Lake Dolores will forever like on in the hearts and minds of the many whom experienced it. In many ways, Its also living on by the people whom have drove by over the years. I’m sure curiosity got the best of them and they digged for information while learning the history of Lake Dolores. I’m sure they were intrigued, just like I was and wondered how could such a great place shut down and go dormant & abandoned for so many years. This was once the “Fun Spot In The Desert” now it sits vacant with only distant memories left to fill the buildings and walkways of something that once was.

When I finally stepped foot in the place it was amazing. I had contacted a friend earlier that day and we agreed to meet out there. Turns out he was doing a UE Documentary. During the whole time walking around the ground of Lake D Resort, He was interviewing me. It felt great to share some of my UE experiences over the past years. I had always wanted to stop at Lake D, but never did. Confirmed Rumors of security with dogs didn’t really make me want to venture out there. So finally when curiosity got the best of me, I went. What I brought back are the photos to share with you.

This use to be a place of happiness and fun, and now it just nothing but remains of what used to be. This place always intrigued me. My first visit their capped a 3 day California trip of nothing but awesome locations. Not vandalized very heavily, this place looks to be gone for good. Even recently the lake looks to be drying up. Every now and then over the years when new owners took over it brought a glimmer of hope. Unfortunately, nothing has ever evolved. It has changed hands multiple times over the years. I know my friend and I were in the park just a few short weeks after the slides were taken out. The slides being taken out put the final knife in the heart of Lake Delores. Recently, this place has been getting published in alot of magazines locally. I’m guessing that pretty soon due to all the coverage, someone is going to be an idiot and vandalize this place to the ground. I’m hoping that doesn’t happen. I’m currently planning my last trip to Lake D. I hope to come back with another story and amazing photos to share.

It would have been nice for someone over the last few years to realize the potential this place has. Now, Las Vegas has no waterpark. Wet & Wild’s lease expired and they we’re forced to move out after their 20 year lease was done. So Las Vegans are now living in one hot city with no waterpark anywhere near here. This place could be thriving right now, go for a weekend and camp out and enjoy the lake and park.

If you enjoyed the photos or have a memory to share, please feel free to leave it in the comments. This will also make sure you get updates on my future Lake D postings as I have quite a few coming up soon !

There is even a Documentary currently in production, Please see the link here for more info : Waterpark Movie

For more info, continue on to the wikipedia link :
Lake Dolores Wikipedia

My Favorite out of the set has to be the main entry “Waterpark” sign. I was able to capture everything perfectly as I seen it that night. It is more important to me than anything to make sure my audience feels as if they were there themselves. It is my hope that they feel as if they took the journey themselves.

Enjoy the Photos, If you enjoyed them, COMMENT !

This place started out in the early 1920’s and continued from there and didn’t cease operations there until 2003. Over the years the place expanded and constructed new facilities on site to handle the locomotive repair work. These shots were taken inside of the biggest building on-site. With active 24hr security and the lights still being on, we made our way through this place quick.

Ill include some links at the bottom that include articles that LA Locals have written about the place.

Articles:

The Eastsider LA

LA Creek Freak

On Sunday morning we set off to Cali, down I-15 passing some of my longtime UE destinations as we made our way through the Mojave Desert. What awaited us was a busy agenda planned out by my longtime friend Big Dave. Buss and Alek would be joining us for the day with Shockwave and Earthworm later on that night. When we arrived to the hotel, I quickly realized I forgot my precious Nikon DSLR never fear, Big Dave was there. He Loaned me his Rebel XT DSLR and I had a good 2 days worth of shooting on a Canon DSLR. It was a big change from the Nikon I was so used to. So, all of my shots didn’t come out the way I really wanted but, for the most part I was happy with em. I was telling my baby that it felt like the Canon was the girl I was cheating on my Nikon with.  You know your girlfriend well and what she can and cannot do, and well the new girl is a whole new experience that you have to get to know. I know what your thinking, weird analogy right ?

First on the list was a visit to our longtime friend MCAS ElToro  or better known as Marine Core Air Station El Toro to be exact. You never know what your going to get at Eltoro, with constant changes going on there due to Orange County’s “Great Park” project. We have had days where we seen so many things and there have been days where it was nothing but complete failure. We realized quickly that there had been some new fencing put in place that prohibited us from going to where we really wanted to go.  We moved on back to a hangar I had never been into before, and it is always a trip in time to see all of the squadron logos everywhere and feel like your walking in their shoes.

What I didn’t know was in the next hour it would be my last & final trek around the base. Next we moved onto the double hangars. I had been in them before previously, but was rushed so I didn’t get to take as much time as I wanted. This time, I made sure to see it all. I now have the memories from ElToro I was hoping for.  I made sure to see the hangars from top to bottom including the roof. My SoCal UE group had planned a campout once @ ElToro that never happened. Being on the roof gave me hop that we could possibly still do it. I continued to walk around looking for things I missed before and snapping pics here and there and reliving memories of my past trips there.

We finished up, and noticed through the small hangar door two IPD cars were awaiting us. Damn. Well BD had parked in a easy to see spot earlier(as shown in pic) that was easily noticeable just incase this were to actually happen. After a conversation with the officers and a records check, and them understanding we didn’t see any trespassing signs and we weren’t vandals or scrappers they escorted us off the base. I wouldn’t doubt it my name now made it to some list they have.  The previous trips were fun and my memories and pictures will live on from the base that once was.  Goodbye ElToro.

