Goat Canyon Trestle Bridge

The COVID-19 era continues and creativity is required to locate outdoor exploration opportunities given just about everything is closed.  This weekend John and I agreed on the Goat Canyon Trestle Bridge hike which turned out to be my favorite SoCal hike and a great place to practice social distancing.

It's a 14.5 roundtrip hike near Jacumba Hot Springs on the CA/MX border next to a nudist resort that follows an old railroad track across multiple bridges and tunnels to arrive at the trestle bridge, the largest all wooden trestle bridge in the world.

The railway, called the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway Company, was built in 1906, is 146 miles long and is dubbed the Impossible Railway as it spans treacherous terrain through desert and mountains.  It was built with the intention of connecting Tijuana and Tecate with greater San Diego and ultimately the eastern part of CA (El Centro) so goods from TJ could go through greater SD and be shipped directly east without having to go through LA (there's a longtime shipping rivalry between LA and SD).  Because the railway isn't currently in use, most goods are shipped via truck across the border from TJ through SD creating massive traffic and ultimately ending up in LA before being shipped east by train.

The Baja California Railroad currently controls the land and is investing in reestablishing the railway, though they're waiting on approval for a new border crossing in the desert near Canyon City, CA specifically for this line.

The hike includes multiple bridges and 9 total tunnels, with the 1st and 3rd tunnels being blocked off, requiring a hike to circumvent them.  The 8th tunnel is over 1/4 mile long.  The hike is entirely on private railway property and construction workers attempt to scare off hikers, so it's a fun little cat and mouse game throughout the day.