West Side Road – DVNP

Trail Overview

Difficulty

Easy

History

Part of the historic routes taken by the '49er families in their attempts to take a shortcut to California and needing to escape the clutches of the hostile environment they found themselves in - now named by them "Death Valley". This route has Bennett's Long Camp site where the Bennett-Arcane contingent of the forty-niners were stranded for a month and nearly died of starvation. Two of their members, left on foot and made it to San Fernando. They gathered supplies, and returned on foot to rescue the party and lead them out of the valley via The Escape Route. Also on this route are the graves of Jim Dayton and Shorty Harris. Be on the lookout for historical markers as you drive.

Technical Rating