Forgotten Route 66 Shortcut in the Cajon Pass

Rt 66 Starts in Springfield Missouri.

might be some good metal detecting areas around there.

It's riddled with rvs n campers now days ...need build trash island for the bums

This snap is bullshit it's a fucking dirt road

Used it all the time when I lived there. Cali drivers were the worst...accidents shut down the freeway often. The secret road was the way around.

If only Lighting McQueen finished the road.

I spent my teen years in Hesperia, California. I’ve travelled every dirt road and old hwy in the area. This video brings back memories. Thanks!

Have you done Marble Canyon in Death Valley? It’s tough to follow the road, a lot of it is washed out and it’s no longer maintained and a Jeep is needed (I rent one at Furnace Creek Ranch, make a reservation, they go fast), then on foot, but not far. But it’s so worth it to climb through this incredible slot canyon! It’s much more impressive than the also great, and much more accessible, Mosaic Canyon on the other side of the Valley. Don’t try it if flash floods are possible in the weather forecast. Being caught in one in that high, sometimes only 3-feet wide, canyon might not be survivable.

From a Southwest perspective Very Cool.

Is this the same road that bypasses Arrowhead and goes to Silverwood Lake? We took a jeep down a dirt road like this. The drop offs were scary.

Great video! I am amazed about how well you documented your journey. Thank you 🙏

Great vid, I have a question though: I get that the Cajon Pass is near route 66, but can you elaborate a little more...the Cajon pass is a shortcut FROM where exactly TO where exactly? I'm fuzzy on what road you are on before you get on the pass, and what road you will be on get off it. Thanks for the added context in advance.

I must have directions dyslexia or something. The historical aspect is distracting from the driving aspect. I get that it starts at the summit inn ruins, but where does it end and head towards LA? It seems like the video ends in a dead end and then tells the viewer to get out and walk a trail. What would clear up the confusion is just footage of you driving from your own perspective, with a little satellite map thing off to one side showing your location with a traceable line of your route. Whenever you come to something historical, the driving part pauses to show photos and focus on that, and then the trip visuals pick up again. There's too much info in too many formats, and mention of too many roads and parallel roads, side detours and abandoned landmarks, etc. I would love it if you would "re-package" this video so morons like me can understand it better. I even went to your blog and looked at the satellite map, and it was confusing because there was no highlighted line showing actual route, just little car icons with captions.

"We won't explain how to get there, since its hard to get to" which in my opinion would be the precise reason you would want to explain how to get there.

Route 66 go through Oklahoma. It may join up to this Cajon Pass later but he’s got the middle part of the route. Totally wrong. Thumbs down on research.

I've been there. A girl I met took me back there in 1990. She was from around there and she knew all those back roads. We had fun in her Bronco! Lucky me.

Great video and the route is very well detailed. Good job.

@backroadswest1 Great video and great detail thank you. Quistion, this is not the same route from Apple Valley to Lake Arrowhead correct??

amazing video, very well done. thanks for all your hard work.

In April, 1968, my husband and I drove the whole of route 66, in our 1961 Cadillac convertible. We actually started out in Green Bay, Wis. Spent the night in Springfield .....2 ond night , somewhere in Texas.I remember that the motel only cost 5$. When we got to Needles, Ca. It was 114 degrees! you can still drive bits of US 66 along lnterstate40....though there's not much left of it anymore. It was a great ride back in the day. He is gone now, and I live in Michigan,but when I drive out to Ca to visit my son, I still try to catch a little of it.... nostalgia, I guess....

The Lincoln Highway is Route 30 Interstate Highway 80 follows the approximate route of Route 30

Love all the history. We have explored a lot in that area. Very familiar with Sycamore canyon on Glen Helen Parkway next to 15 west side below freeway entrance. Do you kno anything about the history? Currently it's a ghetto shooting range. It's beautiful with deer, mt. Lions, rattlesnakes, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and tarantulas. Looks like portions plowed n grapes, sage, lambs ear, poison oak, and so many idk grow there. Would love to hear any info anyone knows.
Tnx!
Meanwhile, gonna see if we can't find the hard to find spot. Tnx n happy trails

Do you still offer tours. If so, are they by some type of vehicle or by foot. Sounds jnteresting!

Cool. Thank you for using the original names for the trails. I never understood why they name places after a man, who found the place or was sent to conquer it, than what it really was. I like your simple directions. I am easily finding where you are talking about.

Thank you for careful explanation of this historic area😃👍

The restrictions over the summit Inn is because someone else wants that property. 😠

I miss the Summit Inn. We used to have breakfast there every weekend.

I lived at the Summit for many years. 1 mile from the Inn. It's like everything else in California, rotting away and a sad reminder as what used to be.

Tried to drive this route 06/06/2023 but found it washed out just enough from both the Summit and 138 ends to make it inhospitable to a normal clearance vehicle... frustratingly only off by a crucial few inches. Guess that's nature's way of telling me to rent a Jeep!

Well done, very well done

I love your videos. That said, saying "It's difficult to get there." Will GUARANTEE I will go back to go there (Born and raised in San Bernardino and lived there 50 years) Possibly if I hadn't drank so much...Maybe I already was there???

I used to live in Phelan, west of I-25. I've done that road, it was nice. Thanks for the updates.
I was all over Cajon Pass. I lived in Phelan and worked in Hesperia and then in San Bernardino for ten years.

Very well done! As a truck driving geography nerd i love this stuff. Subscribing.

Very interesting. But Cajon Pass conjures up a recollection of two catastrophic runaway train wrecks. One in 1989, another in 1996. A very dangerous route.

What a great tour! Thank you for going through the trouble to bring it to us!

Wow! Very beautiful! Those narrow parts of the old road are something. I can imagine wagons or automobiles going in opposite directions on those narrow places made for some interesting moments.

I stopped there on my travels on RT66 and had my 1st Ostrich Burger and found it very tasty... Sad to see that it got caught in that fire... Another old Cafe gone into history...

Please edit and take out changing directions. Very confusing.

I lived in Tulsa for awhile and got to know Joy Avery, grand-daughter of Cyrus Avery, "father" of Route 66. Does anyone know if Joy is still around? Her phone number now belongs to someone else.

Very informative! I had started truck driving just before the 2016 fire, and remember hearing that Cajon pass closed. I wasn't aware of how much history was destroyed by that fire.

I would totally get lost if I follow your steps. Complete blank especially if you're driving the opposite way so I'll enjoy your video

I successful drove my 1988 Honda Accord LX on many roads "rougher" than this one. Drivers just have to know how to drive "off road" is all.

Dig your content and vibe😎

An icon … Lost forever ….

Summit Inn burned down since .

Does it require AWD vehicle?

Nice work!

Not trying to be a jerk but this video implied that route 66 went through KC, Kansas and SE Colorado according to the map. It did not. It went from Chicago, to St. Louis, down to Springfield MO, THEN accross OK to the west. One of the major proponents of creating RT 66 was from Springfield Mo and insisted it go through there.