Max's Pacific Southwest Roads

Max Rockatansky · October 14, 2016, 06:37:52 PM

Quote from: hm insulators on October 14, 2016, 04:58:25 PM
Beautiful scenery but definitely some scary roads!

Yeah I can hardly ever get my wife on any of these trips, she doesn't handle heights too well....not even with "running" Blackrock Road instead of driving it.

I'm finally getting caught up with the last two days worth of stuff, I will be posting shortly and creating the Mountain State thread.

Max Rockatansky · October 14, 2016, 09:27:06 PM

Alright gang finally getting caught up after yesterday in Mojave and Clark County area. I made my way east out of Bakersfield on CA 58 to CA 14 north:

The purpose of this trip is basically to see stuff and roads that I haven't seen before. That being the case there was a lot of roadways south of Ridgecrest that I haven't been on which served as a bypass to Searles Valley. I cut off CA 14 to Redrock-Randsburg Road north east to Garlock Road and by proxy the Garlock ghost town:

Surprisingly Redrock-Randsburg and Garlock Roads are in very good shape. Before the road splits at Garlock Road the road surface is very smooth and appears to be a recent repave. Even Garlock Road wasn't that bad, although things get a lot more twisty.

Garlock itself is right off of Garlock Road on some private parcels of land. Apparently the town was founded in the late 1890s when gold was discovered in the area. Word was that water pumping was moved to Randsburg and it really killed the town. There was postal service here until about the 1920s from everything I've seen which seems to be line with the age of the remaining buildings:

Managed to get a decent view of southbound US 395 with the Garlock Road street blade in the picture:

Kind of a gut wrenching sign to see if you are heading to Reno. Thankfully I'm heading to Death Valley and not staying on the same road for 348 miles:

Which wasn't long at all, maybe five miles are most before my turn off for Searles Station Road. Searles Station is more of what I expect from a rarely used Mojave roadway. The road is rough and has some hard crossings at railroad tracks, but unlike others the asphalt isn't coming up:

Wasn't too long before I came to Trona Road and cut north to CA 178 and Searles Valley. This was another quality road that built at a much higher standard than would be expected:

Cutting east on CA 178 to Searles Valley it isn't too long before I encountered the western CA 178 "end" sign at Pinnacles Road. I'm fairly certain that CA 178 also carries the name Trona Road through here, I'm certain it's called that cutting north to the Inyo County line. Regardless, it's interesting to think that the approximate alignment of what might have been a connected CA 178 would have gone straight over the Panamint range directly east. Personally I think CA 178 should follow Trona Road and Trona-Wildrose Road north to CA 190 and give the eastern stub it's own number. But...I digress the road isn't used too much to the north of Searles Valley and there is no way it would ever get turned over to Caltrans. Interestingly the China Lake Range was doing tests while I was taking this picture to the north, it was interesting to hear explosions in the distance:

Searles Valley itself is hellish due to the salt mines from Searles Lake. I can't smell very well but I always get the wiff of the salt from the lake and factories. Trona Road becomes Trona-Wildrose Road at the Inyo County line. The road isn't "bad" heading down into Panamint Valley but it's definitely neglected but nowhere near as bad as north on the valley floor. There is actually a decent overlook that you can make for yourself that has a look at the road and the valley below:

Off to the northeast you can see the Ballarat ghost town at the foot of the Panamint range:

At the floor Panamint Valley you can still access Ballarat from Trona-Wildrose Road. I'd say Ballarat is mainly known for the Manson Family occupying the land around the town site back in the 1960s. Apparently Ballarat was founded in the 1890s due to silver mines being opened in the Panamint Range. The town was largely abandoned by the 1920s but apparently has weathered the test of time due to desert climate. I've never been down to the town itself, given how bad Trona-Wildrose Road gets north of here it doesn't seem like something that I want to try in a Chevy Sonic without assessing Ballarat Road in some other way...maybe on foot. Regardless lots of fanfare with historic signage which includes even a write-up on Panamint City:

If anyone recalls I drove Trona-Wildrose Road out of Death Valley on the way to Ridgecrest back in March. Back then there was a large portion of the road which was ground down to dirt with a 35 MPH speed limit. I would have thought that Inyo County would have had made progress....well I thought wrong. Instead of a quality dirt path like March they had you over on the shoulders with all the jagged rocks. At least there was a grade and it looks like they are finally ready to repave things:

At the turn-off for Panamint Valley Road is the first signage for Death Valley and CA 190. Panamint Valley Road is hellish, the surface is among the worst I've seen in the area. One neat thing is that there is red asphalt which is always something neat to see:

