Zócalo's Connecting California
A Hard Climb for the Tehachapis
The Tehachapi Mountains have been penetrated, but never truly conquered. Now new pressures are being brought to bear on the range in the form of human encroachment and expansion of the state's ever-growing infrastructure.
By Joe Mathews • • 4m ListenCalifornia's most mysterious mountain range has long served as geographical and psychological dividing line. Now the Tehachapis are opening up, at least a little, both for recreation and public works projects like high-speed rail. Joe Matthews says that meansopportunities and risks for a range that the area's first inhabitants called "Hard Climb."