Ironage Road

[coatimundi]

On the way back from Phoenix this past weekend, I took the usual LA bypass route - Parker, Barstow, Bakersfield - with the twist of a short-cut along Ironage Road from SR 62 to Amboy Road. I thought I had done this before several years ago but, in doing it, I don't think I had. Looking at the map, it provides a very obvious short-cut, cutting off Amboy Road's long east-west jaunt. In the directions, it cuts about 10 miles off of the route using US 95 to I-40, and something like 20 miles using the typical SR 62 paved route, going to Godwin Road in order to reach Amboy Road.
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.153445,-115.6901228,13.5z

Ironage Road is a dirt road but is wide and well-graded. I had my father-in-law along with me, and it scared the hell out of him. It had also just rained, and a portion of it scared the hell out of me when I hit a low wash crossing that was still muddy and loose. Not the best thing to see at night.

But, in researching this to see if it was even an option, I came across info on an art collective that uses the region for experimental art pop-up projects, like the "secret restaurant" staged a few years ago:
http://highdeserttestsites.com/projects/full-moon-ramen-secret-restaurant
And the "Spectacular Subdivision":
http://highdeserttestsites.com/projects/spectacular-subdivision

Too dark to see anything, if there is anything out there still, but I thought it was interesting.

As for the road, it's a good option but I would not do it again during the rainy season for fear of the wash crossing that kindly allowed me to escape this one time.

Little else is available online about this road, so I thought I'd put something out there.

[Max Rockatansky]

Given that I'm familiar with the area I've had an opportunity to traverse the immediate area, I suspect Ironage Road had something to do with the Dale ghost town.  Basically Dale was a town that was two sites near the Dale Dry Lake from the 1880s to possibly the 1930s.  The original town site is called Old Dale and the second one was New Dale.  Really this article from 1957 can tell you pretty much everything you want to know about the history of the area with mining:

http://www.dezertmagazine.com/mine/1957DM04/index.html

Basically Old Dale Road along with Ironage Road run right through the Dale Dry Lake.  I would speculate that they were probably built sometime around when mining in Dale was still operational.  Dale last appears on the 1932 state highway map when basically there wasn't much of anything out in the desert:

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~239597~5511898:Map-Showing-State-Highway-System--C?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:caltrans;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=75&trs=86

I can't seem to find any decent turn of the century detailed maps of San Bernardino County, it would probably shed light more on when things were built including Ironage Road.

[coatimundi]

I can't seem to find any decent turn of the century detailed maps of San Bernardino County, it would probably shed light more on when things were built including Ironage Road.

I wasn't really getting into the history, just the road's viability as a short-cut.
But, if you're interested, it's the edge of what's known as the Wonder Valley. The land was parceled out for recreational purposes in the middle of the last century, under the condition that you put up a structure. Most people put up prefabs known as Jackrabbit cabins. They mostly seem to be gone, though I read in the High Desert Test Site links that they had reused some of the old found drywall for an art project.

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2014/12/the-last-homesteads-of-wonder-valley-california/383372/
http://articles.latimes.com/2000/nov/05/local/me-47325

[Max Rockatansky]

I can't seem to find any decent turn of the century detailed maps of San Bernardino County, it would probably shed light more on when things were built including Ironage Road.

I wasn't really getting into the history, just the road's viability as a short-cut.
But, if you're interested, it's the edge of what's known as the Wonder Valley. The land was parceled out for recreational purposes in the middle of the last century, under the condition that you put up a structure. Most people put up prefabs known as Jackrabbit cabins. They mostly seem to be gone, though I read in the High Desert Test Site links that they had reused some of the old found drywall for an art project.

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2014/12/the-last-homesteads-of-wonder-valley-california/383372/
http://articles.latimes.com/2000/nov/05/local/me-47325

I always found the Mojave to be a fascinating place.  There are so many ventures out there in the desert of San Bernardino County that popped up and failed over time.  There is the mundane from the shacks described in the article up to things like mining, rails, or even service towns out on Route 66.  Aside from central Nevada there is few places I can think of where you can just drive around and stumble upon modern abandonment on such a large scale.

The ironic thing for me was that I was never really in position to try Ironage as a thru-road.  When I was traveling the area primarily it was usually from Riverside northeast to Clark County or vice versa.  Generally that made Amboy Road pretty simple to reach from 62 on Godwin Road.  I must have traveled that route at least close to one hundred times which of course led to lots of side trips trying to find anything worth seeing or driving. 

That being the case my route of preference from Phoenix was usually to follow I-10 to CA 177 and CA 62.  Generally I will take either CA 247 entirely or CA 18 to US 395 with the intent of reaching CA 58.  Generally I've found the approach of CA 247 was better since it takes you to Barstow and avoids the mess near Hesperia/Victorville.  One of my other favorites is to take AZ 72, AZ 95, CA 62, US 95, and I-40....pretty much anything that avoids the Inland Empire, Cajon Pass, or the Los Angeles Metro Area.  Perhaps Ironage to Amboy Road is worth a look once the weather clears up.  Really my only concern would be bypassing gas and....well food in 29 Palms.  Really cutting north out of there only leaves Amboy and Ludlow as somewhat viable alternatives for gas and food until Barstow.