Max's Pacific Southwest Roads

[Max Rockatansky]

Yeah suffice to say when I had moved out west after the military it was kind of an adjustment seeing those Spanish names.  I had taken Spanish in high school but retained almost none of it in the ensuing years until I ended up in Arizona.  I think that I learned more by pulling people over as a highway patrolman more than anything else, at least a basic understanding of what was being said to me.  That always gets a chuckle out of family though when they see the sign....or anything "El Camino" since they associate it with the car and mullet wearing vagabonds they see so often see driving them where they live.

Surprisingly though, there is HUGE concentration of "Fake Road, Drive, and Lane" back on the eastern seaboard for some reason.  Personally I think the name would be pretty apt for some of the heavy duty 4WD drive roads I know out in the deserts...cough....El Camino del Diablo I have you in mind.

[Max Rockatansky]

Sword of Damocles day on the road...which can only mean one thing, the Challenger went up into the Sierras.  Too much power, too much of a color clash that makes one stand out....all a recipe for disaster or peril?  Turns out not so much despite the recent cold snap.

SOOOoooooo.....this past couple days there has been a huge temperature drop in Central California which means that winter is around the corner.  Luckily there wasn't much in the way of rain or snow so it gave me one last opportunity to get the Challenger out into the Sierras for the first time since I bought it (asides from Tehachpi or Lake Isabella).  Luckily I just so happen to be spending the weekend in Fresno for a work assignment so that left a good opportunity for a foray into Yosemite. 

So my route took me up CA 41, granted I have a crap ton of 41 Shield pics on this thread but I haven't snagged a CA 145 yet.  This was at the eastern terminus of CA 145 at CA 41:



Given that I was taking 41 into Yosemite that meant I was taking Wawona Road into the Park.  Luckily it was smooth sailing and the park rangers confirmed my suspicions about there being no snow all the way to Glacier Point.  So some good 15 miles into Wawona Road I turned off onto Glacier Point Road.  I tried to get a good picture with the Challenger over the Merced River Gorge but it wasn't happening on the way up due to the sun not being up enough:



The first ten miles of Glacier Point Road are in good shape but the last five are are rough as all hell.  The temperature dropped to 27F near 7,700 feet but there wasn't any trace of ice or any snow.  Begs the question....why the hell did 108 shut down over Sonora Pass?...did it really get snow?  Regardless made my way to Glacier Point just before the morning onslaught hit the park:



I managed a respectable picture with the Challenger and Half-Dome in the background an overlook up Glacier Point Road:




On the way back down I got a fairly decent shot of the Challenger at the Merced River Gorge:



Making my way back down to Wawona I descended down into Yosemite Valley.  Luckily there was plenty of open parking on the south side of the road.  I had to ask an older couple to give me a minute to take pictures....they seemed confused as to why I would want to take pictures of a car in front of Yosemite Valley.  I guess if you aren't a car person you just won't understand:




I did snag some pictures of the mutant CA 120/140 greenie shields and the MUTCD Compliant US 395s on El Portal Road and Big Oak Flat Road on my way up towards Hetch Hetchy:




The interesting thing about the first pic above is that the 120 cut-out seems to have a blocked out "California" for some reason...weird.    Anyways leaving Yosemite I cut north on Evergreen Road.  Apparently the first couple miles of Evergreen Road is part of the original alignment of Big Oak Flat Road.  I'm fairly certain that the abandoned section by Carlon Campground is part of the original CA 120....but it could just be the old mine road to Yosemite and Tioga. 

Evergreen Road is weird....  The road is generally very wide but has blind hills and a really shitty surface.  The road narrows randomly before narrowing completely in Mather.  I turned right on Hetch Hetchy Road and northward towards the reservoir.  My understanding is that the Hetch Hetchy Railroad ran from Hetch Hetchy west along Hetch Hetchy Road, Mather Road, Cherry Lake Road, and parts of what is now CA 120 to Groveland/Big Oak Flat.  The Hetch Hetchy Rail Road operated from 1917 to 1949 which is surprising considering the expansion of the O'Shaughnessy Dam was completed in 1938.  Regardless it certainly explains why Hetch Hetchy Road is so narrow...albeit two-lane.

Interestingly it's actually kind of a shame to see all the water in Hetch Hetchy considering how many photos I looked at when it was just a granite glacial valley like Yosemite.  I guess the average depth of Hetch Hetchy before the O'Shaughnessy Dam built was 1,800 feet up to a max depth of 3,000 feet.  Even still....kind a nice off the grid little and dam to look at:





Apparently a dam at Hetch Hetchy really got going after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.  Surprisingly it became a thing even though Hetch Hetchy even back then was part of Yosemite National Park.  The O'Shaughnessy Dam was opened in 1923 and expanded by 1938.  The project does generate water and electricity for San Francisco but I don't think it was near what they expected.  Regardless the Dam actually draws the bane of the tree hugger crowd almost as much as Glen Canyon Dam:



Of course I had to get a picture of the Challenger on Hetch Hetchy Road heading back up to CA 120:




Speaking of CA 120, I used Evergreen Road...  Apparently Mather Road and Cherry Creek Road are paved but given the dubious quality of what I already knew I didn't want to chance it:



