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America's Biggest Road Trip! |
Route 66
Caravan Road Log:
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America's Biggest Road Trip! |
Route 66
Caravan Road Log:
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La Bajada Hill |
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1926 -1932 Alignment |
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~ New Mexico State Highway Sign in the late 1920s ~ |
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La Bajada Hill, that very name struck terror in the hearts of early Route 66 motorists. It perhaps was one of the most challenging sections of Route 66 to be found. It ranked right along with the old Gold Road and Sitgreaves Pass in Arizona. Travel back in the old days could be quite an ordeal and the La Bajada Hill was at the top of the list. | |||
La Bajada Hill in 1928 |
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| Between the years of 1926 - 1932 this was Route 66. This road goes back a long way in time though, almost 400 years in fact. Originally it had been part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, or Royal Road to the Lands of the Interior, and ranks as the oldest European highway in the U.S. |
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La Bajada Hill 2003 |
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| During the days of early Route 66 it intimidated motorists by its sudden 500-foot drop along a narrow, talus ridden, switch backed road that was hardly more than a trail blasted from rock. It is even said that enterprising Santa Feans would wait for timid motorists and offer to drive their cars down the grade for compensation. Convicts originally blasted and chiseled the road out of La Bajada Mesa between the years 1923 and 1924. The Fred Harvey company with their Indian Tours was instrumental in having several hairpins curves eliminated and the road widened in places to accommodate their new tour buses in 1925. When Route 66 was certified in 1926, La Bajada hill became part of the US highway system. | ||||
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Foundation Ruins at the Top of La Bajada Hill ~ Purpose Unknown. |
Rock Retaining Wall on a Switchback at La Bajada Hill |
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When the Route 66 Caravan was in Santa Fe for the Oldest House restoration, Michael Romero Taylor of the N.P.S. offered to take Kevin and me out to the infamous La Bajada Hill. It was an offer we couldn't refuse. We hadn't been on this part of old Route 66 and we sure wanted to check it out - of course we said yes. | |||
1926 - 1932 alignment of Route
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 Previous Log  |
Road Log pages read like a book:Follow the Route 66 Caravan
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66 Caravan Web Site Written, Photographed & Designed by Guy Randall |
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© 2003 Design and Updates by 
GRandall Web Design
