The Desert Pass That Changed American History (And Nobody Talks About It)

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Guided by Kit Carson, it was described in the journal of the trip as Carson's old trail. The path led around the Impossible Canyon on the Heila River where Koolage Dam has now been constructed.

[00:00:15]Lord of the Rings spiderweb right there.

[00:00:17]Wow. Massively huge.

[00:00:23]That's pretty right there. Yeah.

[00:00:43]In our last Jeep adventure, we took you up the Hila River to see the Silver Shores recreation site.

[00:00:58]That's the river section. I >> think I got a picture of it.

[00:01:09]>> What do you say?

[00:01:14]And now we're leaving the Silver Shores Recreation Site and taking you up to Christmas Recreational Site.

[00:01:44]What? I didn't give this person very much time to pass me.

[00:01:49]Pass me.

[00:02:17]Watch for rocks.

[00:02:19]Watch for gold. Rock.

[00:02:24]I don't see any rocks rolling.

[00:02:36]Okay, it should be up here somewhere.

[00:02:51]>> Right here.

[00:02:56]>> All of these are pretty steep turns.

[00:03:00]>> Oh, good. Thanks.

[00:03:19]This is the Christmas recreation site.

[00:03:22]It, like the other ones, has roads both ways. We're going to go this way first.

[00:03:26]>> Okay.

[00:03:29]No fireworks or campfires.

[00:03:32]Yay.

[00:03:35]Very important.

[00:03:40]Nothing shooting.

[00:03:48]I f with no he don't he doesn't like shooting scars.

[00:04:05]a little bit more primitive ones.

[00:04:13]>> This might be a big turnabout.

[00:04:15]>> Yep.

[00:04:19]>> Definitely not as recently maintained as they were saying.

[00:04:23]>> Maybe the other one was maintained. I thought the other one was critical >> called a road.

[00:04:42]>> Yeah, one time it was There's some other birds >> tree >> where >> up there scared me. I thought it >> tree hanging down.

[00:05:18]I'm going to go to this bug.

[00:05:28]Well, that's the left side. What's interesting? I like the other campsite better.

[00:05:36]>> Actually, I would say when you when you enter it, that would be the right side.

[00:05:41]>> Okay.

[00:05:43]Yeah, you're right. You're correct.

[00:05:48]always right.

[00:05:51]>> Sit on that side.

[00:05:54]>> That's why I couldn't let you drive driving.

[00:05:59]>> Well, it depends on which way you're facing cuz if you're facing, you know, one way, you're on the right side. If you're facing the other way, then you could still be on the right side. It just depends on which way you're facing. But on one side, it's the right side and you're on the other side and you're the left side. So, it just depends on which which way you're facing.

[00:06:23]That was a bit of a babble, wasn't it?

[00:06:37]Sight there. And then the road gets a little rickety, but doesn't say no access.

[00:06:53]Hey, where are we? Oh gosh.

[00:07:32]I would think these in camping sets here.

[00:07:36]I don't know where this goes.

[00:07:53]Thank you.

[00:08:04]>> Is this Hazel?

[00:08:07]>> No, >> they are now.

[00:08:17]Okay.

[00:08:20]>> Yeah, that just got to where I couldn't see through the bushes.

[00:08:23]>> Yeah. All the branches are they're hanging really low. Some of them are broken.

[00:08:28]>> This one here, but worse.

[00:08:31]>> Yeah, cuz that one right there, that one's broken. It's just dangling.

[00:08:34]>> Yeah. And there's a lot worse.

[00:08:37]>> That is >> Yeah, cuz this is This is not maintained. We don't mind off-roading, but we're not going to have to I didn't bring a machete where we can chop away the trail.

[00:08:50]>> Okay, coming out. We're going to lean towards your side and there are rocks on your side.

[00:08:56]>> Okay, those rocks right there.

[00:09:03]>> Okay, still better.

[00:09:15]Okay.

[00:09:16]>> So, theoretically, if you're coming here, this is where you'd want to turn around.

[00:09:20]>> Do we want to go up the river or not?

[00:09:23]>> Uh, or did you not see it from here?

[00:09:26]>> I did not see it. It's probably >> right there.

[00:09:29]>> Well, it might be a bit of a walk. I don't know.

[00:09:39]I count steps from the last spot.

[00:09:41]>> Hold it.

[00:09:43]>> There you go.

[00:09:44]>> Video.

[00:09:46]>> We'll wait here. Okay. Okay.

[00:09:49]>> We'll wait here. The sun.

[00:09:52]We'll wait here.

[00:10:04]Okay, that there says no vehicles. So, that's the last of the camping sites.

[00:10:12]Let's see what we got.

[00:10:16]Oh my gosh.

[00:10:24]Spiderwe right there. Wow. Massively huge.

[00:10:31]Okay.

[00:10:33]Lots of steps >> because in this spot we don't know how far the water is.

[00:10:38]So Aaron's going to find out.

[00:10:43]>> Probably doesn't get there.

[00:10:46]>> He's probably getting attacked by bugs and I don't know if he can find a proper path cuz it looks Yeah, cuz he's kind of wandering around now. So, I would probably say there's really not a very good river access here.

[00:11:04]Okay. There is no river access from this part of Christmas.

[00:11:11]It's a Christmas campsite. Good place to camp. There's really no river access from here.

[00:11:16]>> Yeah, that's what I thought.

[00:11:17]>> Take a look at that picture.

[00:11:21]>> Oh my gosh. Is >> that a spiderweb or is that a spiderweb?

[00:11:27]That's like like the spider webs that you get uh in Kentucky.

[00:11:54]What happened?

[00:12:36]I don't think I've ever been on the period cuz every time we went like a floss it was So, yeah, it's the way we're coming back >> on the other side.

[00:12:48]>> Here, we got to pull out here.

[00:12:50]>> Pull out.

[00:12:51]>> Oh, wow.

[00:12:54]This is worth it.

[00:12:55]>> Yep.

[00:13:03]>> Oh, and there's a there's a thingy here, too.

[00:13:06]>> Monument.

[00:13:07]>> Yeah. Stop this. Oh, this looks like a lunch spot, too. I'm hungry.

[00:13:14]>> So, I l Captain Pass. This pass was used by Kernney's Army of the West in a march to California in 1846.

[00:13:26]Guided by Kit Carson, it was described in the journal of the trip as Carson's old trail. The path led around the Impossible Canyon on the Heila River where Koolage Dam has now been constructed.

[00:14:00]We're going to let Gidget drive.

[00:14:01]Although I am a little worried about it.

[00:14:04]>> The car was car was dirty. Car was car was not dirty when I gave it to her. It was clean, right?

[00:14:10]>> Nope.

[00:14:10]>> Oh, is that called lying?

[00:14:12]>> Yep.

[00:14:13]>> Oh.

[00:14:15]>> So, if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up, like, share, and subscribe, and turn on that notification button so you can be the first one to see it when it posts.

[00:14:30]>> Guided by Kit Carson, it was described in the journal of the trip as Carson's old trail. The path led around the Impossible Canyon on the Heila River where Koolage Dam has now been constructed.

[00:14:44]So, if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up, like, share, and subscribe and turn on that notification button so you can be the first one to see it when it posts.

[00:14:59]>> Box piece here.

[00:15:02]>> Bunch of pieces taped together.

[00:15:06]Sorry little camera move.

[00:15:16]>> That's okay.

[00:15:19]>> I got it. Damn.

[00:15:21]>> It's broken on the other side.