Something that didn't occur to me until yesterday, J132....I always thought it was J32 but it's an obvious continuation of CA 132 east of Coulterville:



Given that realization I had to see what the road was like.  And yeah....J132 ain't a bad road at all, nothing particularly special though.  Gave me a lot of breathing room away from all the traffic that was using CA 120 and likely the Priest Grades.  Snagged a CA 49 and CA 132 in downtown Coulterville:




Of course this is one of the really good mountain grade portions of CA 49.  Snagged some pictures of the Challenger in Coulterville, the twisties near Bagby, and Bear Valley.  The first picture from Bear Valley even has a J16 shield in the background:






Instead of back tracking all the way to CA 41 I took Mt Bullion Cutoff Road to CA 140 and Plainsburg Road to CA 99.  I took some pictures of CA 223 and CA 152 since I didn't have them on this thread yet:






All and all fun as hell day.  I'll have to figure what the hell is going on with Sonora Pass next week....the 511 quick map says winter closure while the phone system says just a storm.  Regardless it looks like I was able to get a window in for the Challenger.  Once the tires warmed up it handled infinitely better than it was in the high 20s...felt like I was riding around on roller skates.

Speaking of shields not in this thread yet, this would be the CA 43 I took yesterday:




Fixed img tag on second photo.  --Roadfro

[Max Rockatansky]

Given that winter is fast approaching today was the big job before the season ends; Ebbetts Pass, Monitor Pass, and Sonora Pass.  Basically I clicked off all the passes exceeding 8,000 feet in the Sierras this year after today.  I decided Ebbetts would probably be the better bet so I headed there first.

At the risk of repeating myself I'll just say that I took CA 99 to G Street/Snelling Road, CA 59, J59, CA 108/120, and E15 to reach CA 4 at Copperopolis.  Given that I've talked about those routes substantially here is the signs...plus a bonus E16:







For some reason there was a total roadway repaving project going on CA 4 west of Angels Camp that wasn't listed on the Quickmap.  I got kind of lucky considering I was only waiting for 15 minutes...but it wasn't even a one lane type of deal.  Had me worried Ebbetts might not be open but those worries were quickly dispelled:



CA 4 really is a good road until the Mount Reba/Bear Valley Ski area.  The road is really nice and you rarely have to dip below 50 MPH, not for an area around 7,000 feet.  If nobody told you it would likely come as a huge shock how nuts the road gets:



Of course this means that I got a picture of a rare bird in CA 207 near Bear Valley and the ski resort on Mount Reba.  I've never been up here in the winter but apparently this section of road stays open all year:



Upon closer inspection of the sign in the background....yep that 24% grade is the absolute truth about what is ahead.     CA 4 definitely isn't 24% the duration of the upcoming inclines on Pacific Grade Summit and Ebbetts pass but it damn well hits that mark as described...I would recommend boning up on 1st or 2nd gear driving:



CA 4 narrows down to a single lane a little past the 24% grade sign at Alpine Lake.  Yes...Ebbetts really is a single lane but it's still wide enough for two cars.  I would speculate the roadway is 14-16 feet almost at all times which leaves plenty of room to pass.  I've dealt with so much worse that 35-40 MPH seemed plenty prudent on the climb up to Pacific Grade Summit...but first Alpine Lake:




For some reason CA 4 becomes a full two-lane again right before the final climb to Pacific Grade Summit:



For it only to go back to the single lane about mile later for some reason:



Now this is where I ran into the biggest issue of the day...COWS!  There was some farmers actually moving cows up Pacific Grade Summit to some cattle trucks.  Basically I had to back up and park it in a campground...nothing could be done to get by the herd until it passed by:



Pacific Grade Summit wasn't too far east from here.  The sign assembly still has some nice button copy:



Basically you get the idea fast that Pacific Grade is nobody's fool with the obvious drop-off east of the sign above:



I would speculate the 24% grade mentioned in the sign above comes from the descent from Pacific Grade Summit.  The road is STEEP....not even first gear was enough to keep me from mashing the brakes.  Can't beat the view though:



I love when a hairpin is so steep that basically you can almost tell the grade of the road looking at pictures:




Of course there is a huge dip from 8,050 feet down to 7,000 something in Hermit Valley.  I would speculate this is my cow friends were pulling out for winter from:



You'd might be surprised but there isn't a huge amount of fuss climbing to Ebbetts Pass at 8,736 feet.  Apparently Ebbetts Pass might have been discovered as early as 1827 during Jedediah Smith.  Ebbetts Pass was officially documented by John Ebbetts in 1851 and....I'm to understand he thought that a railroad could go through here?  Even a narrow gauge with all the switchbacks in the world wouldn't get past Ebbetts Pass and Pacific Grade Summit...not with 24% grades about in places.  Anyways...Ebbetts became a toll road by the 1860s when mines were opened in the eastern Sierra.  Apparently "Ebbetts" didn't get applied as the name of the pass until the 1890s:



Not even Ebbetts Pass was immune from water impounding as evidenced from Kinney Lake:



Hell of a view from the top of the hair pins looking at the gorge cut out by Silver Creek.  CA 4 heads directly through to the north east and CA 89:



Of course I couldn't resist another switchback picture:



At about the 7,000 foot mark CA 4 blows back out to a full two-lane:



And just a couple miles from there you have the eastern terminus of CA 4 at the junction of CA 89.  My elevation was about 6,000 feet around here...at least I got the "END" sign for CA 4:




Weird how the sign says "RTE 395" instead of US 395?    Monitor is much more gentle given the roadway was constructed in the 1950s I believe?  The grade is definitely a solid 5-8% almost at all times but never goes crazy like Ebbetts, Pacific Grade, and Sonora up ahead do.  Monitor Pass tops out at 8,314 feet and was part of the 1827 Jedadiah Smith expedition.

