CA 35 The Goat Trail

[Max Rockatansky]

I took a ride up to the Santa Cruz Range this morning to explore CA 35 from CA 9 south to CA 17.  Essentially I was after completing another one-lane segment of state highway on CA 35 known as the "Goat Trail."  I worked up my photos which can be found here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskzNxDGc

The only one-lane segments of state highway I have left to drive are on CA 35 and CA 168.  Out of all the one-lane segments I've been on CA 35 is by far in the worst state of repair and is by far the most beat up.  There are various private residences on the Goat Trail which led to some interesting run-ins with very little room to pass.  For the most part the Goat Trail segment of 35 follows the terrain and really isn't a cliff-side affair like CA 4 over Ebbetts Pass can be. 

I'm honestly kind of surprised Caltrans hasn't found a way to shed this segment of 35, I don't really see what purpose it serves.  Local maintenance probably could achieve the same quality of roadway Caltrans is putting out there.  Oddly CA 35 south from CA 39 is extremely well signed and might have the most post pile paddles I've even seen in such a small segment of state highway.  CA 35 isn't signed from CA 17 but I would speculate that is to deter people stuck in a rush-hour traffic jam from trying to use it as an alternate to the Bay Area.

[kkt]

Nice!  Many old stomping grounds.  New sign on Castle Rock Park.

[Max Rockatansky]

Nice!  Many old stomping grounds.  New sign on Castle Rock Park.

I almost stopped for a quick hike but I was concerned about what time I would end up getting home.  I drove up to 35 via 9 early in the morning.  Once I got to 17 I had to decide whether to backtrack to 9 or drive down hill to start from 17.  Given how nuts some of the locals were taking 35 over the Goat Trail it didn't seem worth back tracking and I ended up restarting 9.

[nexus73]

Ferndale to Petrolia to Honeydew to 101 is in much worse shape than the road you drove Max.  80 miles of bump and grind await you should bravery be present!  Despite it being by far the lousiest long stretch of highway I have ever been on, the views from way up high all the way down to a black sand beach are breathtaking.  On a clear day the altitude is so up there that the sky and ocean blend into each other!

Rick

[Max Rockatansky]

Ferndale to Petrolia to Honeydew to 101 is in much worse shape than the road you drove Max.  80 miles of bump and grind await you should bravery be present!  Despite it being by far the lousiest long stretch of highway I have ever been on, the views from way up high all the way down to a black sand beach are breathtaking.  On a clear day the altitude is so up there that the sky and ocean blend into each other!

Rick

No doubt, I find it kind of amusing that anyone really seriously thought 1 could be extended through the Lost Coast with ease.  I find it amusing that there was serious studies to make Kaiser Pass Road a state highway.  Mineral King Road essentially would have been used if CA 276 ever came to fruition. 

[swhuck]

On the other side of the 17 overpass, Summit Road is in far better shape than the goat trail out to at least Soquel-San Jose Road.

[sparker]

On the other side of the 17 overpass, Summit Road is in far better shape than the goat trail out to at least Soquel-San Jose Road.

Not surprising, since that segment of Summit, along with Soquel-SJ and Old Santa Cruz Highway from Summit north to Black Mountain near Lexington Reservoir finds regular use as an alternate to CA 17 both during commute times as well as on "beach weekends" in and around Santa Cruz.  If it were to fall into serious disrepair, the complaints from drivers would inundate both Caltrans and the two counties.  It's almost as if the agencies expect drivers to locate and use the alternates!

[nexus73]

Ferndale to Petrolia to Honeydew to 101 is in much worse shape than the road you drove Max.  80 miles of bump and grind await you should bravery be present!  Despite it being by far the lousiest long stretch of highway I have ever been on, the views from way up high all the way down to a black sand beach are breathtaking.  On a clear day the altitude is so up there that the sky and ocean blend into each other!

Rick

No doubt, I find it kind of amusing that anyone really seriously thought 1 could be extended through the Lost Coast with ease.  I find it amusing that there was serious studies to make Kaiser Pass Road a state highway.  Mineral King Road essentially would have been used if CA 276 ever came to fruition. 

