Signed County Route J16

[Max Rockatansky]

Got back out on the road today to clinch Signed County Route J16.  J16 is the longest Signed County route at 75.74 miles stretching from I-5 in Stanislaus County eastward to CA 49 in Bear Valley.  While the section from I-5 to CA 99 is somewhat bland it really gets interesting east towards CA 49 passing through the Sierra Foothills, over the Merced River, and through several ghost towns/Gold Rush towns (Snelling, Merced Falls, Hornitos, and Bear Valley).  The pavement quality varies greatly on J16 with it progressively getting worse from Stanislaus eastward to Mariposa County.  There was a large closure of J16 from Hornitos east to Bear Valley earlier this year due to rock slides.  Most of the advisory signage is still up but there doesn't appear to be much in the way of road repairs.  I'll likely have a road blog worked up this week but for now my photos can be viewed below:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmpUnUtG

[sparker]

^^^^^^^^^^
And I thought J7, at about 71+ miles, was the longest signed one.  Obviously J7's not as variegated as J16 regarding scenery, the presence of historic towns in the foothills, or even serving as the "dead end" of a state route (59).  But if you ever get the chance, it'd be nice to see an end-to-end photo treatment of that highway as well; if I didn't have a business venture that occupies most of my waking hours (these posts provide a welcome respite!), I'd get my camera out and do it myself.  In any case, great pix as usual -- thanks.  You're providing a "service" with these route logs that is long overdue -- CA simply has too many byways that have been brushed off or otherwise ignored.  Kudos & thanks! 

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^^^^^^^^
And I thought J7, at about 71+ miles, was the longest signed one.  Obviously J7's not as variegated as J16 regarding scenery, the presence of historic towns in the foothills, or even serving as the "dead end" of a state route (59).  But if you ever get the chance, it'd be nice to see an end-to-end photo treatment of that highway as well; if I didn't have a business venture that occupies most of my waking hours (these posts provide a welcome respite!), I'd get my camera out and do it myself.  In any case, great pix as usual -- thanks.  You're providing a "service" with these route logs that is long overdue -- CA simply has too many byways that have been brushed off or otherwise ignored.  Kudos & thanks!

J7 might be the means to an end I've been looking for to photo clinch the rest of 108 and 120 (oddly J7 isn't signed from J16).  The Valley winter is right around the corner which will make the Foothills a much more attractive place to be anyways.  I had done the Snelling to Bear Valley section of J16 several times but couldn't think of a viable way to do the rest until clinching what little left of 33 came. 

To that end J16 is an intriguing route due to the variation.  The route is pretty bland for more of Stanislaus County until the hills pick up near the Merced County line.  Snelling is a fascinating place to me given it has always been a transportation hub dating back to the days of the Stockton-Los Angles Road and Yosemite Valley Railroad.  I always thought it was odd that J16 goes right through downtown Hornitos towards Bear Valley instead of CA 140.  But to that end when J16 was plotted out in 1960 Hornitos still would have been incorporated which probably played a factor. 

[sparker]

^^^^^^^
Look forward to your eventual photo treatment of J7.  You'll certainly have the opportunity to get a few BNSF or Amtrak shots in along the way. 

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^^^^^
Look forward to your eventual photo treatment of J7.  You'll certainly have the opportunity to get a few BNSF or Amtrak shots in along the way.

Hopefully as the years go on I'll be able to get most of the State and County Routes photographed.  I try to plan out my road trips but a lot of these tend to happen on the fly.  Incidentally is Amtrak line on J7 the same one that goes through Fresno and Hanford?

[sparker]

^^^^^^^
Look forward to your eventual photo treatment of J7.  You'll certainly have the opportunity to get a few BNSF or Amtrak shots in along the way.

Hopefully as the years go on I'll be able to get most of the State and County Routes photographed.  I try to plan out my road trips but a lot of these tend to happen on the fly.  Incidentally is Amtrak line on J7 the same one that goes through Fresno and Hanford?

One and the same.  Pretty much follows J7 up as far as Empire, but diverges regularly after that all the way into Stockton.  The RR takes a direct path through Riverbank and Escalon, while J7 does something of a "grid pattern" through that area before reconnecting with the rail line several miles east of Stockton. 

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^^^^^
Look forward to your eventual photo treatment of J7.  You'll certainly have the opportunity to get a few BNSF or Amtrak shots in along the way.

Hopefully as the years go on I'll be able to get most of the State and County Routes photographed.  I try to plan out my road trips but a lot of these tend to happen on the fly.  Incidentally is Amtrak line on J7 the same one that goes through Fresno and Hanford?

One and the same.  Pretty much follows J7 up as far as Empire, but diverges regularly after that all the way into Stockton.  The RR takes a direct path through Riverbank and Escalon, while J7 does something of a "grid pattern" through that area before reconnecting with the rail line several miles east of Stockton.

Gotcha, that's what I thought...might be an opportunity to get a solid photo of the Caltrans Locomotive that I've missed several times south of Fresno.

Incidentally I just completed my Signed County Route J16 blog.  In terms of route history it is pretty basic given it was defined in 1960 but there is a crap ton of Gold Rush era history that was worthwhile.  Personally I'm kind of partial to Hornitos given the community essentially doesn't resemble anything modern in the slightest.  I just wish there was some actual ruins to find of Quartzburg, some of the vintage photos suggest it was something worth seeing.

https://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/10/signed-county-route-j16.html

[sparker]

Gotcha, that's what I thought...might be an opportunity to get a solid photo of the Caltrans Locomotive that I've missed several times south of Fresno.

The San Joaquin service uses a mixture of locomotives; the most common is the EMD F59PHI series manufactured in the 1990's; those are numbered in the 2000's and carry the logo "Amtrak California".  However, in a pinch, they'll use regular Amtrak long-distance P42's numbered from 1 to 399, also dating from the '80's and '90's.  All are getting a bit long in the tooth -- at least for daily-service passenger units -- so expect to see newer EMC's (the old GM-owned EMD now a division of Caterpillar) and MPI's (a Boise-based company with bulbous rounded front ends but using EMD/EMC prime movers and motors) in the near future.  That company has made quite a splash with units in service in commuter service nationwide, including Metra down in L.A. and the SJ-SF Caltrain line. 

So the "Caltrans Locomotive" that you seek could be like a piece from Forrest Gump's box of chocolates -- you never know what you're going to get! 

[Max Rockatansky]

Found a Mariposa County Road conditions page while looking into J16 today:

https://www.mariposacounty.org/1097/County-Road-Conditions

I'd like to find all the available county road pages, the information can be incredibly useful at times.  The Caltrans Quickmap only goes so far sometimes.