Heading up to Monitor you get a good look back at Ebbetts Pass to the west and you can even see the mountains near Sonora Pass to the south:



Near Monitor Pass itself the road flattens out for this nice uphill towards the Forest Service watch tower:



Can't beat the views of Walker River and Great Basin below.  You can even see Topaz Lake on the left in the second picture:




Oddy Monitor seems to be very popular with truckers for whatever reason.  I say that because several break downs were on the side of the road.  From the summit it's a sustained 8% downhill to US 395, even a car might have some nasty brake fade considering it's 10 miles.  Regardless, got some decent pictures of a US 395 guide sign and the CA 89 "END" sign:





From here I turned south on US 395 for about 20 miles to get to CA 108 and the road to Sonora Pass.  Oddly I've always found that Sonora Pass was much easier to climb from the eastern side rather than the west.  Usually the slope on the western half of the Sierra is much worse than the east:



That's not to say that the eastern slope of Sonora is a cake walk.  There area actually 26% grade sections on the eastern slope, but they are brief and you have a much wider road than CA 4/Ebbetts:



Found a waterfall I've missed before at about 9,000 feet:



Of course Sonora Pass proper is at 9,624 which puts it second only to Tioga for mountain pass height in California.  Sonora Pass was documented in 1852 but may have been found as early as 1841.  When the mineral boom happened in the eastern Sierras it led to a graded road being opened in 1865.  Apparently there was some very real plans for a narrow gauge railroad at some point in the 1880s that never materialized:



Love the button copy fanfare at the top of the pass:



Of course as I saying before I think the western slope is over all much difficult than the eastern.  I don't think it ever exceeds 20% but the high grades last way longer on the western slope of Sonora:







The road levels out pretty good around the 1933 Dardenelle Bridge over the Middle Fork Stanislaus River at about 6,000.  Basically 108 becomes pretty flat for a good long time west to Sonora:




There is actually a really good overlook of Donnell Lake and Sonora Pass at about 5,800 feet above sea level:




Since I was staying the night in Sonora I decided to stop by Columbia for a quick visit to the State Park in the old downtown section.  There was actually a decent E18 shield to take a picture of:




Of course back to Sonora and CA 49:



I'm actually not sure what I'll do tomorrow other than head home.  Kind of hard to top hitting the two most difficult passes in the Sierra the same day.  Really it goes back to something I said earlier....why is everyone so intimidated by something gentle like Tioga when there are way more bad ass roads in the same region?  I'm thinking Black Rock Road is going to be on the short list of where to hit next.  Apparently Tioga shuts down on October the 2nd and the snow should roll in some time next week.  I guess I'll be at home a lot more November onward...oh well.  Can't say that I've ever hit all the major passes in one year like this, all that's really left to do for the year is Echo Summit...but that can be done in winter.

[Rothman]

Incredible scenery!

[kurumi]

This is a fantastic thread, and the result of a lot of hard work. Thanks for the great photos of places some of us may never get to...

[Max Rockatansky]

This is a fantastic thread, and the result of a lot of hard work. Thanks for the great photos of places some of us may never get to...

Thanks, I'm not sure if it's hard work or if I got way too much time on my hands nowadays.  I'm pretty much limiting myself to stuff 2016 and onwards but it makes me wish that I found this forum a lot sooner.  I'm going to open a Mountain States thread here next month with all my 2016 road trips on. 

But if I was going to recommend one road up in the Sierras I'd say make it CA 4 over Ebbetts.  That is such an alien drive compared to the rest of the state highways with the huge grades and wide single lane sustained for so long.

Incredible scenery!

Indeed it is, shame it seems that CA 4, CA 108, and CA 120...probably Sherman Pass to are all going to shut down next week during the first major snow the year.  Sometimes it actually holds out until November, but not this year it seems. 

[myosh_tino]

Indeed it is, shame it seems that CA 4, CA 108, and CA 120...probably Sherman Pass to are all going to shut down next week during the first major snow the year.  Sometimes it actually holds out until November, but not this year it seems.

I wouldn't be so sure because it will depend on how much snow will fall over the Sierras this weekend.  Here in the Bay Area, forcasters are only expecting about a tenth of an inch of rain which isn't very much.  I wouldn't be too surprised if the NPS closes 120 over Tioga Pass for the winter but I think any closures on the other passes would be temporary.

[Max Rockatansky]

Indeed it is, shame it seems that CA 4, CA 108, and CA 120...probably Sherman Pass to are all going to shut down next week during the first major snow the year.  Sometimes it actually holds out until November, but not this year it seems.