Isn't too long before Panamint Valley Road ends and you intersect CA 190. It's a fast climb east from the Panamint Valley floor to Towne Pass, I always thought it was strange that the road is so high speed at 65 MPH in a National Park. I think I-94 through Theodore Roosevelt National Park is the only road that is fast in a National Park. CA 190 seems to be a sustained 8% or higher given there is actually a sign telling you to shut your AC off:

Heading down into Death Valley I made a couple stops at Stovepipe Wells to check out a historic marker by a truck and the Mesquite Dunes. Apparently the truck is located roughly where the 1849 Emigrant Party burned their wagon. That must have been all kinds of awful getting stuck in Death Valley in those days....goes to show that the short-cut isn't always worth it:

I also checked out of the Harmony Borax Works at Furnace Creek. Apparently Borax mining bean here in 1883 and the Harmony Works were used until 1889. Apparently the company that worked the Borax at Harmony eventually became the Pacific Coast Borax Company which latter led to settlements like Ryan and Amargosa/Death Valley Junction. Apparently 20-Mule teams were used to haul the Borax to the railroads in Mojave:

Of course the theme of this excursion is for "different" things. That being the case I've never been up to Dantes View nor traversed anything beyond the Ryan Mine. The views of Death Valley and the Panamint Range were sure something to see:

Dante's View Road itself is pretty tame in my opinion. The last three miles appear to be entirely over 10% with the last 1/4 mile at 15%. There isn't anything that would require any special notice by the driver for the remaining 10 miles back to CA 190. Even still it's about a 3,500 foot gain over the course of 13 miles...that's pretty fast for an incline:

Speaking of Ryan the mine site and possibly some of the town are still near CA 190. Ryan was originally about a dozen miles south east of it's present location when the Lila C Mine opened up in 1907. The town was moved to it's present location in 1914 where it became the western terminus of the Death Valley Railroad. The Death Valley Railroad was a 20 mile narrow-gauge line that transported Borax from Ryan to Amargosa which would later be renamed as "Death Valley Junction" in the late 1960s. Apparently the Death Valley line operated in one form or another until the 1960s and largely used the same path that CA 190 uses. I'm to understand that the Pacific Coast Borax Company shut down the Ryan Mine in 1928 but the town remained active through the 1950s due to hotel back flow from Death Valley itself. The site can't be accessed but is easily seen for Dante's View Road:

Seems there isn't an "END" marker for CA 190. There is a large amount of signage directing you to Las Vegas, my route was through State Line Road:

Speaking of Death Valley Junction....

Really there isn't a lot more to say about Death Valley Junction. I'm not sure why the name was changed from Amargosa since it seems like a lot of buildings still use the former name. Apparently the Opera House and many of the other buildings were constructed from 1923 to 1925:

Of course there is State Line Road which heads into Pahrump in Nye County, Nevada. Apparently State Line got a recent repave, the road used to suck but now it's actually very smooth and an easy drive. I would say the repaving was this year due to the stray construction signage strewn about. At the end of State Line is NV 160:

I had to go quite a ways to the NV 372 junction even to see a NV 160 shield. NV 160 in Pahrump is absolutely terrible. The roadway is absurdly slow and clogged with traffic. East of Pahrump it blows out to four-lanes and really is pretty nice all the way to I-15:

But I wasn't heading to I-15, I was heading to Red Rock Canyon via NV 159:

Of course for a nice view of Red Rock Canyon heading into Vegas itself.

I followed Charleston all the way to downtown rather than taking a freeway. I ended up passing CR 215 and I-15 on the way:

Can't beat the view of Las Vegas Blvd from the Stratosphere to end the day. Some friends of mine just moved to Vegas, they had never been up in the tower itself. The view on the top level would be even nicer without the suicide fences so I had to take an unobstructed photo from behind the glass:

The next morning I took I-15 up to Valley of Fire Highway, took a picture of the US 93 split just for shits and giggles:

I want to say that Valley of Fire Highway was previously signed at NV 169? I'm also fairly certain that this was also NV 40 prior to the 1976 renumbering:

The Valley of Fire isn't a bad side trip, I've never been before. There is actually some really good road photos to be had on Valley of Fire Road and Mouse's Tank Road:

I thought was the "Scenic Byway" signs were interesting:

So was this guy, who somehow managed to sneak up on me:

Heading east out of the Valley of Fire this would have been the eastern terminus of NV 167 on the right:

I decided to try to check out St. Thomas. I asked the guy in the previous picture what the condition of St. Thomas Road was. Basically he said that it was pretty good for the first two miles and after that I would probably be too low in a car to make it through, so I decided to run the road to at least where I could see the old town site:

