition but it was stolen by metal recycling thieves in the 90s, as were most of the plaques of this type. Our winter home is fifteen miles or so north of here, and we can assure you theat this plenty to experience if you know what to look for.
Another enlightening and enlightened journey into our past. So close to our modern world, yet so very different. Thank you.
Great video Steve as always. I camped here with friends about 20 years ago, amazing history. The highlight was hiking to the Goat Canyon bridge. Thanks for the memories!
As always great video. If I were a younger man, I'd love to experience these adventures with you. But I'm wheelchair bound and can enjoy you wonderful explorations on my tablet. Thank you!
Thank you for the vid. I love your meanderings around the SW and the research you do to bring these places to life.
Love running around in the desert with you. This was a good one!
Yay! It's Wednesday - time for another video from Steve with Sidetrack Adventures. I always look forward to these. Thank you Sir!
I'm amazed a train was on those tracks as recently as 2008 . . . I wonder what for?
There was gypsum mining in the area, and the successors to the San Diego Arizona Eastern Railroad kept freight operations on the isolated Eastern branch.
@@donalddodson7365 Thanks for the info.! Gypsum mining - I didn't think of that😄 and it makes sense. Cheers!
Our pleasure!
Plaster City.... You can see it off to the north of Interstate 8 once you are down in the desert....
I have driven back and forth on I-8 many many times over the last sixty years and really enjoy your videos on so many of the places that I have passed and wondered about. Thank you.
I have to say that you are excellent to listen to. And your music selection was perfect. I’m happy to have found you so I can travel along side.
I love history. You have awesome channel me and my 5yr love watching these videos so educational and calming at the same time
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Hello steve. Another great video ive been to dos cabezas a few times always enjoy it
Awesome. Im ready for you next trip
Thank you.
Wow, I've been visiting Dos Cabezas once a year for four-wheeling, and the hike up the railway. Kudos to you as I know you're not a "4 wheeler" and I'm aware that the area has a LOT of soft sand that will bog down even an off-roader unless you know how to drive on it. The real gem in that corner of the desert is the Thousand Palm Oasis at the top of the mountain!
Do the walk and spend a couple of days up there in the mountains... You also may get to see the the Bighorn Sheep like I did many years ago when I walked the rails from well before Jacumba. Find someone to drop you off at one the areas that are close to the tracks and start you walk there... Take LOTS of water... at least 3 gallons. Also, Pack it in, Pack it Out... leave only footprints... {:~)
It always brings a since of sadness when looking at places like this. To think about the dreams and visions that lay in rubble now.
Only humans with big hearts know the taste of NOSTALGIA!... 😢
Fantastic trek again ! Going where most will never have the chance.
Thanks for taking us along.
Cheers from Detroit 🇺🇲
Very very cool. I've been to Dos Cabezas plenty of times and never knew that's a phone booth. I come in the opposite direction through Jojoba Canyon, it's a very cool road once you turn right from Mortero Canyon Rd.
Also, the wildflowers are definitely blooming more towards borrego springs off Henderson canyon Rd or Coyote canyon if you have an off road vehicle. So you were about an hour away from the bloom
I. Must. Say. Background. Music. Is. Perfect adds. Body. Too. Good. Viewing. You. Get. About. Nice. Videos. Thank you. !
Great job as always Steve. You were sure out in the middle of nowhere for this one!
Great 👍 STEVE....Be Safe 😊
Thanks 👍
Thanks Steve. I have never seen anybody cover the Dos Cabezas station before. Great effort tog et there and show it.
My friends and I used to ride those rails through the Carrizo Gorge and we have crossed the Goat Canyon trestle many times in our home built cart. Now you see them all over You Tube but I believe that we were the first to do it on these rails back in the 1970s. When we rode them they were in disrepair. Then they were rebuilt again and again ruined by mother nature so now you can ride them once more. I'm thinking of building another cart.
Are part of the Facebook railcarts group?
No I'm not on FB. We did this way back in the 70s. I believe we were the first to do this for fun. I've only been on the S&D/AZ tracks and the Eagle Mountain tracks. Back then the Eagle Mountain tracks were live and we knew the track maintainers who gave us the train schedule so there would be no conflicts. They actually allowed us on their tracks.@@pappysproductions
Thanks again Steve for your post which as always you do with a respect & sensitivity to the history + heritage of the areas you visit. Thanks also for showing any informative plaques you come across as i often pause at these moments to read & digest the notices. UK
Steve, Thank you for respectfully showing these places in the pioneer west that unfortunately I will never be able to visit myself.