Not with ease but with enough explosives, bulldozers and dump trucks, the land can be tamed!  Whether it is worthwhile to do so is another question for another day.  Given the scenic value, if we were not $21 trillion in debt as a nation, I'd say go for it!  Humboldt County off of 101 is quite beautiful.  Tourism is expected to be the biggest industry of the 21st century.  I can promise you Max that there won't be any hot balloon tours going on at the Lost Coast...LOL!  People who want to see it will need to drive there.

Rick

[Max Rockatansky]

Ferndale to Petrolia to Honeydew to 101 is in much worse shape than the road you drove Max.  80 miles of bump and grind await you should bravery be present!  Despite it being by far the lousiest long stretch of highway I have ever been on, the views from way up high all the way down to a black sand beach are breathtaking.  On a clear day the altitude is so up there that the sky and ocean blend into each other!

Rick

No doubt, I find it kind of amusing that anyone really seriously thought 1 could be extended through the Lost Coast with ease.  I find it amusing that there was serious studies to make Kaiser Pass Road a state highway.  Mineral King Road essentially would have been used if CA 276 ever came to fruition. 

Not with ease but with enough explosives, bulldozers and dump trucks, the land can be tamed!  Whether it is worthwhile to do so is another question for another day.  Given the scenic value, if we were not $21 trillion in debt as a nation, I'd say go for it!  Humboldt County off of 101 is quite beautiful.  Tourism is expected to be the biggest industry of the 21st century.  I can promise you Max that there won't be any hot balloon tours going on at the Lost Coast...LOL!  People who want to see it will need to drive there.

Rick

At this point I'd say all the environmental red tape would make the Lost Coast impractical to even attempt.  I could in theory see a single lane state highway being pushed through a half century back, but now I wouldn't hedge my bets.

[kkt]

Save one little patch of the coast to be most accessible by foot.  Possible to build such a road, but it would be hugely expensive not only to build but in upkeep.  It's even more slide prone than the existing stretches of Highway 1.

[Max Rockatansky]

Save one little patch of the coast to be most accessible by foot.  Possible to build such a road, but it would be hugely expensive not only to build but in upkeep.  It's even more slide prone than the existing stretches of Highway 1.

Has Caltrans even abandoned the concept completely yet?  The latest Caltrans State Map I could find from 2005 still shows 211 having a proposed routing through the Lost Coast:

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~238640~5511601:-California--State-Highway-Map-2005?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:california%20highway;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=209&trs=230

Then again I see long abandoned concepts like 276, the 65 extension, the 190 routing over the Sierras and even the 178 Panamint range gap still on the map.  It begs the question if Caltrans really ever truly abandoned any of these routes or just put them on the permanent back burner.

[sparker]

Save one little patch of the coast to be most accessible by foot.  Possible to build such a road, but it would be hugely expensive not only to build but in upkeep.  It's even more slide prone than the existing stretches of Highway 1.

Has Caltrans even abandoned the concept completely yet?  The latest Caltrans State Map I could find from 2005 still shows 211 having a proposed routing through the Lost Coast:

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~238640~5511601:-California--State-Highway-Map-2005?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:california%20highway;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=209&trs=230

Then again I see long abandoned concepts like 276, the 65 extension, the 190 routing over the Sierras and even the 178 Panamint range gap still on the map.  It begs the question if Caltrans really ever truly abandoned any of these routes or just put them on the permanent back burner.

Until there's legislation passed removing such sections from the state logs, then the "permanent back burner" categorization is pretty damn accurate!  Just look at the legend on the state maps -- if the corridor is shown with a series of tiny circles, then it's strictly a concept without an actual selected alignment; if it has squares instead of circles, it's an actual adopted route within the Caltrans lexicon.  Not too many of those left these days; deletions in the late '70's and again in the '90's took care of a lot of previously adopted alignments.  Most adopted segments these days are simple realignments of existing routes (such as the parallel freeway/expressway upgrade of CA 58 through Kramer Corners).  With all Caltrans has on its plate these days re local facility subsidization and transit matters, new corridors have for the most part been shunted to the back of the queue as far as prioritization is concerned. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Save one little patch of the coast to be most accessible by foot.  Possible to build such a road, but it would be hugely expensive not only to build but in upkeep.  It's even more slide prone than the existing stretches of Highway 1.