St. Thomas was founded back in 1865 by the Mormons. The town was largely abandoned in 1871 when a survey found it to be in Nevada instead of Utah but people moved into the abandoned buildings in short order. St. Thomas was abandoned in 1938 during the Hoover Dam project due to the fact Lake Mead was going to flood it. St. Thomas has been above water I think about a decade now and might never go back under. It even looked like trees are starting to regrow at the town site which is off in the distance. I was hoping for 2-2.5 miles but it turns out the road is a lot longer than that. Too bad the Park Service doesn't have a readily available site on St Thomas Road that I could find. I would agree with the statement about the road getting bad past two miles. There is a lot of sand and some pretty large holes in the road that are deeper than six inches.

Decent look back at the Valley of Fire heading back west on St. Thomas Road:

Interestingly it's pretty obvious St. Thomas Road was paved at one point. The top layer of dirt is weathering away exposing a lot of white washed asphalt:

Heading North I hit the first NV 169 sign and there was actually a "END" sign at I-15:

Managed to snag a NV 170 sign on the way out of the state into Arizona on I-15:

With that in mind I'll continue this on "Max's Mountain State Fury Road Reports" for Arizona and Utah. Eventually this will kick back to California on the return trip home.

Max Rockatansky · October 23, 2016, 12:22:48 AM

Back in California and the Pacific South West....same road trip. The continuation thread in the Mountain States can be found here:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=19025.msg2182748#new

The original post up to Reply #13 applies to this road trip....anyways, back in California on I-10/US 95:

Isn't too long before US 95 cuts north off of I-10. Funny...I'm surprised there has never been a push to get US 95 as a complete overlap of AZ 95 or at least get another US Route out that way. Seems like the Arizona side has become a lot more important in the last couple decades with Bullhead City and Havasu than.....ugh...Needles:

Snagged a CA 78 since I was passing it. Kind of a boring route until it hits the mountains where the character completely changes:

Stopped off on Ford Dry Lake Road to see what has become of Chuckwalla Valley Road...apparently this:

Sad to see the 1932 alignment of US 60 and 1934 alignment of US 70 go like this. I don't know why Chuckwalla was shut down but I would speculate it probably has something to do with the same floods that got the Tex Wash Bridge on eastbound I-10 last year. I never found the asphalt to be all that bad through here either...for it's age anyways. For those who don't know Chuckwalla Valley Road runs from I-10 exits 217 to 201 which "could" be used as a historic alternative. Funny to think that just a mile or so west of exit 201 there was a little service stop called "Hell." Apparently it went up in 1954 but was razed to make way for I-10. Urban legend would have it that it was used to make puns something akin to "it's hotter in L.A. than it is in Hell" by weather stations in Los Angeles. Anyways, here is a view west on Chuckwalla and east where the trucks are blocking the view of where the asphalt of US 60/70 is cut off by I-10:

Speaking of Tex Wash....that is near Desert Center. And speaking of US 60/70...that ran down Ragsdale Road through Desert Center itself. For some reason I could exit on the ramp to CA 177 heading west:

So I just went up one exit to Eagle Mountain Road to pick up Ragsdale Road:

I'm unsure of the age of the bridges on Ragsdale Road but they sure appear to be original to US 60 when it was constructed in the 1930s. You'll know you hit Tex Wash when you see the creepy old gas station on Ragsdale:

There is a pretty good look at the I-10 Tex Wash Bridges that can be had from the Old US 60/70 Tex Wash Bridge on Ragsdale. The eastbound lanes in the background were the ones that got washed out last year:

I find it kind of amazing that trucks are still allowed on the Old Tex Wash Bridge. I remember when I-10 washed out that Caltrans put out some kind of notice to take either I-40 or I-8. I found that laughable since CA 177 and CA 62 could have been used just as easily and been way more direct to Los Angeles. I remember thinking that Ragsdale Road looked like it was good shape from the photos I was seeing....apparently I was right:

Desert Center itself is a very interesting place...it seems like the place was blessed with luck up until the last decade. Apparently the town was founded by a guy named Steve Ragsdale or "Desert Steve" back in 1921. Supposedly he stumbled upon a well near Desert Center in 1915 when he was moving from Arkansas and decided to open an service station in the desert. Word is that the original Desert Center was six miles south of Ragsdale Road and the town site...or service center was moved in the early 30s when US 60 was being built. Desert Center got an Army Airfield in 1942 and the Kaiser Steel Eagle Mountain Mine opened around the same time which brought an actual population. The Kaiser Steel Mine shut down in the 1980s but I know a prison operated there until the the early 2000s....you can see Eagle Mountain Road a couple pictures back which will take you directly to the sight. Word is the Marine Corps does urban combat training out there now. So really it wasn't so much the US Routes disappearing that killed Desert Center it was the mines....I'm not sure who is really left out here:

