(GPS: N 34° 20.530 W 118° 30.570)
Here is a fun one. This one is located near Newhall, CA. It is one that was used a bunch of times in the silent movie era. John Ford used it in four movies. Its most famous use was for a few seconds in the movie Stagecoach. Here it is used there:
The gps coords above will get you to this area along the historic HWY 6. There is a chain fence, but there is an area open so you can get through there. Unfortunately, vandals struck and took them all down. This is all that remains.
Just past the stolen landmarks above to the left side you can go down here. Careful walking over this bridge.
After a short walk up the canyon, which is obvious, but please be careful if you try it someday, is Beale's Cut. If you compare with the above picture from the movie it doesn't look quite the same. The area looks like it either collapsed a bit, or the pass was filled up some. Today, there are many water pipes that go through it.
I went up into the middle of it. This is looking back of where I came from. You can continue through it to the other side, but it looks almost the same over there.
One thing I wanted to do is see where they did the jump across Beale's Cut in some of the old movies. It wasn't a long hike up there, but it was slippery. I had to be very careful going back down. Here I am on what I will call the right side cliff from the pictures above looking over to the left side.
This is looking into Santa Clarita/Newhall area. If you click the picture you can see the refinery remains below, as well as, HWY 14 on the right middle side.
I can't say it looks exactly the same as it used to, but it was a fun area to explore. For more of the history related to this area go here:The Santa Clarita Valley History of Beale's Cut
Wikipedia Entry
More Trivia
California State Historical Landmark #1006