I wouldn't be so sure because it will depend on how much snow will fall over the Sierras this weekend.  Here in the Bay Area, forcasters are only expecting about a tenth of an inch of rain which isn't very much.  I wouldn't be too surprised if the NPS closes 120 over Tioga Pass for the winter but I think any closures on the other passes would be temporary.

There weird thing is that there is a crap ton of VMS boards in all directions around Chinese Camp saying that CA 120 east will be closed on 10/2/16.  I say that's weird because the Park Service is stopping overnight parking on Tioga on October the 15th and there isn't anything on the Quickmap showing the VMS signs I was seeing.  So what the hell?...is it something like the road over Don Pedro closing or the New Priest Grade?  All the VMS said was 120 East closed 10/2/16 to 3/31/17.

But to your point it really depends on how much snow there is going to be.  I definitely didn't expect cow herds to be moved like that so soon out of Ebbetts.

[Max Rockatansky]

Forgot to mention that I'm spending the weekend in Fresno on a work thing.  With that being the case I didn't want to take the boring way down to the city so I took the scenic detour.  First I started with a quick climb up the New Priest Grade to Priest Station.  First I started with heading down CA 49 over to the multiplex of CA 108.  Apparently "Cone Zone" is now a thing with construction areas?...saw this on a bridge on Don Pedro Lake:



Funny there was talk about the Priest Grades in another thread today.  Basically the Old Priest Grade is a 1840s wagon trail that got eventually built up into a road.  The grades are named after Priest Station which is located at the top where both meet.  The Old Priest Grade is a only about 2 miles in length but has a peak grade of 17%.  Basically anything like a truck, RV, or bus banned on the Old Priest Grade these days and cars are required to use low gear. 

CA 120 runs on the new Priest Grade and was constructed in 1915.  Given that the Hetch Hetchy Railroad project wasn't too far behind with the O'Shaughnessy Dam project it kind of made sense for a newer road to be built.  The New Priest Grade is about 5 miles in length and most GPS units will direct you to the Old Priest Grade.  I find that humorous since I can beat cars on Old Priest Grade from the new fairly easily provided I don't have any traffic in front of me.  Basically it's easy to sustain a good run of 35-45 MPH on the New Grade while the Old "should" be done at 15-25 MPH...especially down hill, unless you like riding the brakes and possibly boiling the fluid.  :eyebrow  Anyways, the starting elevation of both grades is about 1,000 feet and I want to say the top is about 2,300 feet:







For the record it looks like the Hetch Hetchy Railroad followed what is Priest Street just to the south of the Old Priest Grade:

http://www.abandonedrails.com/Hetch_Hetchy_Railroad

Above in the picture with all the warnings about the Old Priest Grade you can see Priest Street and the old Hetch Hetchy Railroad Grade on the left intersecting the Old Priest Grade.  Found a map showing the route of the Hetch Hetchy Railroad along with the terminus at the Sierra Railroad:



I took Coulterville-Priest Road to J132 just to see what was out there...wasn't much.  There was a short section of downhill that might have hit 30% grade but I'm not sure and it didn't last long.  Got a decent picture of the guide sign and J132 in Coulterville:



Given that I was out here last week on CA 49 there wasn't much point in stopping through the twisties between Coulterville and Bear Valley.  BUT...I did miss this view of the Lake McClure area and CA 49 climbing from the Merced River:



Today I took E16 east to Hornitos.  E16 doesn't really offer anything too exciting but Hornitos was a nice stop.  Apparently Hornitos was founded in 1848 as a Mexican Mining village right before the Gold Rush.  It seems the Mexican miners were after quartz and were largely pushed out by white settlers from Quartzburg.  Apparently Hornitos was the first incorporated town in Mariposa County and had a population near 15,000 around 1870.  But if you have read this read before you know I tend to find those population claims from mining towns dubious....tent, shacks, or what not that's WAY too many people for that to be a realistic figure.  Word is that there is less than 100 people left today, some nice mining era buildings to see:





I decided to cut east from here back towards Mariposa on CA 140:



And back CA 49 to Oakhurst.  I got caught behind two school buses on the way to Oakhurst only to clear them 5 miles from town just to run into a garbage truck.    I was looking for a CA 49 "END" sign but there wasn't anything to find at CA 41...not even a shield.  I decided to take the road less traveled and went north on 41 to Bass Lake Road to head back south:




Apparently Bass Lake Road has the county designation of Road 222.  Bass Lake Road is surprisingly a good 4-lane divided road before dipping back down to 2 lanes near the lake itself.  If you want to head back to Fresno the quiet way and be left alone by the tourist crowd this isn't a bad option.  Road 222 carries a couple designations as it crosses into North Fork and south towards the San Joaquin River where it becomes Powerhouse Road in Fresno County.  There isn't really much to see in Auberry and Prather but I did find this abandoned general store in the former with an older 7-Up logo on it:





End of the line was at CA 168 which I took back to Fresno.  I ran into this bit of construction just outside of Prather.  I'm always amused when Caltrans decides to say "%#T it" and removes the asphalt entirely in a work zone.   You get a really good idea right quick who is familiar with driving dirt roads and who isn't.....the guy in the HHR wasn't comfortable. 





