Hidden San Diego : Exploring Ruins of Abandoned Highway 80

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The first transcontinental highway, Highway 80, once stretched from Savannah, Georgia to San Diego, California and even included a portion made entirely of wood and iron across the dunes of Imperial County known as the Plank Road. Over the years, Highway 80 has been re-routed, re-numbered, bisected, absorbed by newer roads, decommissioned or abandoned in various places.

We will start at desert View tower and Boulder Path and then slowly continue traveling west.

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We will Stop by Coyote's UFO repair Shop

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Old Highway 80 takes a southward turn into Jacumba Hot Springs, where we will spot numerous ruins, including the Mountain Meadows Dairy (later known as Ketchum Ranch), Carrizo Railway yard (where you can see decaying wooden passenger railcars), Jacumba Hotel and the public baths. Jacumba Hot Springs once attracted Hollywood actors Clark Gable and Marlene Dietrich and the town has hoped for a resurgence of tourism after being bypassed by the 8 in the late 1960s. On the west side of town, you're within a half mile of the Mexico border.

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Up next is the even-smaller-than-Jacumba community of Bankhead Springs; named for Senator John H. Bankhead, and hometown of Hollywood silent film star Tallulah Bankhead. The town hotel still stands but is a private residence. Once Jacumba fell out of favor with tourists, Bankhead Springs fell along side it when people no longer needed overflow hotels or cabins for their stays at the springs in Jacumba. Some of the older cabins were rumored to be places where a young man could enjoy the company of a young lady... for an hourly fee.

In another few miles, Boulevard seems to have absorbed the smaller community of Manzanita. More boarded up cabins easily accessible by car beckon the curious.

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Our next stop will be in Buckman Springs, where Amos Buckman staked a claim at Indian Spring and started bottling water in the 1880s. The springs provided naturally carbonated water tinted red from the high iron content and containing lithium; Buckman Springs Lithia Water sold well for over fifty years! Winifred Buckman took over operations after her father's death in 1898 but the plant was closed when she passed in 1946. The construction of Interstate 8 nearby dried up the springs and bypassed the town. Bottles from the bottling plant are highly sought by collectors. What remains of the town evokes a great sadness. A once prosperous enterprise was destroyed by expansion and lies forgotten within sight of everyone coming from or going to San Diego.

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We will make stop for lunch at Frosty Burger.

Then we explore through Guatay and Descanso. Both are quaint, quiet, mountain towns where people are friendly and antiques are cheap. On the west side of Descanso, say we will say goodbye to Old Highway 80 and merge back on the freeway and life at 70mph.

We will leave at 8 am and be back around 8pm. Your fee includes transportation , Lunch , and complimentary drinks and snaks. We will be picked up by our driver and his minivan who will take us to our destinations and back. Ther are a few paid parking lots in Down Town Long Beach where we can leave our cars for a day