Cajon Pass

The Cajon Pass (elevation 4,190 ft/1,277 m) is a mountain pass crossing the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California in the United States. It was created by the movements of the San Andreas Fault. The pass provides an important economic link from the Los Angeles Basin to Victor Valley and the Mojave Desert.

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In 1851, a band of Mormon settlers led by Amasa Lymand and Charles Rich crossed the Cajon Pass on their way from Salt Lake City to the Los Angeles basin. In commemoration of this crossing, a section of the pass where the railroad passes through (near Sullivan's Curve) is now known as Mormon Rocks.

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The Santa Fe Railway was the first railroad to use the Cajon Pass as a route into the Los Angeles area. Today, the Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway (the successor to the Santa Fe) use this pass. Due to the high volume of trains, noteworthy scenery, and easy access, it is a popular location for railfanning; many action photographs of trains on Cajon Pass make it into books and magazines about trains.

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The Mojave Freeway (Interstate 15) was built through the Cajon Pass and provides a major route from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. The freeway runs parallel to the old Route 66, which is now Cajon Boulevard.

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During October and November of 2003, a number of wildfires devastated the hills and mountainsides near and around the pass. Causing several freeway closures. The following winter, rains in addition to burnt vegetation caused a number of landsides to further close the freeway pass.

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Mountain pass: In a range of hills, or especially of mountains, a pass (also gap, notch, col, saddle, bwlch or bealach) is a lower point that allows easier access through the range. On the route through the range, it is locally the highest point on the route. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have always p...

San Bernardino Mountains: The San Bernardino Mountains are a short transverse mountain range northeast of Los Angeles in southern California in the United States. The mountains run for approximately 60 mi (100 km) east-west on the southern edge of the Mojave Desert in southwestern San Bernardino County north of the city of S...

California: California is a state located on the west coast of the United States. It is the most populous state in the U.S., as well as physically the most diverse, with the highest and the lowest points in the lower 48 states located within 150 miles of each other. If California were an independent nation, it...

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