🛤️🐾 Exploring Old Plank Road – A Forgotten Desert Highway in Winterhaven, California

Simba 🐾 and I explored Old Plank Road in Winterhaven, California — one of the most fascinating and nearly forgotten transportation routes in the American Southwest. Built in 1915, this wooden plank road once stretched across the shifting sands of the Imperial Desert, allowing early automobiles to travel between Arizona and California long before paved highways existed.

Driving and walking through this remote landscape today, it’s hard to imagine how daring — and difficult — this journey once was. Buried beneath layers of sand, remnants of the original wooden planks still surface in places, offering a haunting glimpse into a time when innovation and sheer determination made desert travel possible.

🎥 Watch the Video

Join Simba and me as we explore the remaining traces of Old Plank Road, capture the stark desert scenery, and uncover one of California’s most unusual pieces of early road history.

📍 In This Video You’ll See

• Desert views along the remaining sections of Old Plank Road
• Close-ups of exposed wooden planks still emerging from the sand
• The vast, remote Imperial Desert landscape that surrounded early travelers
• How motorists once crossed this harsh terrain over a century ago

🏜️ Why Old Plank Road Matters

Old Plank Road was an engineering marvel of its time — a temporary solution to a massive problem. With no solid ground to pave over, builders laid wooden planks across the desert sand, creating a passable route that required constant maintenance as dunes shifted and buried sections overnight.

The road was dangerous, exhausting, and often unreliable, yet it played a crucial role in early westward travel and commerce. Today, what remains serves as a powerful reminder of human ingenuity, persistence, and the lengths people went to in order to connect distant places.

If you enjoy forgotten history, desert exploration, or offbeat California landmarks, Old Plank Road is an unforgettable stop that feels like stepping back into another era.

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