(keep out filler)

After ElToro, we were bouncing from site to site looking for another diamond in the ruff. Without much luck happening and several failed attempts at various sites that should have been a green light we were down on our luck. Sites had been more secure, Sites had been tore down. Hell Alek even ran into Dog security. Thanks to the worm, we did have one last chance to score our WIN for the day. One place that is always a winner. We also made a quick stop to the Walt Disney Concert Theater. Last time I was in LA I had wanted to shoot the building due to its curvy architecture.

We had some time to kill until later that night and thanks to a member in our group, we had got drive-in access to the LA River. With nearby vagrants watching us, we had to just get some snapshots in and take off. More than likely they were forming a plan to overtake us and grab everything we had. Thousands in camera gear and a nice lifted UAV (Urban Assault Vehicle). Thankfully, we got some shots and didn’t get robbed.

We made a quick stop to grab Shockwave, and we were on our way to meet up with the Worm. After touring the Worms warehouse full of art, we loaded up and make our way to the bank.By this point, it was already pretty late and I was tired, but had to keep pushing until we rooftopped the bank. We also were able to get a nice photo op with the Worm and his girl in an actual dentists office. We didnt leave until about 2:30am. It really made me realize how awesome my girl is for her willingness to do everything we did that day, she really deserves the title of  “Bonnie” for it.

After all of that, Day 1 was over. It was time to rest up and enjoy tomorrow.

I also dragged 2 other friends along that were eager to get out of the house and do something. We shot for a good 2 hours or so before one of the owners came out and asked what the hell we were doing. He didnt seem to happy that we were out there at midnight taking shots. When we explained what we were doing im pretty sure he thought to himself who takes pictures at night. He gaves us 20mins to finish up and leave. He also told us to call before our next visit, hopefully I will be able to give him a nice 8″x10″ Print of one of my shots from that night in hopes he will invite us back to get all night without worry. 

More Photos to come !

I’m starting to sound like some conspiracy theorist here. As much controversy there is about these places, there is one thing that will always stick in my mind about this place. Ive never felt more weirded out in my life. I felt like every 5 seconds I had to watch my back to see if someone was coming. What was up the road was even more interesting to me. It made this camp seem like a staging or processing center compared to what was behind those gates. I wont get into further detail about what I seen there, as I really dont need a visit from the FBI or DHC currently.

On a second visit I made there, I actually grew the balls to enter the gates and snap a nice portrait of my friend and I. That was even more freaky. I doubt I will ever go back here, you never know who might have been watching me that night. At one point we thought a patrol car was watching us from the desert. I even discovered Fiber-Optic line had been laid all the way out beyond the fence. Why would anyone need Fiber-Optic line in the middle of nowhere ? Anyways, enough with the questions, and ill bring on the pictures !

We arrived in the morning, tired and un-rested but ready to conquer an open Titan 2 Missile base. After a short drive led by our guides Wilky and Cheddar we arrived on-site. I’m not going to lie to you, I’m shocked I was able to fit into emergency escape tube. Fitting in the 24″x24″ tube was no big deal, but fitting through the 12″x18″ hole in the plate covering the tube well that was no easy task. After seeing Leo get through the tube I knew I did not drive this far for nothing. I Geared-up and wiggled my way into the tube for the 60ft climb down the emergency escape shaft.

As I got further and further down the air got really musty and I realized I forgot my respirator up top (Great!) so it got a little hard to breathe. I also forgot my tripod (Great #2) well there goes my chance at great pics. I made due with what I could and captured these. Here is your inside look into one of the last accesible Titan 2 missile silos. Look for a Future post where I take you into an actual Titan 2 Museum that is completely intact.

Well, Little did I know soon after popping a bottle Hoverfly and Wilky would be knocking on my door. They let me in on their plans and I knew there was no way I was going to tell them no. As I got geared-up my sweetheart gave me “the look” and I dont blame her. She had driven 2 hours to see me and here I was leaving with the guys. I had told her ” I just gotta go babe, this is what I do”. I think she somewhat understood. I grabbed my buddy Leo as I know he was going to be game, and left Chris to keep the girls company.

We parked the truck and made our quarter mile trek in, and there it was I was in HEAVEN. I could have gone crazy in there all night with my camera. In my eyes I came away with the Images I had hoped for.

On this nights journey we also ventured deep into the Mojave Desert to check out a old research site. I cant really reveal any details about it as im still trying to wrangle some access to fully document it.

The last stop of the night proved to be really worth our time. Arriving at about 3-4 am we were all pretty tired and the 8 pack of monster energy was almost gone , and the liquid energy was wearing off. Needless to say we didnt fully get to check this place out, But there is always a return trip !! My camera battery died and that killed it for me. we left about 5am and drove through the Mojave Desert as the sun was rising. Once again a successful trip……

None of these were really meant to be anything remotely of the quality your known to see from me. Big Dizzle and I had to be quick, In and out before anyone could notice us. With the local PD swarming around the area, we got what we came for and will return. This is one of those times where I can’t reveal where this is, But will say this place was built around the 1930’s. As with many buildings from that era, this place had plenty of marble and lots of detailed architecture. Even the elevator shaft doors were made of wood and glass.

The Vault was HUGE ! about 3-4 diffrent rooms in the vault itself. We made our way all the way to the top encountering some weird things along the way.

Return trip w/ high caliber photos to come soon !!