Skip to main content

Road 222/Powerhouse Road

By
Last Memorial Day I took a trip up to Glacier Point in Yosemite.  Given the large crowds heading to/from Yosemite National Park I decided to do something a little unconventional and take Road 222/Powerhouse Road over the San Joaquin River to reach Fresno.






Road 222/Powerhouse Road is an approximately 14 mile route between North Fork in Madera County and Auberry in Fresno County.  Road 222 begins at North Fork Road/Road 222 immediately south of North Fork.





Road 222 southbound to the San Joaquin River at Kerckhoff Lake has a heavy grade that is as high as 9% in places.  The road is generally pretty good but drops from about 3,300 feet above sea level to about 1,300 feet above sea level at the San Joaquin River.











Road 222 approaches Kerckhoff Lake and the Wishon Powerhouse.  Kerckhoff Lake is impounded from the waters of the San Joaquin River and is part of Pacific Gas & Electricity's Big Creek project. Apparently Kerckhoff Dam was completed in 1920.







I'm not sure where this stairwell goes but it was across Road 222 from the Wishon Powerhouse, I thought it looked cool.





Road 222 becomes Powerhouse Road on this bridge as it enters Fresno County.







The climb south on Powerhouse Road to Auberry Road and Auberry isn't as steep as Road 222 but far more curvy.  Powerhouse Road ends at Auberry Road in the community of Auberry.









Given that Kerckhoff Lake was part of the Big Creek Project both Road 222 and Powerhouse Road are quiet old.  Both roads are observable as being county maintained on the 1935 California Division of Highways maps of Madera and Fresno Counties.

1935 Madera County Highway Map

1935 Fresno County Highway Map

The Temperance Flat Dam Project has been floated around for about a decade from what I can recall.  If the Temperance Flat Dam Project was ever approved it encompass Kerckhoff Lake within it's catchment area.  The Temperance Flat Dam is heavily supported by Fresno County farmers due to the Big Creek Project being primarily used for Hydroelectric Power rather than water storage.  The Temperance Flat Dam project really seems to not have gained much traction other than being San Joaquin ranch community argument point against the High Speed Rail project.  I found a FAQ on the Temperance Flat Dam Project from the Department of Water Resources but it is over a decade old.

Water.ca.gov on Temperance Flat Dam Project



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned Fowler Avenue in Clovis, California

By
Originally Fowler Avenue in the city of Clovis had a brief discontinuation approaching Herndon Avenue.  Fowler Avenue traffic heading northbound was required to detour briefly onto westbound Herndon Avenue.  During 2001 this discontinuation was removed when Fowler Avenue was reconfigured to access the Sierra Freeway (California State Route 168) via an interchange.  This led to a segment of the original alignment of Fowler Avenue just south of Herndon Avenue to be abandoned.  Despite a shopping center opening over part of the original Fowler Avenue alignment in 2016 much of the abandoned roadway remains.   The history of the abandoned original alignment of Fowler Avenue in Clovis The original alignment of California State Route 168 departed downtown Clovis eastbound along Tollhouse Road.  This original alignment did not interact with Fowler Avenue at the Herndon Avenue intersection.  Fowler Avenue north of Tollhouse Road ran north to Herndon Avenue...
Post a Comment
Read more

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

By
  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...
Post a Comment
Read more