Skip to main content

Cat Canyon Road

By
After completing California State Route 135 I jumped on the US 101 expressway and quickly pulled off onto Cat Canyon Road to reach Sisquoc which was the eastern terminus of CA 176.  I had scouted out Cat Canyon Road the day prior to my drive but it turned out to be far more fun than originally anticipated.






Cat Canyon Road is a little longer than 9 miles and stretches from US 101 north to Palmer Road.  When I had scouted out Cat Canyon Road it seemed pretty normal on all the Google Images that I had observed.  The first four miles were pretty tame aside from following a tanker truck that was going way too fast towards a refinery.  The trucker pulled away onto an unnamed refinery road and I stayed on Cat Canyon Road as it began to ascend.  Quickly I encountered a cattle guard above the cliffs of Cat Canyon and the road narrowed to a single lane.





I was expecting a tame drive and not something resembling a hauling road from the Sierras but that's what Cat Canyon Road morphed into.  Cat Canyon Road descended about a mile and a half down a steep grade into Cat Canyon.  There was some really cool vistas of Cat Canyon Road snaking down the flanks of its namesake canyon along with various pieces of random broken down machinery from the nearby oil wells. 










Cat Canyon Road crossed another cattle guard and resumed being a normal roadway.


There was still lots of green hills and dips in the roadway to see north to Palmer Road.  The oil wells were very apparent on both sides of Cat Canyon Road.











It turns out the reason there was so many weird roads near Sisquoc and Cat Canyon was due to the some large Cat Canyon Oil Field which was discovered in the Solomon Hills of Santa Barbra County in 1908.  The Cat Canyon Oil Field has close to 250 active oil wells and approximately 700 that have been closed off over the years.  I was able to find Cat Canyon Road stretching in it's modern configuration from Palmer Road south to US 101 on the 1935 California Division of Highways Map of Santa Barbra County.  Interestingly Palmer Road is listed as County Maintained from US 101 north to Legislative Route 148 in Sisquoc.

1935 Santa Barbra County Highway Map
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rep. Sue Myrick's letter to Gov. Easley and Sect. Tippett published in Charlotte Observer

By
US. Representative Sue Myrick's (R-Charlotte) letter to North Carolina's Governor Mike Easley and NC Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett was published in the Friday, November 30th edition of the Charlotte Observer . Why are we delaying the completion of 1-485 in Charlotte again? I read in The Charlotte Observer how rising prices of materials are leading to the delay. Why didn't these same rising costs delay the loops in Fayetteville and Wilmington? Why are we building loops in Fayetteville and Wilmington before we complete the one in Charlotte? We were working on the one in Charlotte back when I was mayor. That was 20 years ago! ... Last I looked Charlotte was the largest city in the state. There seems to be no recognition of that fact in Raleigh. No recognition that we are at a standstill with traffic. No recognition that we have a traffic problem. Nor is there any recognition of the fact that the state DOT utterly botched up the southern leg of our yet to be completed ...
Post a Comment
Read more

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Sandstone Falls

By
The New River, which runs through New River Gorge National Park & Preserve, is best known for its dramatic rapids and whitewater adventures.  Those features begin at one of the river's widest points: Sandstone Falls. From the Sandstone Falls Boardwalk a look at just a small part of the falls. Though the vertical drop of roughly 20 feet is less than many other well-known waterfalls in the state, the falls' expanse, where the river approaches 1500 feet wide, makes Sandstone Falls impressive.   The Boardwalk Trail leads to a better vantage point of the overall falls. It is a great spot for photography, fishing, or laying out in the sun. Access to the falls is relatively easy: from Hinton, cross the New River on Highway 20, then turn right onto CR 26 and follow New River Road to the Sandstone Falls Parking Area. The Island Loop Trail is a short detour off the Boardwalk Trail and shows a quieter side of the area. At Sandstone Falls, you will find a variety of activities fr...
Post a Comment
Read more

I-90 in Albany, New York and the Berkshire Spur

By
Today's Albany Times Union has a segment in their weekly Getting There? column that explains some of the history behind how I-90 is designated in the Albany, NY area as well as the Berkshire Spur. The long and short of the article was that I-90 was originally designated on the unsigned portion of the Berkshire Spur, but as free I-90 was built, the designation was moved onto the free portion of road. Additionally, there were talks in 1999 between state and federal officials about the possibility of moving I-90 back onto the unsigned portion of the Berkshire Spur, while extending I-88 onto what we know as free I-90. There would have also had been an I-88/I-90 multiplex between Rotterdam and Albany as a result. http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=916307
Post a Comment
Read more