Now since I'll be here the entire weekend I might venture out to Black Rock Road on Sunday morning.  I think that I found a really good parking spot out by one of the pipelines.  I'm looking at maybe trying a quick 5-6 mile run up through the two wooden bridges.  I might be interest in doing the road on a motorcycle but everything I've ever seen tells me a car is a no-go for Black Rock...even though it's paved.  For some reference on what I'm talking about:

[myosh_tino]

There weird thing is that there is a crap ton of VMS boards in all directions around Chinese Camp saying that CA 120 east will be closed on 10/2/16.  I say that's weird because the Park Service is stopping overnight parking on Tioga on October the 15th and there isn't anything on the Quickmap showing the VMS signs I was seeing.  So what the hell?...is it something like the road over Don Pedro closing or the New Priest Grade?  All the VMS said was 120 East closed 10/2/16 to 3/31/17.

Out of curiosity, were the VMSes that said 120 is closing on Oct 2 the overhead variety or were they the portable ones?  According to Caltrans' Quickmap, the VMSes on the west side of Yosemite all say something about roadwork in Yosemite Valley.  Nothing about the impending closure of 120.

[Max Rockatansky]

All portable VMS units.  Usually they were at a junction point win CA 120 like coming south on 49 or north on J59.

Edit:  Weather station in Fresno is talking snow at 6,500 feet possibly an inch in the norther Sierras.  That might get interesting up on Sonora Pass.

[myosh_tino]

All portable VMS units.  Usually they were at a junction point win CA 120 like coming south on 49 or north on J59.

That makes sense then.  Portable VMSes are not displayed on Quickmap only the fixed overhead ones.

[Max Rockatansky]

All portable VMS units.  Usually they were at a junction point win CA 120 like coming south on 49 or north on J59.

That makes sense then.  Portable VMSes are not displayed on Quickmap only the fixed overhead ones.

Question remains though after seeing the Park Service information; what is actually shutting down tomorrow eastbound on 120?

[myosh_tino]

All portable VMS units.  Usually they were at a junction point win CA 120 like coming south on 49 or north on J59.

That makes sense then.  Portable VMSes are not displayed on Quickmap only the fixed overhead ones.

Question remains though after seeing the Park Service information; what is actually shutting down tomorrow eastbound on 120?

I have no doubt 120 over Tioga Pass will close tomorrow.  The incoming storm seems to have enough punch to make travel difficult given it's high elevation.  What remains to be seen is if 120 will remain closed for the winter after the storm passes.  Normally, Caltrans will put out a message on its VMSes about impending winter closures so why that hasn't happened yet is a mystery to me.

It's entirely possible the NPS is acting conservatively by warning those that are traversing Tioga today that they may not be able to use the road on their return trip.

[andy3175]

This is a fantastic thread, and the result of a lot of hard work. Thanks for the great photos of places some of us may never get to...

Completely agree. 15 years ago I would have been doing what you're doing, but certainly not anymore. So reading your posts is the best many of us can do.

Thank you Max!

[Max Rockatansky]

All portable VMS units.  Usually they were at a junction point win CA 120 like coming south on 49 or north on J59.

That makes sense then.  Portable VMSes are not displayed on Quickmap only the fixed overhead ones.

Question remains though after seeing the Park Service information; what is actually shutting down tomorrow eastbound on 120?

I have no doubt 120 over Tioga Pass will close tomorrow.  The incoming storm seems to have enough punch to make travel difficult given it's high elevation.  What remains to be seen is if 120 will remain closed for the winter after the storm passes.  Normally, Caltrans will put out a message on its VMSes about impending winter closures so why that hasn't happened yet is a mystery to me.

It's entirely possible the NPS is acting conservatively by warning those that are traversing Tioga today that they may not be able to use the road on their return trip.

Yeah we're going to have to see.  Rumor is that it's just going to be a dusting closer to Yosemite and Fresno while Tahoe will get the bulk of what's coming.  But yes, they already did one for Sonora Pass last week when it got some snow.  I thought my plans were ruined since the Quick Map said "closed for winter" but the 800 road number said it was due to a storm.

This is a fantastic thread, and the result of a lot of hard work. Thanks for the great photos of places some of us may never get to...

Completely agree. 15 years ago I would have been doing what you're doing, but certainly not anymore. So reading your posts is the best many of us can do.

Thank you Max!

Much appreciated, been a fun couple years getting a chance to do this kind of thing.  A lot of my travels in on the West Coast and South East started out as worked based activities that morphed into a full on hobby.  I'm still kind of amazed some of the lesser known roads that I've traveled on over the years really don't have much of a write up or through information.  Case and point, I was planning on doing Black Rock Road tomorrow but I'm going to hold off until next Friday.  I've seen next to nothing on that road for years and it seems like a hell of a side trip in the Kings Canyon area.

