Thanks John! I cited Death Valley as epitomizing the barrier the deserts were to the settlers. Not very many tried to cross the Death Valley. Accurate information and knowledgeable guides were in scarce supply so some unlucky or misinformed folks got routed this way. A fellow named Walter Knotts' relative suffered this fate but still survived and Mr. knotts went on to establish a quite successful berry farm in Anaheim CA. My Dad picked berries for Mr, Knotts when he was a kid. The route below Death Valley, pretty much as Hwy 58 lies, was the route to both the Tehachapi Pass and the Cajon Pass.

The valleys and ridges that cover Nevada look like waves on the ocean when you observe them on a topo map. Very inhospitable and user unfriendly to wagons and such. I believe Ship Rock, New Mexico ( not sure about NM as it may be in AZ, at any rate, in proximity to Four Corners) was the point where the wagon trains went either north or south in the early Gold Rush days. The Santa Fe Trail became the accepted southern route and was the line for the Butterfield Stage Coach Lines (which eventually evolved into the Continental Bus Lines). In the north Hwy 80 represents the route to Reno and Donner and the quickest access to the Gold Strike and it was serviced by the Wells Fargo Stage Line.

I'm guessing, John, you live near Upland or Ontario. The Sierra Nevadas make a curve which the transverse Garlock Fault Line creates. On the map you see that the Great San Joaquin Valley, below Bakersfield is a crescent shape. The Grapevine (now the Ridge Route) has a sign on it which says that you are now entering the San Gabriel Nat'l Forest so, for me, it's hard to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. It has be quite a few years since I have been down in your neck of the woods so I will defer to you! I do know that Ft. Tejon overlooked the southern end of the Valley and (facing south) Mt. Pinos and certain other rather lofty peaks trail away to the Pacific Ocean to the right. To the left is Palmdale, Lancaster (humorous, eh, my English friends?) and Antelope Valley. San Gabriels are an East/West range, not very long, as mountain ranges go.

On the east side of Cajon Pass lies Big Bear and Arrowhead Lake (man-made). This, I consider to be part of the same range as San Gabriels, nomenclature aside. They finally dwindle into the desert around Desert Hot Springs, north of Palm Springs. There is an old hacienda style hotel (ala Santa Fe) here and a western town which was built to serve as a filming location (which it did) in this area but is now occupied by full time residents. I used to go poking around in some of the old goldmines on the backside of Big Bear in the 70's, a very dangerous pass time. It's some very beautiful country.