2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 1; Garlock, CA ghost town

In the fall of 2016 I had a bunch of unused vacation time and decided to head out revisit eight National Parks in California, Utah and Arizona.

The first day of the trip started out early climbing over the Sierras to the Mojave Desert via California State Route 58 across Tehachapi Pass. I made my way to CA 14 north as I was heading towards Death Valley National Park.

After following CA 14 northward to northeast Kern County I took Redrock-Randsburg Road east. After reaching Garlock Road I took it east to US 395 passing by the Garlock ghost town site.

Garlock was the site of a gold stamp mill which was constructed in 1896. Gold in Garlock was mined out the nearby El Paso Mountains and community appears to have been enough of a success to warrant on/off Postal Service until 1926. Garlock appears to have seen secondary use as a rail siding on the nearby Southern Pacific Railroad line which still crosses near the community site. There is actually a substantial number of buildings remaining in Garlock but most are fenced off.

From the eastern end of Garlock Road I took US 395 north to Searles Cut-Off which I used to enter rural San Bernardino County. I next took Trona Road northward towards CA 178 but I'll leave that for Part 2 of this series.

Part 2 can be found here:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 1; the Panamint Gap in California State Route 178

Comments

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley. To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker. Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa. The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language. The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246. CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County. CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward. South of CA 127 ...

A Day in New York: The Biggest Road Map Ever!

The NY State Pavilion 22nd April 2014 was the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the 1964-65 World's Fair in what's now known as Flushing Meadows Corona Park. There has been an active effort to restore the New York State Pavilion . It's an iconic structure, and has the potential to be a great attraction. I'm not just talking out of my hat here: Today's viewing event drew thousands. One of the organisers said they expected like 800 people to show up. My DP and I went-and we got there early- the event started at 11.00am, and we got there at 10, and the line was incredible even then: we waited on line to get a number for two hours and another hour and a half to get our number called. We left the park at 3.00 pm, and one of my friends from a band said he had gotten his number, and was waiting to get in and wondered if we were still about. This was at 4 pm. One of the features of the Pavilion is that the floor is a giant NY State roadmap by Rand McNally, and ...