Figured that I would knock out an eighth national park on this trip and swung up Cottonwood Springs Road to Joshua Tree National Park. Incidentally US 60/70 would have swung left on Box Canyon Road to Mecca:

Cottonwood Springs Road eventually becomes Pinto Basin Road and really it takes a LLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOONNNNGGGG time to pass through the park. For the most part the speed limit is 35-45 MPH and really it should be 10 MPH higher at all times to Park Blvd. I'm fairly certain the speed limit is so slow due to the mayhem caused by the tourists. I recall a story circa 2011-2012 where some European tourists came up from I-10 and took a rental Dodge Charger up Black Eagle Mine Road...which a bad idea in of itself compounded by the fact that they didn't tell a park ranger. Apparently they were found in a beef jerky state of dry decay about a week later and near the National Park boundary....Darwinism at it's finest.

Turned left on Park Blvd to reach Keys View Road:

Keys View is an overlook about 5,000 feet above Coachella Valley. There are some fantastic sights of the Salton Sea, San Andreas Fault, San Jancinto, the Windmill Graveyard, and San Gorgonio from the overlook:

Of course there is a crap ton of Joshua Trees to be had on Keys View Road....which are actually Yuccas:

Took Park Blvd to CA 62, just in the nick of time it seems. There was about a mile backup coming into Joshua Tree National Park from the town of Joshua Tree....weekend warriors I supposed?

I was heading Angeles Crest. Given that I really don't care for driving in around Los Angeles and the Inland Empire after five years of working there I had it planned in advance to cut north on CA 247...and yes it's really called Old Woman Springs Road.

In Lucerne Valley I cut west on CA 18...or at least one of the parts of CA 18 that cuts west. This really ought to be two different routes given the wild 180 it does in the mountains:

I went down Bear Valley Road to get some lunch and hit I-15 as a pass to CA 138...which I thought would be the way to go. What I didn't count on was a truck breaking down in the middle of Cajon Pass. The back up didn't look too bad when I was eating on the QuickMap so I decided to give I-15 a try but had a back up plan in mind:

Which was needed almost immediately. First the ramp on Bear Valley Road with I-15 was all jacked up with construction which cost me 20 minutes. By the time I got on I-15 the freeway had already backed up to US 395....so I got off on US 395 and took Phelan Road west:

I guess that Phelan Road is the truck detour right now for CA 18? Got a pic of this mutant construction CA 18 shield in Phelan:

Before hitting CA 138:

And after about an hour of extra wriggamorals finally CA 2 and the Angeles Crest Highway:

Figure I'll wrap up Angeles Crest on the next post...this one is getting a little long.

Max Rockatansky · October 23, 2016, 12:50:21 AM

Something that I failed to mention in regards to Cajon Pass. I guess everyone and their dog knew that Phelan Road was the good way to get to CA 138 and get down Cajon a little bit. Lots of angsty suburbanites violating about every traffic law in existence, one guy even was passing people on the shoulder. Those poor little folks from Phelan didn't know what hit them and really must hate people from the Inland Empire.

Anywho, given that I was contending with all the above hitting CA 2 on the Angeles Crest was a godsend. The road climbs very fast to Blue Ridge and the traffic tapers off almost completely. Basically it's just folks who purposely mean to be on Angeles Crest who you will usually find. That can be good on days like today:

Honestly from Blue Ridge to Vincent Gulch this might be the worst grade on the Angeles Crest Highway...despite it being a mountain road the grade hardly ever goes over 5%:

But until you get a couple miles west of Dawson Saddle you need to look out for rock fall. Today was especially bad with the rocks which really had me going a lot slower than I usually do through here:

Speaking of rock fall....made a stop at the long closed off northern terminus of CA 39 on the Islip Saddle. This section as most of Pacific Southwest posters know is the section that has been closed off since 1978. The QuickMap says the route will reopen in 2025...I highly doubt it ever will. Apparently the section is so bad now that there is even a sign barring pedestrian traffic that I don't remember. There is a fairly decent fanfare to be had with the CA 2 safety corridor sign and a great view of CA 39 from the Islip Saddle:

There are some dual tunnels out of the Islip Saddle westbound. After this the road on Angeles Crest becomes much less prone to rock slides:

Lots of pretty overlooks to be had westbound heading downhill:

