Skip to main content

California State Route 35; The Goat Trail

By
While on a recent Bay Area trip I was able to take a segment of one-lane state highway on California State Route 35 known as "The Goat Trail."


The Goat Trail segment of CA 35 is located between CA 9 at Saratoga Gap on Skyline Boulevard southeast to CA 17 at Patchen Pass via Bear Creek Road and Summit Road.  The Goat Trail largely straddles the Santa Cruz and Santa Clara County line on the ridge of the Santa Cruz Range.  In 2017 I was unable to visit the Goat Trail due to a washout during the winter at Las Cumbres Road.  That said, I did drive CA 35 north from CA 9 at Saratoga Gap to Great Highway in San Francisco.  The previous blog entry on CA 35 north to Great Highway contained much of the historical information regarding the highway and can be seen here:

CA 35 from CA 9 north to Great Highway

The started the morning with a drive up from CA 9 southwest to CA 35/Skyline Boulevard at Saratoga Gap.  Saratoga Gap is located at an elevation of approximately 2,600 feet above sea level.


I turned southwest on CA 35/Skyline Boulevard from CA 9/Saratoga Gap which is generally considered to be the beginning of The Goat Trail.


There are a couple vista points from Saratoga Gap.  This one is almost directly looking southward into Castle Rock State Park.


CA 35 immediately south of Saratoga Gap on Skyline Boulevard is largely two-lanes.  Despite the excellent cellular service there are various call boxes in place.


The entrance to Castle Rock State Park is a couple miles south of Saratoga Gap on CA 35.


Castle Rock State Park was created in 1968 is named after a rock formation near CA 35 at the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Castle Rock State Park is a frequent starting point on the 30 Sky-to-sea-Trail which traverses Saratoga Gap northward to Waddell Beach near the San Mateo County Line.  In 2019 I hiked through Castle Rock State Park from the Castle Rock formation to Castle Rock Falls and out to the Saratoga Gap.




At Black Road traffic for Los Gatos is directed away from CA 35 which Boulder Creek Traffic is directed to continue southwest on the highway.


CA 35/Skyline Boulevard drops to a single lane at Black Road.  The highway is signed as narrow and curvy the final 8 miles to the southern terminus at CA 17.



The one-lane Goat Trail section of CA 35 is extremely narrow and has rough pavement.  The terrain despite being on top of the Santa Cruz Range is fairly gentle and CA 35 is rarely on a cliff-face.






Gist Road also directs traffic back to Black Road and Los Gatos.


CA 35/Skyline Boulevard continues a single lane road to Bear Creek Road as a one-lane highway.  There is actually Christmas Tree Farm located on the one-lane segment of CA 35 on Skyline Boulevard.









CA 35 turns on Bear Creek Road and becomes a two-lane highway briefly until it cuts away on Summit Road.



Surprisingly all of the CA 35 Goat Trail is well signed as evidenced by this "CA 35 South" assembly on Summit Road.


The Summit Road one-lane section is much more generous than Skyline Boulevard.  The one-lane segment splits back out to two-lanes near CA 17.






CA 35 traffic on Summit Road is directed to CA 17 but there is no end signage.  CA 35 is not signed at all from CA 17 which I suspect is due to the route not being a solid alternate to busy Bay Area rush-hours.





In regards to one-lane state highways the only segments I haven't driven are on CA 36 and CA 168.  CA 35 is probably in the roughest shape with the narrowest lanes of all the one-lane state highway segments I've encountered.  Supposedly there is a lot of signage theft on the Goat Trail segment of CA 35 which is why I suspect there is an absurdly high number of Post Mile paddles. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

By
After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley.  To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker.   Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa.   The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language.  The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246.  CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County.  CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward.  South of CA 127 ...
4 comments
Read more

Finding the Pre-Emption Road of New York State

By
  The Pre-Emption Road (or rather a series of roads named Pre-Emption Road) follows a survey line called the Pre-Emption Line, drawn in the early days of the United States. The story begins with Massachusetts and New York having competing land claims to modern day Western New York State that have their roots in colonial charters granted by the British. After the Revolutionary War ended, this land became the frontier of the nation and its settlement became a priority for the new American government. During this era, there were a lot of competing land claims that needed to be settled. It was no different with the land claims between New York State and Massachusetts. On November 30, 1786, Massachusetts and New York sent representatives to Hartford, Connecticut to resolve their competing land claims. In less than three weeks, the representatives had reached a compromise. Massachusetts would receive pre-emption rights, meaning the right to sell the land after the Indian title ...
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