Camp Iron Mountain – A WWII Site in the California Desert
Camp Iron Mountain – A WWII Site in the California Desert
Located about 50 miles east of Twentynine Palms, Camp iron Mountain is in a remote part of California’s Mojave Desert. In 1942, with America having entered WWII, General Patton’s Desert Training Center was created in the deserts of California and Arizona. The Desert Training Center was located over 11 camps, and Camp Iron Mountain is the best preserved of all of the sites.
Getting to the camp requires a drive down a dirt run into the middle of the desert. Walking around Camp iron Mountain, the roads the soldiers built are still apparent 80 years later. Despite only existing for two years, the desert was transformed on a massive scale. Throughout the camp site, a large number of pathways that were lined with rocks are still around.
○ Gear we use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/sidetrackadventures
►Please subscribe for weekly updates showcasing some of our adventures: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdueDRFYPVgzPAAOM_bxVWA?sub_confirmation=1
►Also please follow Sidetrack Adventures on Instagram: https://instagram.com/sidetrackadventures
►And please follow Sidetrack Adventures on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SidetrackAdvent
Thanks for the tour.
Why don’t you do an episode about Camp Elliot?
I dont if it was iron mtn but i have an officers bronze hat insignia, eagle with arrows, etc., silver braid captains collar bar. And a us uniform army insignia from ww2. I bought all 3 at claypools parking lot flea market in needles,ca. For $2.50 in about 1980. Dude with metal detector found them. I thought it was more near ludlow where they still have war games.
really cool!!!
How many times have you been stuck in the sand😂
Your videos are second to none, I really enjoy them thank you.
What a good trip . Thank you. I enjoy WW2 history. Blessings to you and family
I like your videos and the spirit they’re done in. Very enjoyable.
Are motorcycles allowed through that gate?
Glad I stumbled upon your channel. Really enjoy your format, economy of words and very reliable information. Been to the Pattton Museum off of the interstate and knew about maps showing the various camp locations. The museum did not have copies available. But once I say it on this episode, I was able to Google it straight away. Thanks for sharing and look forward to future episodes, where ever you happen to film.
The views from there are breath taking !! I love that your family gets to explore with you 🙂
17:03 this is where the tents were, the rocks surrounded the tents
I visited Camp Iron Mountain back in 1989-1990. Thanks for bringing back the memories! Glad to see there’s a fence around it and the sand table now.
Great stories, please keep them coming.
Being a major history buff, I in joy your videos very much! If you every want to explore Wyoming get ahold of me! born and raised there and know a lot of its history! Great work, keep it up.
Makes one to wonder, were did all those rocks come from?
Another interesting piece of desert history!
As always enjoy your videos
Patton was at the DTC from February to July 1942 before being called to DC to start planning for Operation Torch.
Wonder if camels are still roaming around
My late father worked as an engineer for
Lockheed in L.A. in WW2, and afterwards did atomic-weapons research.
In the early 70s, while on vacation
from back east, he showed us the
remains of some defunct camp off
US 6 somewhere between Chalfant
Valley and Benton CA. Anybody
recall such a place?
Never been there. But I’ve heard that there are still scars there in the sand from Patton’s tanks. Which goes to show you just how delicate the desert can be.
I really enjoy your excursions and the way you explain your trip.
Flying a drone over that sand map would be cool.
The wire may be from a EE-8 field phone? thank you for another great video!
Catholic chapel looked great. Pathways were impressive.
your videos are great, thank you!!
Virtually all who trained at Iron Mountain were killed in combat. Because toward the end
of WW2 soldiers were assigned as tank crew with no prior training like Iron Mountain.
My grandpa trained out there under Gen. Patton. We could share what it was like out there because I was stationed at Twentynine Palms, CA. Which as it turns out is where both bases were. Where is that from the Marine Corps base. If you are looking for moisture out there the Mojave Desert is the 2nd driest in this hemisphere. Iquique, Chile is the driest
A huge site. Fantastic job of presenting it in the short time you had there.
As a retired Protestant clergyman, the chapel is fascinating to me. I can only imagine how much the priests enjoyed serving there. As a recreational drone pilot, the chapel also looks like a great place to do photogrammetry with a drone. It would probably be possible to create a very nice 3D model of the structure. Thanks for the tour!
My cousin went out there, Parked his car and hiked in. When he got back his car was gone…
dude get yourself a 4WD
11:56 My great uncle served under Patton, so he may have trained there since we are from Southern California.
Side note: My family and I now attend a Traditional Catholic parish and that chapel has all the signs of the Traditional liturgy (high altar where the priest faces away from the people and a kneeler. Traditional Latin Mass was the only type of liturgy back then for the Latin Rite. Cool to think my great uncle may have knelt on that very stone to receive Our Lord.
I like your videos. I lived in S. Cal for 14 years. If you had a 4 wheel drive vehicle maybe you could find those harder to get locations.
Makes much sense why or why Patton would be out there. He was a Tanker. Great video, Brother. Hooah!
Boorrrinng
Hallo,how much POW’s was in this camp?
The drone video footage adds a lot of interest to your productions.
Enjoy your video’s very much. Thank you for your dedication and hard work. Cheers.
Wow…A Catholic Chapel out in the middle of nowhere…!!! Wow what did do….haul in kids from Vegas for the preists to rape and sodomize…???
My father trained there, with the 3rd Armored Division.
There looks to be some ruins about 1000 feet Northeast of the Catholic Chapel. That may be the Protestant Chapel.
One of your best ones. You passion for understanding what our soldiers went thru adds so much to this. Most see a barren wasteland, but to see a huge amount of men meeting each other away from home getting prepared to be in life or death situations is almost overwhelming. This land holds so many stories, it is truly sacred. Thank You.
You know at one point those rocks lining the walkways we’re painted white
I was at the protestant chapel in 1990, pretty well gone. I found a 155mm shell lifting eye a few feet away. I didnt see any mention of the concrete runways? and what about the shoe tree
My Uncle was born and raised in Porterville, Ca. He was a tank commander in Pattons third armored division. He trained out there. Then landed in southern France and ended up slugging it out at the Battle of the Bulge.
Then Served and was injured in Korea
So many brave young men. Thank you for this glimpse.
I really enjoy your videos and how knowledgeable you are.
You are a far better documentarian abdout places you visit that "Wonderhussy". Thanks and many more adventures.
That is crazy, all that effort for a two year camp.
So glad I came across your channel. Love history. Love the desert. Watching you walk out there, left me yearning to get back out to our local desert for a walk. Stay safe out there! Cheers!