Jan. 29 – Foot and Walker Pass
We headed down to the southwest section of Anza-Borrego State Park, roughly following the Southern Overland Stage Route of the late 1840’s-1861. We camped at Blair Valley which is the site of the title pass where passengers had to get out of the stage and walk over the short but steep terrain, and sometimes even help push the stagecoach over the pass!
A map of the California portion of the Butterfield trail can be seen here via Google maps.
Looking north from the top of the pass into Little Blair Valley.
Looking south into the dry lake bed of Blair Valley, the path extending to the right is the Butterfield trail.
A description of Stagecoach Service in the 1860’s is detailed here, real life description as opposed to the cinematic version in the 1939 movie “Stagecoach”!