Has Caltrans even abandoned the concept completely yet?  The latest Caltrans State Map I could find from 2005 still shows 211 having a proposed routing through the Lost Coast:

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~238640~5511601:-California--State-Highway-Map-2005?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:california%20highway;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=209&trs=230

Then again I see long abandoned concepts like 276, the 65 extension, the 190 routing over the Sierras and even the 178 Panamint range gap still on the map.  It begs the question if Caltrans really ever truly abandoned any of these routes or just put them on the permanent back burner.

Until there's legislation passed removing such sections from the state logs, then the "permanent back burner" categorization is pretty damn accurate!  Just look at the legend on the state maps -- if the corridor is shown with a series of tiny circles, then it's strictly a concept without an actual selected alignment; if it has squares instead of circles, it's an actual adopted route within the Caltrans lexicon.  Not too many of those left these days; deletions in the late '70's and again in the '90's took care of a lot of previously adopted alignments.  Most adopted segments these days are simple realignments of existing routes (such as the parallel freeway/expressway upgrade of CA 58 through Kramer Corners).  With all Caltrans has on its plate these days re local facility subsidization and transit matters, new corridors have for the most part been shunted to the back of the queue as far as prioritization is concerned.

It's a trip to see 190 and 276 have actual adopted alignments.  In the case of the latter I would have assumed Sequoia National Park annexing Mineral King would have killed the adopted alignment for good. 

[sparker]

It's a trip to see 190 and 276 have actual adopted alignments.  In the case of the latter I would have assumed Sequoia National Park annexing Mineral King would have killed the adopted alignment for good. 

IIRC, the CA 190 (then LRN 127) exact routing across the Sierras was adopted relatively late in the pre-'64 game; I think it was either late '62 or early '63 (would need to check CH&PW issues for the exact time; they were quite prompt at publishing the route selections in the next bi-monthly issue after the decision had been reached).  The CA 276 concept pretty much fell apart after the Disney corporation's plans for their Mineral King resort community were turned down and they elected not to pursue appeals -- this was in the Ron Miller (W. Disney son-in-law and company president during the '70's) days prior to the Eisner regime taking over in '84; sort of his pet project.  But company turmoil in the early '80's functionally doomed the very extensive concept.  My late mother was a 40-year Disney employee (animation); senior workers were originally offered the opportunity to buy into the Mineral King condo complex at a significant discount; but since the project was effectively dead by 1981, that never came to pass (not that my mom would have ever wanted to live in such an isolated area).   

[Max Rockatansky]

It's a trip to see 190 and 276 have actual adopted alignments.  In the case of the latter I would have assumed Sequoia National Park annexing Mineral King would have killed the adopted alignment for good. 

IIRC, the CA 190 (then LRN 127) exact routing across the Sierras was adopted relatively late in the pre-'64 game; I think it was either late '62 or early '63 (would need to check CH&PW issues for the exact time; they were quite prompt at publishing the route selections in the next bi-monthly issue after the decision had been reached).  The CA 276 concept pretty much fell apart after the Disney corporation's plans for their Mineral King resort community were turned down and they elected not to pursue appeals -- this was in the Ron Miller (W. Disney son-in-law and company president during the '70's) days prior to the Eisner regime taking over in '84; sort of his pet project.  But company turmoil in the early '80's functionally doomed the very extensive concept.  My late mother was a 40-year Disney employee (animation); senior workers were originally offered the opportunity to buy into the Mineral King condo complex at a significant discount; but since the project was effectively dead by 1981, that never came to pass (not that my mom would have ever wanted to live in such an isolated area).   

The irony with 276 is that Mineral King Road could really use an upgrade.  Its a surprisingly busy roadway in the summer with sorts of people coming and going from homes near Three Rivers all the way up to the actual community.  I'm sure if it ever did happen Sequoia National Park would probably do some upgrades past the National Park line.  The National Park side of Mineral King Road has some pretty rough dirt segments which I believe are top laying asphalt.

Apparently the current proposed route over the Kern River Fault first popped up on to state highway maps by 1966 according to what I looked at last year:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/07/california-state-route-136-lone-desert.html

[Max Rockatansky]

Finished up the Goat Trail blog, I attached the previous entry on CA 35 north to Great Highway:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/06/california-state-route-35-goat-trail.html