[Max Rockatansky]

Well found why CA 120 west of Yosemite is shutting down:

SR 120
    [IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA & SIERRA NEVADA]
    IS CLOSED FROM THE NORTH JCT OF SR 49 TO 6.5 MI NORTH OF THE
NORTH JCT OF SR 49 /AT JACKSONVILLE RD/ (TUOLUMNE CO) FROM 1700 HRS EACH NIGHT
TO 0700 HRS EACH MORNING TUESDAY THRU FRIDAY THRU 10/7/16 - DUE TO CONSTRUCTION
- A DETOUR IS AVAILABLE

    1-WAY CONTROLLED TRAFFIC AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS FROM 2.5 MI WEST OF GROVELAND
TO THE WEST BOUNDARY OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (TUOLUMNE CO) FROM 0600 HRS TO
1800 HRS TUESDAY THRU FRIDAY THRU 10/7/16 - DUE TO MAINTENANCE - MOTORISTS ARE
SUBJECT TO DELAYS OF UP TO 10 MINUTES

    [YOSEMITE NAT'L PARK]
    FOR YOSEMITE NAT'L PARK ROAD INFORMATION CALL 209-372-0200

[coatimundi]

Well found why CA 120 west of Yosemite is shutting down:

SR 120
    [IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA & SIERRA NEVADA]
    IS CLOSED FROM THE NORTH JCT OF SR 49 TO 6.5 MI NORTH OF THE
NORTH JCT OF SR 49 /AT JACKSONVILLE RD/ (TUOLUMNE CO) FROM 1700 HRS EACH NIGHT
TO 0700 HRS EACH MORNING TUESDAY THRU FRIDAY THRU 10/7/16 - DUE TO CONSTRUCTION
- A DETOUR IS AVAILABLE

    1-WAY CONTROLLED TRAFFIC AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS FROM 2.5 MI WEST OF GROVELAND
TO THE WEST BOUNDARY OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (TUOLUMNE CO) FROM 0600 HRS TO
1800 HRS TUESDAY THRU FRIDAY THRU 10/7/16 - DUE TO MAINTENANCE - MOTORISTS ARE
SUBJECT TO DELAYS OF UP TO 10 MINUTES

    [YOSEMITE NAT'L PARK]
    FOR YOSEMITE NAT'L PARK ROAD INFORMATION CALL 209-372-0200

I saw that one on Quickmap and didn't understand what it was. It had said full closure, but I think it was just either temporary or was actually referring to one-way controlled. It's still up there too. The NPS site didn't mention it. Then again, they don't seem to keen on good updates. I hit a long one-way controlled section on 190 on the way to Kings Canyon a couple of weeks ago, for tree trimming, and the park site said nothing about it.
I saw that Sonora, Ebbetts and Monitor Passes all closed for a day or so this past weekend. Sonora Pass is still showing a closure on the map, but the electronic sign says otherwise.

[Max Rockatansky]

I think it's more that the Park Service in general just refers you to the respective DOTs outside NPS lands.  I ran into the tree trimming on CA 120 a couple weeks back with the Challenger, really if I was in the Sonic I could probably avoided it on Mather Road since I was coming from Hetch Hetchy.  Weird that they have the work ending on 3/31/16 on the VMS signs (the ones I saw, not the quick map which say just plain closed)...and for some reason 120 is shut down totally overnight?  CA 180 just outside Kings Canyon had a tree trim zone for about 1 mile and so did 245 heading south.  It would have been nice if there was a VMS inside the park letting you know what was ahead.

Looks like I timed that trip over Ebbetts, Monitor, and Sonora almost perfectly.  I just checked Sonora and it's still showing closed on the quick map...like you said it shows open on the VMS from US 395.  Just called the Caltrans Highway Information line and it doesn't say anything about Sonora Pass being closed either.

[Max Rockatansky]

Alright, today was Blackrock Road and Trimmer Springs Road.  For those in the know Blackrock Road is generally considered to be one of the most dangerous paved roads in California.  Basically Blackrock runs from the end of Trimmer Springs Road on a two-lane bridge over the Kings River where it crosses and becomes a single lane paved Sierra National Forest Road under the designation of FR11S12.  Blackrock crosses the Kings River one more time before cutting north to Balch Camp and north east along the North Fork Kings River.  My understanding is that the pavement ends near the Black Rock Reservoir and becomes gravel/dirt up to the Wishon Reservoir where Blackrock Road ends.

So with that in mind I'll just start thing out where Blackrock Road starts or rather where Trimmer Springs Road becomes Blackrock/FR11S12 at the Kings River:



The bridge above heads from the north bank to the south bank of the Kings River where it comes a "wide" one-lane.  This is where you'll see probably the only FR11S12 sign:



After a mile or so on the south bank there is a steel one-lane bridge back over the Kings River:



I guess Shawn is heading towards Garnet Lake.  Across the river Blackrock turns left towards Balch Camp while right will take you towards Garnet Lake and up river towards Kings Canyon:



Really it's a neat little bridge, too bad I couldn't find a time stamp for the construction date:




Of course on the north bank you have the directional signage indicating where to go.  The new vinyl flood advisory signs are interesting, I'm guessing that PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) has had some issues at the intersection of the Kings and North Fork Kings River over the years:




Blackrock follows the North Fork Kings River from here and starts to get more narrow:



