Signed County Route G20

Picking back up where I left off with the Signed County Route G16 blog I used G20 to reach California State Route 68 and Monterey on my January visit. G20 is a 6 mile long Signed County Route running entirely on the Laurles Grade which was defined in 1971. Essentially the entire route of G20 serves as a connector between G16 in Carmel Valley and CA 68 to access the Monterey Peninsula.

G20 is a two-lane road for it's entire duration. I'm unsure of what the grade is going uphill northbound but I would speculate that it is somewhere between 8-10%. G20 quickly rises to Laurles Grade Summit at 1,284 feet above sea. The view looking back southbound has a really decent vista of Carmel Valley and the Santa Lucia Range in Big Sur.

Heading downhill towards CA 68 the grades are definitely at 10% and possibly steeper in places. I was having some brake issues with a warped rotor so I actually threw the car into 3rd gear to coast downhill to CA 68. Not much of a highway with the short length but given the huge short cut it creates I see why the Laureles Grade was added to the Signed County program.

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