Saturday morning I had some free time and decided to finish up a couple nearby routes. I made my way up from Fresno to California State Route 152 in Madera County to the south terminus of CA 59. CA 59 is a 34 mile north/south state highway almost entirely in Merced County. Only the very southern tip of CA 59 is located within Madara County at CA 152. I was traveling northbound in a heavy Tule Fog. El Nido is the first community on northbound CA 59 only 4 miles from CA 152. El Nido apparently was founded in the 1910s/1920s and unlike many San Joaquin Valley locales it appears to be more than a name on a map. I did notice there was a general store, school, and even a Fire Deparment. The Merced Wildlife Refuge can be reached from CA 59 by traveling west on the amusingly named Sandy Mush Road. This particular area of San Joaquin Valley tends to still resemble an inland wetland as it is within close proximity to the San Joaquin River and...
Because every road has a story.