Surprisingly Balch Camp is actually pretty built up for a company town.  Plenty of new and clean vehicles are scurrying all over the place and if you kept straight you would head towards a power station.  To continue on Blackrock you need to cross the concrete one-lane bridge over the North Fork Kings River:




Balch Camp is an interesting place, I really didn't expect it to be so modernized almost 45 miles away from CA 180 out in the middle of nowhere.  There appeared to be actual real houses, a community pool, and some other stuff you would expect to see in a company town.  Most maps show Blackrock Road doing an S through Balch Camp but there is a newer bypass that appears to have been repaved recently.  Basically there are a crap ton of "no-trespassing" signs in every conceivable way into Balch Camp but nothing on Blackrock Road.  I would imagine that there are some pretty strange people who cause all sorts of chaos when they come out this far along the Kings River, didn't get the impression it was a friendly place. 

Continuing up Blackrock Road you'll see this pipeline where the road narrows to about 10-14 feet and there is a cattle guard:



I actually parked my car behind the pipe since I was going to do the incline as a run.  There is all sorts of stuff written about this segment of Blackrock that's pretty nasty, so I figured that it would really be just as easy to squeeze an incline run in up to the two wooden bridges above Balch Camp.  I don't have the exact distance since I wasn't wearing a fit bit but it's probably 2-2.5 miles from here to the second wooden bridge.  Apparently there has been issues with people firing shotguns at signs:




Of course this is the part that scares people since the road gets so narrow:



The first mile on the uphill climb has a pretty heavy incline but nothing that is too worrisome given that you likely wouldn't have to back up given the width of the road is sufficient to find a passing spot:



Of course that really starts to change once you approach the first bridge.  The slow sign definitely got blasted by someone in the past:



Of course there is one hell of a view given how sheer the cliff face above Balch Camp really is:



Which of course the "slow" sign is a good indicator a narrow bridge is ahead, the first of the wooden ones I mentioned:




If you look close on the right on the bridge you can see a construction date of 1968.  Basically I can't find much in regards to specific dates in regards to Blackrock Road or the Black Rock Reservoir so this was a welcome find.  What I do know is that Blackrock Road, Blach Camp, and Black Rock Reservoir are all part of the Kings River Project that was put together by PG&E after Pine Flat Dam was built.  I know that the Wishon Dam was opened in 1958 at the northern terminus of Blackrock Road.  My speculation is that Black Rock Reservoir construction route was initially south from the Wishon Reservoir along Blackrock Road and that the roadway from Balch Camp north east was completed sometime around 1968.  Granted...that's just speculation but it seems to me that it would be obvious for no prior bridges to exist in the area before 1968:



Of course how much fun would this be without showing how far the drop from the bridge is?




Some pretty good views can be had between bridge one and bridge two.  This section of Blackrock is mostly where the reputation of the roadway comes from.  Granted I ran this rather than drove but aside from the sheer drop I would probably rate parts of Kaiser Pass Road and Mineral King Road as more difficult.  I say that based off the lack of substantial grade and the fact that there is little to no traffic on Blackrock whereas the other two roads I mentioned have a lot more vehicles on them.  I did see two PG&E vehicles on my climb up where I took this picture:



Wasn't too long until the second wooden bridge came into view:



Which had one hell of a view of the road and gorge below, couldn't take something like this in a car:



Suppose you can't put a decent shotgun blast in this sign. 



Which of course means that I was at the second wooden bridge:



With another time stamp of 1968:



Apparently there is a campground up ahead near the reservoir.  Word is that Blackrock really isn't anywhere near as daunting from this point forward, so there was no point in going further on foot.  I might come back here next year with the family and check out the campground, I'm fairly certain it's remote enough to be left alone.  Even the Forest Service pulled staff from the Ranger Station apparently:



Some views of the road on the way down:






Of course it's actually pretty damn hard to get to Balch Camp without an off-road vehicle, so I had to double back on Trimmer Springs Road.  Hard to believe how close Blackrock really is to Kings Canyon:



Pine Flat Lake isn't looking too good these days, I would take a wild guess and say it's 30-40% capacity right now.  Basically the lake is looking more like a wild river bed these days:




Which hasn't bode well for the CDP Trimmer.  Apparently Trimmer was around way back in the 1880s when it was actually down on the Kings River.  Word is that it was named after the Trimmer Springs Resort which would have been on the Kings River behind the buildings in my pictures.  It seems like Trimmer has been abandoned for quite a long time given how much desolation and junk as accumulated.  Even the boat ramp in Trimmer is closed down.  Given the town had to relocate during the construction of Pine Flat Dam from 1947 to 1954 it's all the more ironic that it died out likely due to the reservoir becoming too dried up for too long:




The shrunken reservoir is really obvious close to Pine Flat Dam, but we're talking one of the bigger ones in California.  The Pine Flat Dam was completed in 1954 and had turbines added in the 1980s.  The primary purpose of the dam was to control flooding along the Kings River, and really despite the reservoir being low it certainly accomplishes that purpose.  As of the 9/11 attacks apparently you can't approach the dam structure itself, in fact today they had a large construction truck blocking the access road:



But that seems to have a decent side affect with all the boaters gone Trimmer Springs Road actually is fairly wide open.  It's a fun road that is extremely curvy but doesn't have any substantial grades.  I would say it's certainly worth a weekend drive just for fun, the low reservoir is actually makes it seem more daunting with added height to the bottom from the roadway.

