Ghost Towns Between Barstow and Needles, California

[JuneNY]

has anyone travelled this area....part is on the old Route 66 (on the map it says Old National Trails Highway) and part is along Route 40.

According to LEGENDS OF AMERICA, there are several small towns with lots of remains, but most of them do not appear on ghosttowns.com

I am hoping to travel this stretch of road and explore in 2008 and would appreciate any ideas or information anyone can give me.

[Bob]

Route 66 follows the Sante Fe RR and most of the towns still have residents. There is a lot of nifty stuff to see along the way and lot's of past their prime communities. Some quick side trips can lead you to some old time communities but the type vehicle your driving may dictate your actions. A stop at Goffs and visiting Dennis Casebier's place is essential. Let me know more what your looking for and I can recommend some side trips.

[JuneNY]

what exactly is Dennis Casebier's place ?

we will have a rental car, nothing high clearance, and a limited amount of time, so we will stick to the decent roads.

[Bob]

On the North Side of the Railroad at the main "intersection" of Old Route 66 and the road to Lanfair Valley turn North go a couple hundred yards and look on your left for the schoolhouse.

[GaryB]

There's also a tour of Mitchell Caverns to do. Same idea as Carlsbad, Lehman, etc. just on a smaller scale. It's actually off of Essex Rd. and I-40 though. You can get to it from Route 66 though via Essex Rd. IIRC it's either a well graded dirt or asphalt road.
There's also the Amboy Crater. Not sure of the road to it though.

There's numerous mines in the area, just likely undo-able in a rental car. Though you'd be surprised where you can take a car, especially when it's a rental :rolleyes:

As far as towns, I know of none that are true ghost towns. Many are like Bob stated, towns holding on with some inhabitants left over from the Route 66 days.

[Walkingsticks]

North of old Route 66 in the desert is Cima. I was there in the early fifties and it was a as close to a ghost town you could get, with the exception of one old prospector living there. Many buildings still remained and it looked like a town from an old movie set. It even had old cars setting behind buildings from the teens and thirties that no longer ran.

Of course that was more than fifty years ago, so I doubt much remains of it now.

In those days I visited ghost towns all over the west.

[Bob]

Unlike the road north from Goffs through Lanfair valley which is still dirt, there is a paved road from Route 66 to Kelso which has the neat old station somewhat restored and a little more life than it did. There are paved roads out of Kelso toward Baker and to Cima and past the ghosts of the second Ivanpah to the Nip[ton Road. It is a far better way to SoCal then taking the Interstate. Cima is in about the same state as it was 30 years ago. A third paved road goes from Cima to the Cima Interchange on I-15 and just north of I-15 there is some nifty ghosts to explore BUT all of this is a couple hours away froom Route 66.