Of course there is a decent couple overlooks of Los Angeles if you were ever wondering where all those mid-size car commercials are shot at. It was about here where the Biker Boyz crowd got a little out of hand. Usually it's really bad with the sports bike crowd on the weekend but it was slow day for some reason. I think it had a lot to do with it being fairly late in the day....I guess some good came of that Cajon Pass traffic disaster:

Made my way down to a friends house in Pasadena for the night. One more thing to do before this trip gets wrapped up:

Max Rockatansky · October 23, 2016, 03:20:27 PM

Wasn't the interesting day that I was hoping for. It was raining in the Sierra Pelonas this morning and it didn't seem like a good idea to force the car down the original Ridge Route. The road is very beat up and usually only gets worse after a storm pours rocks onto the road. Basically you can get pretty far in before the road is blocked off from the North off of N2 and CA 138 here:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.7423959,-118.7125598,16z?hl=en

So that being the case got a couple photos from Wheeler Ridge:

Namely the junction of CA 99 and I-5. I always thought it was strange CA 99 just kept going straight and I-5 took a right exit:

Picked up a CA 166 sign since I don't have one on the thread yet:

And CA 119 is one I plan to do some more digging into since it was part of US 399. I'll probably double back to the Ridge Route on the way back up to Bakersfield....whenever I get to it:

When I got home found a US 395 sign that I bought waiting on the porch. I had a replica 395 before this so it was a welcome addition:

So with that all in mind I'm looking at doing all the stuff discussed in the La Gloria Road thread probably in the next week or two, from there who knows? Going back to yesterday I would be curious to know what happened to Chuckwalla Valley Road being shut down if anyone happens to stumble upon an answer.

kkt · October 24, 2016, 01:08:49 PM

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on October 23, 2016, 03:20:27 PM
I always thought it was strange CA 99 just kept going straight and I-5 took a right exit:

Not that strange, since 99 was there first. This way they didn't have to relocate the existing road, just build an exit and overpass.

Max Rockatansky · October 24, 2016, 01:12:30 PM

Quote from: kkt on October 24, 2016, 01:08:49 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on October 23, 2016, 03:20:27 PM
I always thought it was strange CA 99 just kept going straight and I-5 took a right exit:

Not that strange, since 99 was there first. This way they didn't have to relocate the existing road, just build an exit and overpass.

It's a little weird considering how big a deal it was to put I-5 in all that empty land or rather it feels counter-intuitive...at least to me. But then again I'm sure it was one hell of a cost saver to build the interchange that way. There would still need to be a pretty big cross-over of the south bound 99 lanes regardless.

Speaking of costs...holy crap CA 2 over Angeles Crest must have cost a fortune to build. I've driven the roadway a couple times but really never read up on the back story about it. Almost three decades to complete is actually kind of amazing even though the project would have included all of CA 173 being paved originally. It's really no wonder with that level grade why it's not cost effective to fix CA 39.

Desert Man · October 25, 2016, 12:13:05 PM

Thanx for the pics, Max...I had family friends in Yucca Valley-29 Palms, so I'm familiar with the area. These places remain the least populated spots of the megalopolis of Southern CA. Despite 18-20 million people live within 90-100 miles of civic center LA, as well San Diego, Santa Barbara and Bakersfield, with metro areas in San Luis Obispo and Imperial valley, you can drive across the CA desert to not see a building or human being for over 100-150 miles.

Max Rockatansky · October 25, 2016, 10:50:47 PM

Quote from: Desert Man on October 25, 2016, 12:13:05 PM
Thanx for the pics, Max...I had family friends in Yucca Valley-29 Palms, so I'm familiar with the area. These places remain the least populated spots of the megalopolis of Southern CA. Despite 18-20 million people live within 90-100 miles of civic center LA, as well San Diego, Santa Barbara and Bakersfield, with metro areas in San Luis Obispo and Imperial valley, you can drive across the CA desert to not see a building or human being for over 100-150 miles.

Or like this leaving 29 Palms east on 62 towards Parker, Arizona?

Seriously it's a rare day you see another person on 62 until the northern terminus. From there it's actually how much 62 and US 95 are used to short-cut up to Clark County and I-40. That distance used to be shorter to services when there was a gas station in Vidal Junction. The weird thing is that 62 basically is right on the boundary of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. With Imperial Valley I never really got the same sense of desolation than out in the Mojave. There are so many notable ghost towns like; Amboy, Kelso, Rice, and many more that used to be population centers...certainly gives it an unnerving feeling if you aren't familiar with anything but surburbia.