But in regards to Blackrock Road there is actually a very well written account of road conditions on dangerousroads.org:

http://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/4328-black-rock-reservoir.html

But don't watch the Youtube video they linked unless you mute the guys talking, they get really distracting.  I prefer this video because of that and simply that it's much more informative:

Really that's about it for this side of the Sierra for the season.  I might try for Echo Summit/US 50 in November but we'll see, I might just switch things up to the Diablos for the winter.  I have a big trip coming here pretty soon to close out the month so there will be some more Nevada stuff pretty soon.

Edit:  Found this on Youtube while searching for "Balch Camp."  Apparently this guy thought it was Balch Camp Road, got the entire road up to the Ranger Station I mentioned above:

[ACSCmapcollector]

Anyways....fun day and knocked everything south of Yosemite Valley south in the Sierras for the summer season.  Looks like Hetch Hetchy is going to have to wait until later in the week but Ebbets and Sonora Pass should be on the menu shortly thereafter.  Scott...if you're reading this now you understand why I'm not in favor of this bullshit mileage tax your buddy Jerry Brown is after.  Sure would ruin a lot of weekend fun at least....

Until California has some other plan to fix our roads and highways, some other plan will have to come.  Unless the gasoline tax is raised once again for repairs.  My buddy? no I am not a Democrat, I am a Republican.  Comments done for my part.

[Max Rockatansky]

Anyways....fun day and knocked everything south of Yosemite Valley south in the Sierras for the summer season.  Looks like Hetch Hetchy is going to have to wait until later in the week but Ebbets and Sonora Pass should be on the menu shortly thereafter.  Scott...if you're reading this now you understand why I'm not in favor of this bullshit mileage tax your buddy Jerry Brown is after.  Sure would ruin a lot of weekend fun at least....

Until California has some other plan to fix our roads and highways, some other plan will have to come.  Unless the gasoline tax is raised once again for repairs.

You found it, I was wondering when you would.    Suffice to say the type of roads I typically travel aren't exactly on the high priority for any repairs no matter what bill does or doesn't get passed.  A great many of them wouldn't even be affected since they are county, National Park, or Forest Service maintained.  Begs the question, do I pay for those roads too in a usage tax?   It would seem reasonable to say that it should apply to state maintained highways but there is no feasible way of doing it.  But I digress, there are plenty of ways to boost road funding through tradional increases in gas, property, and sales taxes just to name a few.  You yourself are in favor of San Luis Obispo County measure J-16.  Regardless I tend to believe the angle being used with a mileage tax is discourage frequent driving, which plain just sucks in a state with so many great recreational options.

But before this turns into a political rant, I'll just say that I'm looking forward to some Clark County roadways I haven't been on in awhile.  Not to mention I'm definitely looking forward to opening the Mountain States thread.  I have some stuff from earlier this year that I haven't uploaded in New Mexico and Arizona that I'm waiting until the end of this upcoming trip to do.

[ACSCmapcollector]

Anyways....fun day and knocked everything south of Yosemite Valley south in the Sierras for the summer season.  Looks like Hetch Hetchy is going to have to wait until later in the week but Ebbets and Sonora Pass should be on the menu shortly thereafter.  Scott...if you're reading this now you understand why I'm not in favor of this bullshit mileage tax your buddy Jerry Brown is after.  Sure would ruin a lot of weekend fun at least....

Until California has some other plan to fix our roads and highways, some other plan will have to come.  Unless the gasoline tax is raised once again for repairs.

You found it, I was wondering when you would.    Suffice to say the type of roads I typically travel aren't exactly on the high priority for any repairs no matter what bill does or doesn't get passed.  A great many of them wouldn't even be affected since they are county, National Park, or Forest Service maintained.  Begs the question, do I pay for those roads too in a usage tax?   It would seem reasonable to say that it should apply to state maintained highways but there is no feasible way of doing it.  But I digress, there are plenty of ways to boost road funding through tradional increases in gas, property, and sales taxes just to name a few.  You yourself are in favor of San Luis Obispo County measure J-16.  Regardless I tend to believe the angle being used with a mileage tax is discourage frequent driving, which plain just sucks in a state with so many great recreational options.

But before this turns into a political rant, I'll just say that I'm looking forward to some Clark County roadways I haven't been on in awhile.  Not to mention I'm definitely looking forward to opening the Mountain States thread.  I have some stuff from earlier this year that I haven't uploaded in New Mexico and Arizona that I'm waiting until the end of this upcoming trip to do.

Well I never get as political as of now, as much as I have before...because I have changed.  I had to refocus my magnifying glass on what is going on throughout United States and California.

[Max Rockatansky]

Not really a road picture thing, but I picked up a nice US 101 cut-out and it arrived today:



Had a US 395 from the same guy going but I lost the auction on it.  Too bad to, the guy seller had them nice and cheap which is unusual for California Highway anything.

[hm insulators]

Beautiful scenery but definitely some scary roads!