Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Southern California → San Diego Area → East County → Old Highway 80

Location: Jacumba area, east of San Diego

Time Required: 3-5 hours (plus travel time to get to the area)

Red Tape/Notes: This is a mini road-trip outing with various interesting stops along the way and certainly a lot more exploring that we didn’t do. Please be aware of private property areas and trespassing; we crossed over onto private property at one point without knowing it and were kindly invited to leave (oops). Also, be aware of the proximity to the border and potential border patrol stops; the border fence is clearly visible in some portions of the route.

What’s Nearby?: Goat Canyon Trestle, Kitchen Creek, Descanso, Three Sisters Falls

US Route 80, now officially designated as “Historic Route 80”, was part of the golden age of highway travel, when families would pack into the station wagon and spend half their vacation traveling to and from their actual destination. It was constructed in the 1920’s to replace the wood plank road (which just seems ridiculous) from 1912, and was an extremely popular route for travel from Yuma to San Diego. The route’s popularity naturally meant that there were interesting stops along the way to allow travelers to rest and stretch their legs, and it also meant that towns on the highway had a thriving economy due to tourism. Of course, when these places were bypassed by the interstate, things changed. What’s left is pretty cool to explore, though! The 35 mile section of Old Highway 80 from Pine Valley to the Desert View Tower is full of interesting historical spots; some of them are left in ruins, with only foundations and walls to remind us of what was there, and some of them are still active tourist spots (albeit not as active as they once were). Some highlights are the ruins of the Buckman homestead and Bottling Plant in Buckman Springs, the old bathhouse and depot station in Jacumba (this depot was for the route including the Goat Canyon Trestle), and the Boulder Park and Desert View Tower which were built in the 1920’s but have endured as roadside attractions because they’re at the intersection of Highway 80 and I-8.

Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Southern California → San Diego Area → East County → Old Highway 80