Incidentally I was intentionally trying to get that person on the bike but it begs the question, where the hell were they going? The purse/man-bag type article suggests someone local. That was back in February when I was heading up to Prescott, I was taking pictures of the area for a buddy who was station at the 29 Palms Marine Station.

hm insulators · October 27, 2016, 02:22:02 PM

I grew up in La Canada Flintridge; the second house we lived in was one block west of Angeles Crest Highway. I've been up Angeles Crest Highway numerous times for hiking trips.

Max Rockatansky · October 27, 2016, 11:53:31 PM

Quote from: hm insulators on October 27, 2016, 02:22:02 PM
I grew up in La Canada Flintridge; the second house we lived in was one block west of Angeles Crest Highway. I've been up Angeles Crest Highway numerous times for hiking trips.

That would be pretty cool to have access to something like that just down the block. I'd really like to hit a lot of those backroads up in the hills if I ever got some time for it. Rumor was there is some decent incomplete road finds and tunnels near the Islip Saddle where CA 39 is cut off from the rock slide.

BakoCondors · October 29, 2016, 07:43:44 PM

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on October 24, 2016, 01:12:30 PM
Quote from: kkt on October 24, 2016, 01:08:49 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on October 23, 2016, 03:20:27 PM
I always thought it was strange CA 99 just kept going straight and I-5 took a right exit:

Not that strange, since 99 was there first. This way they didn't have to relocate the existing road, just build an exit and overpass.

It's a little weird considering how big a deal it was to put I-5 in all that empty land or rather it feels counter-intuitive...at least to me. But then again I'm sure it was one hell of a cost saver to build the interchange that way. There would still need to be a pretty big cross-over of the south bound 99 lanes regardless.

Interstate 5 in the San Joaquin Valley was built as a high-speed connector route between the Southland and The Bay Area, intentionally avoiding all the Valley's cities and towns.

Max Rockatansky · October 29, 2016, 08:03:42 PM

Quote from: BakoCondors on October 29, 2016, 07:43:44 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on October 24, 2016, 01:12:30 PM
Quote from: kkt on October 24, 2016, 01:08:49 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on October 23, 2016, 03:20:27 PM
I always thought it was strange CA 99 just kept going straight and I-5 took a right exit:

Not that strange, since 99 was there first. This way they didn't have to relocate the existing road, just build an exit and overpass.

It's a little weird considering how big a deal it was to put I-5 in all that empty land or rather it feels counter-intuitive...at least to me. But then again I'm sure it was one hell of a cost saver to build the interchange that way. There would still need to be a pretty big cross-over of the south bound 99 lanes regardless.

Interstate 5 in the San Joaquin Valley was built as a high-speed connector route between the Southland and The Bay Area, intentionally avoiding all the Valley's cities and towns.

Yes which continues over the flyover on the right which crosses over both the northbound and southbound lanes of CA 99 to continue Northwest. Just seems odd that interchange was never updated to have CA 99 continue on the right towards Bakersfield while I-5 went left and just crossed the southbound lanes of CA 99. I guess since it's out in the boonies the interchange functions just fine as is.

Max Rockatansky · November 10, 2016, 11:11:34 PM

Back on the road today... Reason it took so long was that the Sonic got a face full of deer out in Utah and crumpled pretty much the entire front clip. The good news was that it was just body damage which let get it back home, the bad would be that it's still not fixed. So with that in mind I'm holding off the Diablos for a while and stuck somewhat local with the Old Ridge Route and Ridge Route Alternate. Basically the Old Ridge Route was original road over the Sierra Pelonas that replaced the road through San Franciquito Canyon...apparently it was 697 curves and a consistent 6% average grade, that ain't bad for a road that opened in 1915. Of course the Old Ridge Route was part of US 99 from 1926 to 1933 when the Ridge Route Alternate Opened up in Piru Canyon. Anyways, before I get off on too much of a historic rant about the Ridge Route I'll just refer you to this site as it speaks way more on the topic than I ever could hope to:

http://gbcnet.com/ushighways/US99/US99f.html

So with that in mind I started down CA 99 and stopped in Grapevine to check out what's left of Grapevine Road. Grapevine Road was part of the Ridge Route from 1915 to 1934 when the replacement grade was built to the west which is now the south bound lanes of I-5:

Of course you have to jump back on I-5 to get to the other sections of the Ridge Route. Like I was saying earlier the southbound lanes of I-5 are the alignment of the post 1934 improvements:

Stopped at Fort Tejon at the top of Grapevine Canyon, it's now a state park preserving the site of the 1854 fortification:

