Fault Line Friday; weird San Andreas Faultline Roads between CA 198 and 41/46

Started by Max Rockatansky, March 24, 2017, 06:00:01 PM

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Max Rockatansky

Somehow I managed to fit a somewhat descriptive title into the subject line.  I had a day to myself so I took the opportunity to check out some roads near the San Andreas Fault in the Diablo and Gabilan Range I wanted to check out; Peach Tree Road, Indian Valley Road, Slacks Canyon Road, Vineyard Canyon Road, and Cholame Road.  Basically we're talking roughly 80 miles of single lane or narrow rural roadway....good times considering I saw only 11 cars the entire time.  The full album is located here:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/36m5dG

First I had to get there though and I took CA 198 west through the Diablo Range.  Gave me an opportunity to get a couple more picture of Lewis Creek Road which was the original alignment of SSR 25 until it was replaced by the modern alignment of CA 25 in 1956.  Basically Lewis Creek Road is gated off and inaccessible:

IMG_5360 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5361 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Unlike the last time I was out this way the ford of Lewis Creek was a lot more apparent from CA 198 due to the better weather:

IMG_5365 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5362C (1) by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Another view from CA 198 looking east towards the canyon Lewis Creek uses:

IMG_5372 by Max Rockatansky, on

At the edge of the Diablos Peach Tree Road and Peach Tree Valley can be seen from CA 198:

IMG_5381 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

CA 198 drops sharply westbound out of the Diablos to a junction with CA 25 and Peach Tree Road:

IMG_5384 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5385 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Peach Tree Road has a center stripe and is two lanes for the first couple miles south off of CA 198 but that drops a very narrow single lane very quickly:

IMG_5387 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5395 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Basically Peach Tree Road/Valley is wedged between the Diablo and Gabilan Range atop of the San Andreas Fault.  This should maybe be a 4 or 5 parter if I stick to 10 pictures per post in case anyone is wondering.


Max Rockatansky

Part 2....

There is actually a couple interesting overviews of Slack Canyon that are worth stopping for:

IMG_5409 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Earlier this year Peach Tree Road was shut down while this new bridge was being put in.  The GSV shows the older bridge which looked to be pretty substantially narrow by comparison:

IMG_5411 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5413 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Peach Tree Road terminates here at the junction of Slacks Canyon Road and Indian Valley Road.  For whatever reason Slacks Canyon Road is been gated off and shows being that way pretty much on every GSV screen shot I looked at.  It looks like the Fault continues via Slacks Canyon Road, maybe that along with the lack of pavement was why it was closed?

IMG_5415 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5416 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Indian Valley Road continues directly south and begins to rise through the Gabilan Range roughly to about 2,200 feet above sea level:

IMG_5417 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

At the summit Indian Valley begins to drop elevation fast, I would say that this is the only section of any of the roads I traveled today that had a "mountain road" feel to it:

IMG_5418 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5419 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5422 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5423 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Max Rockatansky

Part 3

Gradually Indian Valley Road levels out at about I want to say 1,400 feet, the descent from here on out was much more gentle:

IMG_5424 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Approaching Valleton and San Miguel there are increasing signs of residential habitation, by this point I still had not encountered another car.  I encountered seven south from this point to Vineyard Canyon Road:

IMG_5427 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Some nice bridge work near Big Sandy Road:

IMG_5433 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

At the junction of Indian Valley Road and Hare Canyon Road is a community called Valleton.  Really it isn't really much of anything aside from ranch lands and a couple stray abandoned old homes.  Supposedly there was a post office here from the 1880s to almost 1920s, seems like it more or less a real place at one point. 

IMG_5437 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

By the time I hit junction with Hare Canyon Road I had traveled 27 miles south from CA 198:

IMG_5438 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

South of Hare Canyon the roadway on Indian Valley begins to widen and basically it becomes somewhat a normal width:

IMG_5445 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Eventually US 101 can be seen right before hitting the San Luis Obispo County Line:

IMG_5451 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5452 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

37 miles in I took an eastward swing on Vineyard Canyon Road:

IMG_5457 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Max Rockatansky

Part 4

Vineyard Canyon Road is substantially wider and what I'd expect out of a modern roadway:

IMG_5459 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

For the most part Vineyard Canyon Road is mostly has a center in Monterey County but it disappeared a couple times despite the road not becoming narrow:

IMG_5459 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Surprisingly the summit on Vineyard Canyon is pretty high at about 2,500 feet above sea level:

IMG_5464 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Approaching Slack Canyon Road and the San Andreas Fault there is some more interesting bridge work, I'm not sure what is up with the brown street blades:

IMG_5465 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5467 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

The first 15 miles of Vineyard Canyon Road from Indian Valley Road are the interesting part and how far it takes to reach the back side of Slack Canyon Road....too bad it isn't paved because it would be a handy short cut.   The last five miles south to Parkfield-Coalinga Road and Cholame Road are pretty bland, I did make a stop in Parkfield for breakfast:

IMG_5468 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

This single lane bridge made an appearance on the Parkfield Grade section of Max's Road that I did last year.  The creek below is the actual fault line and there is a bow in the bridge that is obvious from outside the car:

IMG_5470 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5471 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5473 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5474 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Max Rockatansky

17 miles south of Parkfield on Cholame Road is what it takes southbound to reach CA 41/46:

IMG_5478 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Cholame Road has some pretty nice single lane bridges and wide views before terminating at CA 41/46:

IMG_5482 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5483 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5484 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5487 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_5490 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Actually now that I think about it this was all closer to 70 miles today between 198 and 41/46.  Either way, not bad for a quiet morning drive out in the sticks before the storms hit later tonight.  Really something that I didn't touch on was that the asphalt quality on for Peach Tree and Indian Valley Road is very high for something that rural.  Vineyard Canyon is in okay shape but Cholame Road had very obvious wash out damage on top of rutted pavement.   All and all these roads probably would be a lot of fun in a muscle car or on a cruiser bike, nothing was heavy or couldn't be managed by the average driver.



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