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La Gloria Road

Started by coatimundi, October 03, 2016, 01:20:19 AM

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coatimundi

I didn't realize it was a race, but I'm glad that I won nonetheless...  ;-)
Not to nitpick, but trying to save you some grief in the future: Monterey. Monterrey is in Mexico. Default autocorrect seems to ignore that though.

The Lewis Creek bridges I pictured were pretty crazy. The later one barely had enough horizontal room for my car, but it was bypassed by a dirt section that just beelined over the creek bed, which would be how trucks got to the ranch. The creek was totally dry and showed very little sign of having had water recently.
Meanwhile, the bridge I pictured on Lonoak Road, with the old cars used for erosion control by SR 25, was maybe a year old or so. It must have been in really bad shape for the county to go after that one considering some of the condition of some of our other bridges. It may be that San Benito County offered some money toward it, since it straddles the county line.

I don't think it's worth going down there, to Lewis Creek Road. I just wanted to see it since there was no info or pics online, but I wouldn't go back. It's just a long driveway that gets up in the hills a little. Nothing interesting down there Most of the other roads in that area, and especially the ones I drove that day, are a lot more scenic. Driving Elm from Greenfield to Arroyo Seco and all the way up Carmel Valley Road is a lot more worth the time involved.
I'd like to get out to the other side as well, on 198, to see what sort of remnants of the old state highway there are. Maybe tomorrow, as I'm supposed to go to SLO and could take Peachtree and Indian Valley Roads south. Just depends on when I can get out.


Max Rockatansky

#26
Yeah I always screw up the correct spelling on the Monterey vs Monterrey.  There was a couple even back in Florida that I seemed to recall having slightly different spellings than might be expected.

No race, I'm just getting nervy sitting around the house for a couple weeks.  I had Pinnacles in mind for good like either to the Pinnacles Overlook or possibly the Old Pinnacles Trail, although I'd like to save that latter for the western half of the park.  Idria Road really is the draw for me to the area though, especially if the mine can be reached.  It looks like from the satellite view on Google and some of the Youtube videos that near the Idria town site you have to ford San Carlos Creek once or twice when the pavement ends.  On a dry week I don't see much issue, but when that creek is running....that's kind of iffy, more so with the mercury run-off.  So basically an old alignment of CA 25 would be nice little bonus for a couple minutes the way I see it, besides I would be heading towards Fresno anyways. 

I'm curious about Peachtree/Indian Valley Roads after that whole saga a couple months back about the Parkfield Grade.  Speaking of the Parkfield Grade, that's actually probably one of the more interesting roads in the area...granted if you on a time schedule it's a slow side.  The road is paved in Fresno County but becomes dirt for a couple miles in Monterey County before hitting some old bridges over the San Andreas Fault.  I did a write up on it back on the Max's Road page, you probably could just double back north on Peachtree/Indian Valley.

coatimundi

The drive was not as pretty as my drive earlier this week, but it was much more interesting.

I'll post pictures in a later edit, but a few points:
- There is no access to Lewis Creek Road from 198. Both the original road and the cut-off road that intersects 198 to the east are gated and locked up. Even if you could do it, the original road looked to be in pretty rough shape and there was a pretty serious climb behind it.
- There's a bridge replacement on Peachtree Valley that's almost wrapped up. Here's info on the project with pics of the original bridge. According to a sign, the road was completely closed for an entire week last month.
- If you find the aerial of the project area, you'll notice Slacks Canyon Conservation Camp noted. I saw this from the road driving up and it's pretty creepy looking. The road to it was blocked by construction crews, but it would be interesting to go back out there to check it out once they're gone.
- Slacks Canyon Road has led me down an interesting trail. Google Maps shows it going through but, looking at GSV, there's a gate at the northern end. I pulled up as a rancher was locking it. There's even a construction orange sign that says "Road Closed". Since there's another Slacks Canyon Road closer to Parkfield (Google Maps is wrong, and the northern portion continues south from Stone Canyon Road, intersects Big Sandy Road, and then mostly disappears), the two look as though they connected from the satellite views, but was washed out. There used to be a school on the road, just south of Peachtree Valley Road.
- For the southern portion of Slacks Canyon, Google "stockdale mountain blm" and read some of the accounts on the hunting forums. It seems like you shouldn't own large pieces of land if you're afraid of everyone.
- The whole of the two roads was more populated than I expected. Lots of older homes and few or none of the vineyard haciendas that you see in the Salinas Valley, even though there were some vineyards on Indian Valley. The roads were also generally more narrow than I had expected.

Max Rockatansky

#28
Bumping this topic back up since I drove La Gloria Road and Gloria Road today.  I won't have time to touch my photos but I'll post what I put on the Gribblenation Facebook page today:

https://www.facebook.com/72868503020/posts/10156788348508021/?d=n

What a badass downhill ride on the Monterey County side.  I'd have to say that I still think Panoche Road is an easier road but it is hard to beat the view of Salinas Valley and the Santa Lucia Mountains heading west from the Monterey County Line. 

I can't really undersell how awesome of a drive this was:

" Took a ride out of Pinnacles National Park on La Gloria Road in San Benito County to Gloria Road in Monterey County.  Suffice to say the massive descent in Monterey County on Gloria Road was worth the trip.  La Gloria Road/Gloria Road is a 18 mile route between CA 25 near Pinnacles National Park west to US 101 near Gonzales.  La Gloria Road is completely dirt and carries Post Miles which show it as San Benito County Road 116.  Within Monterey County all but the 5 western most miles of Gloria Road are dirt.  Upon entering Monterey County the route of Gloria Road drops quickly through the Gabilan Range from 2,300 approximately feet above sea level to about 1,000 feet where pavement can be found.  Gloria Road is a single lane wide and carries numerous grades in excess of 10%.  Despite the dirt segments I did notice a hard surface which seems to be top layered in both San Benito County and Monterey County.  La Gloria Road and Gloria Road don't require high clearance, the grading is excellent in San Benito County and is passable in Monterey County."

Max Rockatansky

Finished my photo album of La Gloria Road/Gloria Road.  The orientation of my photos is westbound, the OPs album was eastbound:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/n8ma87

The sheer vastness of Gloria Road descending into Salinas Valley I thought came out well in this panoramic:

IMG_1364 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr


Max Rockatansky


mapman

La Gloria Road/Gloria Road reminds me of another old unpaved road in Monterey County - Lockwood San Ardo Road.  I had to drive and measure it for a traffic study that I was preparing probably 12 or so years ago for a proposed rock quarry just east of the ridge top.  Lockwood San Ardo Road travels through some federal land in the mountains on the west side of the Salinas Valley south of King City and east of Fort Hunter Liggett.  Despite being an unpaved road, Monterey County does maintain it, regrading it once a year.



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