0:02 Dear Steve, thank you for the great video. The loading area might have been related to the Dos Cabezas quarry, which is just half a mile away. We visited that place about four weeks ago. There is evidence of a rock, crusher and a lot of quartz crystal.
Maybe they were looking for gold ore and shipping it out from that loading dock.
Two days ago, we went up to Borrego Springs, and we only found flowers at Henderson Meadows. I guess it’s late in the season. Thanks again.
Thank you, Steve. I studied California History in College but you OFTEN unearth info I haven't heard of.
Steve, the scenery is so beautiful in that part of the country the sky is so blue those clouds look like cotton…
Thanks yet again Steve for a look and narrative of the history of this area!
Thanks.
An amazing amount of research and information! Thanks for sharing and brightning our day. Wishing you and your family safe travels in all of your adventures.
Thank you.
Great video as usual. It's a shame that people go to places like that and destroy the pictographs.
Yeah. It boggles my mind why people would do that.
What makes you think someone destroyed them? They probably degraded due to the weather.
Thanx for all your labors! They are always interesting! Best wishes to you.
Wow! Talk about "out in the dingles"! Enjoyed this > especially your mention of the heroic railroader, and where he lived. That was kind.
I love the southwest, but never really included Nevada in my view. Now I can see where the Silver State may be 'destination worthy'!
Your approach is a thoughtful one, and is appreciated.
Thanks for the adventure. I’m amazed I could see the eagle, but you got it.
Thank you. I really appreciate it. We saw an eagle sitting on a rock, pretty close to us, and I guess it saw us getting the cameras out and it flew off before we could get a shot.
@@SidetrackAdventures That’s typical. I used to try to photograph wildlife. They’ll let you stare at them for 15 minutes, but try to aim a camera at them, and they act like you’re going to attack them. 😂
Thank you for filming this like your adventures. I had plans to do what you do old towns places of history western but when l retired l become sick then disabled now l can’t but l love your adventures thank you so much l enjoy and dream may be l will get better. 😊✝️🙏🛐🇺🇸
Why people have to vandalize is disgusting. Great video.
Thank you for what you do. The research you put into these video's makes them very interesting. Your voice overs are perfect.
Great trip Steve.... my travels has taken me many places few humans have been to.. You are getting to enjoy what so few have done.. Keep on truckin!!
Excellent video thank you Steve. Dam vandals have to ruin everything. Would be interesting to talk to some older native American Indians in the places you visit. They would have great knowledge and stories to tell.
09:25 Upside down flat bed of a one ton truck, note rachet tie downs.
TYVM....Time for you to build a rail-cart....
A couple of days ago a channel called Preston Goes drove one out there, he couldn't make it to the Trestle, but was able to hike the last bit to see it. th-cam.com/video/stsGKb_KMmM/w-d-xo.html
Thank you.
always love to see your videos .these are the places where ordinary people dont go .
its rare choice .and not 100% but somehow i like it .
Thank you for your videos. We live in Salton City and you've helped us get to know our surrounding area.
Really enjoy your videos Steve, thanks for the hard work and time you must put into them.....they are appreciated.
Excellent and beaut background music too.
Another well-researched episode. Thanks Steve!
At least they didn’t use nuclear bombs to clear a path for the railroad, like in another one of your videos when they wanted to build a new highway through a mountain range…and I think you said that they wanted to detonate something like 26 nuclear bombs to open up the area…but sounder minds prevailed, thank God!!!
I enjoy your videos and I appreciate your narration and facts that you include in your videos. ❤
They might have tried had the bomb been invented. They were determined to get that rail line open.
I hate vandalism if i had the time and extra money with a few friends. I'd repaint the water tower and build some shelters for hikers.
Thanks! Steve 🐎
Thank you too.
The origin of the word/term vandal.
The word vandal comes from the Vandals, the Germanic tribe that attacked Rome in 455. The tribe's name meant "wanderer," but the word vandal was used in the 1600s to mean "destroyer of what is beautiful."
As I used to live in San Diego for decades I've visited this site many times.
Yea, me too, I once lived InSane Diego... Were you ever there when there was still water to the tower and the buildings were still standing?
@@LanceX-hv3gr Nope, it was pretty much like the video when I got there.
I love the desert 🏜️...thanks for the vicarious experience...
Also, I appreciate the history lessons (in this video and in others)...
Blessings...😊
Our pleasure!
@@SidetrackAdventures 😊
Outstanding!! Thank you Mr. adventures!
Our pleasure!