Tehachapi Pass (

Kawaiisu The Kawaiisu (pronounced: ″ka-wai-ah-soo″) are a Native Californian ethnic group in the United States who live in the Tehachapi Valley and to the north across the Tehachapi Pass in the southern Sierra Nevada, toward Lake Isabella and Walker P ...

: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

crossing the

Tehachapi Mountains The Tehachapi Mountains (; Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States. The range extends for approximately in southern Kern County and northwest ...

Kern County, California Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County comprise ...

. Traditionally, the pass marks the northeast end of the Tehachapis and the south end of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

range. The route is a principal connector between the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...

and the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

. The Native American Kitanemuk people used the pass as a trade route before the American settlement of the region in the 19th century. The main line of the former

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

opened though the pass in 1876; the tracks are now owned by the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

and shared with

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

U.S. Route 466 U.S. Route 466 (US 466) was an east–west United States highway. Though it reached a length of around 500 miles (805 km), the route was co-signed with other US routes for much of its length. When California deleted most of its U.S. High ...

was built in the 1930s, and the road is now State Route 58. The Pass is also the route of the planned

California High-Speed Rail California High-Speed Rail (also known as CAHSR or CHSR) is a publicly funded high-speed rail system currently under construction in California in the United States. Planning for the project began in 1996, when the California Legislature and Gover ...

line. The Tehachapi Mountains are also crossed by

Tejon Pass The Tejon Pass , previously known as ''Portezuelo de Cortes'', ''Portezuela de Castac'', and Fort Tejon Pass is a mountain pass between the southwest end of the Tehachapi Mountains and northeastern San Emigdio Mountains, linking Southern Californ ...

at the southwest end of the range.

Nomenclature

The precise meaning of the name Tehachapi Pass is often a source of confusion. Technically (i.e., as noted on USGS topographic maps), the name refers to the narrowest part of the canyon on the eastern approach to the summit (as at

San Gorgonio Pass The San Gorgonio Pass, or Banning Pass, is a elevation gap on the rim of the Great Basin between the San Bernardino Mountains to the north and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. The pass was formed by the San Andreas Fault, a major trans ...

), where the elevation is about . The actual high point is just east of the town of Tehachapi, at an elevation (on the railroad next to Tehachapi Boulevard) of . The highway sign refers to this location as Tehachapi Summit. However, the term Tehachapi Pass is routinely used to refer to both this location and the approaches on either side.

Features

The area east and south of the pass is home to the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm, one of California's larger

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

s. The pass is also a proposed route for the

line between

Palmdale Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. The city lies in the Antelope Valley region of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On Aug ...

and

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

Crossing of the Sierra Nevadas, California; 'Tehachapa Pass,' 1,720 miles west of Missouri River

The railroad landmark known as the

Tehachapi Loop The Tehachapi Loop is a long spiral, or helix, on the Union Pacific Railroad Mojave Subdivision through Tehachapi Pass, of the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, south-central California. The line connects Bakersfield and the San Joaquin V ...

is about west of the summit.

References

{{Authority control Tehachapi Mountains Historic trails and roads in California Landforms of Kern County, California Mountain passes of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Rail mountain passes of the United States Transportation in Kern County, California

Pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places * Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits * Mountain pass, a lower place in a moun ...

Mojave Desert San Joaquin Valley

Nomenclature

Features

See also

References