I'm to understand that from Fort Tejon through Lebec most of the Ridge Route was covered up by I-5 itself. There are still trace remains on Lebec Road...or at least I'm convinced this is one of them:

South of Lebec you have Peace Valley Road which has a part of the 1951 expressway version of the Ridge Route intact as a divided highway. I'm to understand that there is old concrete slabs of the 1915 road just off of Falcon Road, but I couldn't find them:

In Gormon the 1915 alignment of the Ridge Route can be driven on Gormon Post road all the way to CA 138. Gormon Post Road dead ends right at I-5 where the road would have kept going heading north. Right before CA 138 there is actually an intact section of the white concrete from the 1915 alignment:

I'm fairly certain that the road on the north side of CA 138 has something to do with the Old Ridge Route, but I can't prove it. Regardless the Old Ridge Road begins about three miles east of Gorman Post Road and is signed as County Route N2 for about two miles before it splits east. Incidentally N2 has an "END" sign....that's pretty good signing for a road that's pretty beat up:

From CA 138 the Old Ridge Route starts to climb quickly. There are some pretty good views on some of hairpin pullouts of Antelope Valley:

There is some decent signage, albeit old as all hell where the Old Ridge Route continues south branching off of N2. The road surface really starts to get bad at this point but still can be driven, and yes they are REALLY serious about the road being closed as you'll soon see:

About a mile south of N2 is the ruins of the Sandberg Resort which I have sometimes classified as a "ghost town." The resort was built in 1914 in anticipation of the Old Ridge Route being opened the following year. The resort burned down in 1961 and Angeles National Forest cancelled the lease on the property in 1963. Basically there is just wandering horses and brick ruins today:

Incidentally this is what the monument above used to look like:

I'm going to make this a two-parter since the WiFi here absolutely is complete crap.

Max Rockatansky · November 10, 2016, 11:59:22 PM

Continuing onward southbound.... I forgot to note that the Sandberg Resort was built close to the high point of the Old Ridge Route which is Libre Summit. The Sandberg Resort is about 4,100 feet above sea level.

Just south of the Sandberg Resort the road maintenance ends. There are some nice views to be had here but unless you got something high clearance or an OHV you aren't going anywhere south of here in a vehicle:

Seriously don't try to drive south of that warning sign, the road conditions fall apart completely south of here. It isn't far to Libre Summit, I ran it but even an out of shape hiker can make it easily. Ironically the original concrete from the 1920s is what stood up the best over time. The asphalt is completely breaking up and there are plenty of rock slides that have buried sections of the roadway which makes it really narrow at times. It's a shame too, you can really tell the Old Ridge Route was way ahead of it's time as far as quality. 6% grading was really shallow back in the 1910s and still is the standard Interstates go by. Now the 697 curves...holy shit, not so much.

Either way it's a complete shame the road was never really had much up keep, it would be one hell of a trip to take it all the way to Castic. Enjoy the desolation of literally a century old roadway:

There is a derelict historic marker which designations Libre Summit. Since it can't really be read I'll just tell you that it's 4,233 feet above sea level:

And there is some pretty nice views to be had from the Summit:

And you can even see all the way to Pyramid Lake which Ridge Route Alternate is submerged under:

To get there though you have to back track to I-5 since the Old Ridge Route is closed a couple miles south of Libre Summit....that is unless you want to continue on bike or foot:

If you take I-5 south to exit 183 there is a section of the 1933 alignment of the Ridge Route that is still driveable, it still even has a sign that says "Golden State Highway" on the divided expressway portion:

Back in 1933 this would have been a three lane road. The center lane would have been the passing lane for both directions and I guess it was called the "Suicide Lane." The expressway configuration of Ridge Route Alternate was completed which made this a four lane roadway. The road is blocked off to traffic five miles north of exit 183 but you can still go about another 2.5 miles north through Piru Canyon. The bridge over Piru Creek was actually original to the Ridge Route Alternate and the 1951 date is when it was expanded:

I ran this section, surprisingly it's almost completely intact all the way up to Pyramid Dam. When I-5 was completed Pyramid Dam was built which flooded out the Ridge Route Alternate. My understanding is that there was a similar plan back when the Old Ridge Route was being plotted out which is why it didn't take Piru Canyon...which even in those days would have been an infinitely easier route:

So with that in mind, that's pretty much all for both Ridge Route alignments. In Castic Junction the old roadways are still intact and take be taken north for awhile. The Old Ridge Route is called "Ridge Route Road" and the Ridge Route Alternate is called "The Old Road," although I'm to understand that most if not all those the "Old Road" is just a frontage replacement for what is buried under the southbound lanes of I-5. Basically I just jumped on CA 126 and headed west to Ventura for the night. Snagged a CA 126, CA 23 and even a CA 118 despite the heavy sun glare. I'll be taking CA 33 north on the way home to get a nice little US 399 tour on the way back home:

Max Rockatansky · November 11, 2016, 09:07:49 AM

Not the soundtrack I would have chosen but this guy did the whole Old Ridge Route in timelapse:

It would seem that someone broke the north gate near Libre Summit. Not sure what the guy did to the south gate, he suddenly time jumps past it.

