Old National Park Roads

[TheOneKEA]

Prior to the arrival of Hurricane Agnes in Maryland in 1972, it was possible to drive from Elkridge to Ilchester along the Howard County side of the Patapsco River, along a local road aptly named River Road. After Agnes struck, the entire hillside north of Bloede's Dam (itself now gone) was eroded away by the flooding, and the road was completely destroyed. Today, only the tiniest remnants of the roadbed and the asphalt are still visible north of the former dam; the route is now a hiking trail that provides access from Ilchester to the Howard County side of the river.

The photos can be seen at http://www.trainweb.org/oldmainline/omld1.htm, halfway down the page.

[Max Rockatansky]

One I'm gearing up to do next week is the Old Big Oak Flat Road which is located slightly north of the current road and takes a much higher angle into Yosemite Valley.  I'm to understand there is remaining asphalt and broken down view points which are still obvious behind rock slides. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Put together an article on the Old Big Oak Flat Road in Yosemite today:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/09/history-of-big-oak-flat-road-yosemite.html

[inkyatari]

Put together an article on the Old Big Oak Flat Road in Yosemite today:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/09/history-of-big-oak-flat-road-yosemite.html

I'm curious if there are any remnants of the Gentry Ranger Station.

[Max Rockatansky]

Put together an article on the Old Big Oak Flat Road in Yosemite today:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/09/history-of-big-oak-flat-road-yosemite.html

I'm curious if there are any remnants of the Gentry Ranger Station.

Supposedly there are.  I was already at 13 miles hiking that day when got back to Tamarack Flat, I'll probably try some other time. 

[inkyatari]

Google Street View has some interesting images from the rockslides area...

I'll just link to the end of the streetview...

https://goo.gl/maps/EiptUA6K3gG2

[Max Rockatansky]

Google Street View has some interesting images from the rockslides area...

I'll just link to the end of the streetview...

https://goo.gl/maps/EiptUA6K3gG2

They are even worse looking up close.  I strained an oblique earlier in the day and wasn't up to tempt fate without a spotter. 

[inkyatari]

Doing a little googling, and found this interesting site.  Some really good information about old National Park roads in the west, along with some awesome photos..

http://theplaygroundtrail.com/Playground/Map_of_Park-to-Park.html

[inkyatari]

And I found this from the park service itself.  I'll read this more later..

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/roads/shst.htm

[Max Rockatansky]

Doing a little googling, and found this interesting site.  Some really good information about old National Park roads in the west, along with some awesome photos..

http://theplaygroundtrail.com/Playground/Map_of_Park-to-Park.html

You can see some huge omissions due to certain roadways not existing until the 1930s.  Kind of amusing to see no connecting road between Sequoia and General Grant National Park before the Generals Highway.  I couldn't imagine how packed UT 9 would be today if the Mount Carmel Tunnel was never built. 

[inkyatari]

How did I miss this? An old Campground at Old Faithful in Yellowstone...

https://goo.gl/maps/W45TiQCbQu62

[inkyatari]

I decided to map out old park roads.  So far, I have the Norris Geyser Basin of Yellowstone mapped out.  Interesting how the NPS had roads going right through the geyser basins way back when.

Yellow lines are ones that I have confirmed with old park and topo maps. Purple are speculation (so far)

https://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/Old_Park_Roads/OldParkRoads

[Max Rockatansky]

Redid my El Portal/CA 140 blog which includes more information on the Old Coulterville Road from Yosemite:

https://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/01/caifornia-state-route-140-in-merced.html