Last week, I was walking down the main street in my neighbourhood, when an elderly man in a very old antique car pulled around the corner. I whipped out my camera at once, terrified he was going to charge off down the street, and all I'd get was a couple of blurry 'high-speed getaway' shots.
To my surprise, he actually parked right in front of me, got out, and went to the chemist next door! As he got out, I asked if I could take some shots of his car. He said I could go nuts. And I did:
The old codger with his car.
Then today, up the street from where that car was parked, was this:
Bunch of nice pictures. I've got a lot that I've taken that I will post every now and then. But for now take a journey with my brother and I as we trek to The Goat Canyon Trestle Bridge.
Here is a hike that I had been wanting to do for quite some time, and then one weekend I finally decide to take my brother and I to do it. For those who don't know what it is here is some history. It is a part of the Anza-Borrego Desert in the Carrizo Gorge, in California. The track was finished in 1919, with a total of 17 tunnels, and there was an earthquake that collapsed one of the tunnels so they built the bridge in 1932. The bridge is 200 feet tall and is 750 feet long. It is currently the longest and tallest curved wooden trestle in the US.
Unfortunately we had a late start so we only made it to the bridge before we had to turn back so we could make it back before dark, we made it back with no time to spare lol. I plan on eventually doing it again and this time going farther down because on google maps you can see the rail but somewhere farther down there is a big gap and I want to see what the reason for that is.
To get there the few instructions I had found online all talk of using a 4 wheel drive vehicle to get to a camping spot and then hiking over the mountains, I don't have a 4 wheel drive vehicle. So we found a spot off the interstate that would put us beside the tracks, and apparently other people had the same idea as there were a few other cars parked there too. There actually ended up being a lot of people that were walking the rails that day, and a few on bikes too. Here are some of the highlights from our journey. If you would like you can see more pictures here, http://s149.photobucket.com/user/BitFreakazoid/library/Goat Canyon Trestle Bridge
Because of the picture limit I had to split this up into multiple parts.
We begin our journey.
The first rail car. We spent a lot of time here. This thing was pulled off on a side track that was just big enough for this thing.
Coming across this thing was very cool!
Hey look! An open door.
I will.
Coooooool.
Bullet hole.
I'm such a rebel.
The last car wasn't a car but this thing. No idea what the purpose of it is.
End of the line. Note to self for next trip, bring a bright flashlight. The big empty tunnel just eats up light. As you can see the tracks are blocked by piles of rock. Some of the other tunnels had big piles that had fallen from the roof and were across the tracks.
Looking back.
Continuing on to the other tunnel. This one had like cement sprayed over all the walls and ceiling.
Some graffiti at the opening, all the tunnels had graffiti like this at the opening of the tunnels.
A picture inside showing how everything is covered with the cement, I'm assuming it is cement. Also the ground was covered with dust, more so than the other tunnels.
At one point there was a stack of bags filled with this stuff. Apparently the bags had been sitting there for a while as they were falling apart.
Random thing.
Every now and then we would come across something like this. Just to railroad ties perpendicular to the tracks and go towards the cliff.
Another random thing. Filled with small penciled in graffiti.
Here is the end of the tunnel that was the reason for the bridge. Next time I'll have to hike to that part.
Looking down.
Where this leads too will have to wait for another time.
The loan car.
Inside it.
Looking back.
Looking out.
Looking down through the rickety looking foot part of the bridge.
That's it for the pictures. After that we walked at a brisk pace back as we watched the sun get lower and lower. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures and I hope to take another walk and doing some more exploring. Would love to climb down and see the bridge from below. Over all the hike was really interesting and fun, and very tiring by the time we got back. Don't know how many mile we had walked but I know it was quite a few, forgot to bring my GPS with me.
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