Max Rockatansky · November 11, 2016, 07:59:32 PM

Spent the day out in Ventura, my observation on the US 101/CA 126 is that it needs a lane expansion. There isn't really much reason there should be a backup at 1 PM aside from outdated design capacity. Snagged a couple pictures of the US 101 Business Route, the close-up picture is at the split from Main west to Thompson:

It would seem Ventura County in general has a fetish with red light cameras...when did that happen? I don't seem to recall many of them being around Oxnard and Ventura just a couple years back.

Beautiful day to head out to the Anacapa Island though, worth the cashing in of hotel points for something a short distance from home:

Supposedly the southern terminus of US 399 was at Main Street and Ventura Avenue according to USends.com. I'll give it a looksy on the way home:

http://www.usends.com/90-99/399/399.html

Found this video about the Ridge Route just now:

It seems my suspicions about Lebec Road and the abandoned concrete slabs are affirmed.

Max Rockatansky · November 12, 2016, 09:24:17 PM

US 399 day today...for those not in the know, I'm taking about the 1934-64 US Rout that ran on the alignments of CA 119, CA 33, CA 166, and CA 150 southwest through the Transverse Ranges to US 101 in Ventura. Started the day out at what would have been the southern terminus of US 399 at US 101 in Ventura at Main Street and Ventura Avenue:

Oddly Ventura Avenue really isn't ever cut off by the CA 33 freeway, I actually took it entirely where the freeway ends. Ventura Avenue passes under the CA 33 freeway a couple times heading north:

In Ojai CA 150 overlaps CA 33 for a couple blocks before 33 cuts north along the old US 399 alignment:

As CA 33/Old US 399 continues north it passes through a series of three tunnels as it enters Wheeler Gorge:

The road through Wheeler Gorge is a very fast climb as CA 33/Old US 399 climbs the canyon walls to about 3,600 feet according to my altimeter:

Now I wouldn't classify this section of roadway anywhere as difficult grade wise as some of the Sierra California State Highways but it ain't easy. The grade usually is a good indicator in California of a former US Route...curvature on the other hand can be all over the place regardless. Either way the best view of CA 33/Old US 399 and Wheeler Gorge are at a very clearly evident dirt overlook near the top of the hair pins:

But even the view from the very top into Wheeler Gorge isn't half bad either:

The road begins to lower slightly as you continue north and Nordhoff Ridge comes into view:

North of Wheeler Gorge CA 33/Old US 399 kind of levels out substantially and the climb to Pine Mountain Summit is much more gradual:

The same can't be said of the north descent to the Cuyama River where the road loses close to 2,000 feet in just a couple miles:

Along the Cuyama River CA 33/Old US 399 levels out substantially and straightens, the twisted roads are pretty much done for the rest of the route. CA 33 approaches CA 166 where it multiplexes it for about 14 miles east, US 399 would have multiplexed a signed CA 166 as well. Oddly the junction of CA 166 doesn't mention anything about CA 33:

However a couple miles east there is a reassurance sign indicating that indeed CA 33 is multiplexed with CA 166:

Interestingly before the truck grades start if you have a vehicle with decent clearance you could take Soda Lake Road up to Soda Lake and the Carrizo Plains National Monument. I would exactly call this a difficult grade heading east to Taft but it seems to be getting more popular with truckers over the years:

US 399 would have followed CA 33 north out of Maricopa at this junction:

In Taft US 399 would have taken a turn on CA 119 northeast to Bakersfield at this junction:

Max Rockatansky · November 22, 2016, 10:33:18 PM

Picked up a new sign with some local flavor and apparently pretty topical considering the Westside Parkway thread is about the most talked about thing on the SW board right now:

I always thought it was a little strange that LRN 58 was used to renumber not just US 466 from Bakersfield to Barstow but CA 178 west of the city as well. That's pretty damn odd when you think about it, CA 178 could be the highway using the Westside Parkway and everything else all the way to US 101. Also strange to think that 58 was the LRN from US 66 east of Barstow to the state line. That's a lot of history behind the scenes even before the renumbering in 1964...

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