One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fires were burning,
Down the track came a hobo hiking,
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Besides the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
There's a land that's fair and bright,
Where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night.
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day
And the birds and the bees
And the cigarette trees
The lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
The Big Rock Candy Mountains, by Harry McClintock
And the jungle fires were burning,
Down the track came a hobo hiking,
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Besides the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains,
There's a land that's fair and bright,
Where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night.
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day
And the birds and the bees
And the cigarette trees
The lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
The Big Rock Candy Mountains, by Harry McClintock

I grew up in Southern California, and was quite familiar with the Rock Candy Mountains in Cajon Pass, and I thought the rocks were related to the song above, which you might remember from the movie "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?". I can't find any evidence that they were the mountains of the song, but I vividly remember doing field work along the train tracks, and seeing a dozen men or more riding on each train rumbling down the pass.




One can certainly argue that the Gorn was not the most ridiculous sci-fi creature ever filmed, but I always thought it looked like a Mardi Gras celebrant who got lost on the way to New Orleans. And then the poor guy got caught in a death match with Captain Kirk...I can hear him now "Hey, I can't get my mask off! Hey, what are you doing with that bamboo and gunpowder?"
The Other California is an ongoing exploration of some of the lesser known geological regions of our beautiful state.
5 comments:
Yes, I've driven past these mountains many times and still didn't recognize the place.
Old-fashioned gunpowder FTW!
(I couldn't remember who the Gorn was until you mentioned the gunpowder scene - that sticks in my mind, along with the rocks in the background.)
I am soooo disappointed in myself, I completely missed the "...place that looks like this" line, or I would have looked more carefully at the photo and seen Mount Baldy in the background. Oh well, it goes to show why some are easily convinced that these areas (Mormon Rocks, Devil's Punchbowl and Vasquez Rocks) represent the same formation, pulled apart by the San Andreas fault...
Now that Ms. Powers has mentioned it, Mythbusters did a segment about the Gorn awhile back, though they filmed it elsewhere...
@jrepka Hello, I grew up on Hwy 138 facing the biggest Mormon Rocks formation, we had the (long closed) West Cajon Country Store there in the 70s & 80s across from Dyer's big (also long closed) Turkey Ranch, and spent lots of time hiking around in and on them, even feeling they were part of my family. I've also driven through the Vasquez Rock a thousand times commuting to LA: these formations do look like twins. Aren't they on opposite sides of the San Andreas fault, and once were actually together at some distant time in geological history? Since you're a geo instructor, I'm hoping you'll know the answer. I HEARD that they were once attached... thank you.
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