Anza-Borrego, Goat Canyon Railroad Trestle, Nov 26-27 2010

[Hikin_Jim]

Nice.

HJ

[scottmac]

Been meaning to do this hike for some time. Now it appears I may be too late. A new freight railroad company is restoring the route. Here is a link to awesome video of the construction train, east- and west-bound.

http://youtu.be/NYt91UpxH6U

[Florian]

A new freight railroad company is restoring the route.

I have kind of mixed feelings about this. I love the remote Carrizo Gorge area and that it's seldom visited, but i also love trains! I have camped near Dos Cabezas way back around 1980 (?) and watched trains running the line. So i like it now with no choo-choos but i'd love to see trains running again and would go out of my way to watch them!

-Florian

[jfr]

Thanks for the video link, Scottmac! Like Florian, I, too, love trains, but I don't think you'll have to worry about meeting too many on that line in the near future. From what I could find on the net, it appears that they're still doing engineering studies on what it would take to get it fully operational again. In other words, there may be a window of opportunity to visit the trestle right now.

My son and his friends were out camping at Dos Cabezas a couple of weeks ago, and they tried to ride a dirt bike down the middle of the tracks. It was a bone-jarring experience (due to the railroad ties), so they gave it up. They saw no trains, and the track was rusty. But there is a bicycle path along the side of the tracks that is also good for hiking. On a bike you'd have to get off and walk your bike along the catwalk on the occasional trestles, but otherwise it would be a fun ride. Provided you don't get a flat tire from thorns! Better put that green goop in your inner tubes. Riding a bicycle in the desert sounds like a tragedy waiting to happen.

As for hiking on railroad tracks, did they purposely make the spacing of railroad ties just exactly wrong for walking? If you walk on each tie your steps are too close together so you end up taking tiny little steps really fast while getting nowhere, and if you step on every other tie then the steps are too long and you're racing down the tracks, walking low and fast like Groucho Marx. Neither mode is sustainable...

[physicslord]

Matt,

Last time I did this hike, there was an ungodly amount of garbage. Rather than follow the use trail, you could just follow the trail of litter. Hopefully the situation has improved but I doubt it. I packed out a large Hefty contractor bag, and there was plenty more. Bring some bags for trash if you can. I remember there were 8 cans of Monster energy at one spot.

-Ed