Skip to main content

Signed County Route J21

By
I thought it might be interesting to explore some previous journeys this year before I started writing road blogs.  This particular trip was back in January of this year as the Sierras were getting pounded by some of the heaviest winter weather California has seen in a long time.  I was looking for an interesting route to take which brought me back to a route my GPS always seemed to be pushing to get off of CA 245; Signed County Route J21.  J21 is an 18 mile Signed County Route created  in 1968 entirely within Tulare County.  J21 runs entirely on Dry Creek Road and has junctions at CA 216 to the south in addition to CA 245 to the north.  Much like almost all Signed County Routes in Tulare County, J21 is in fact now unsigned.  I began my trip on J21 northward from CA 216 under a malaise of low hanging mountain fog, the guide sign showed Badger to only 19 miles to the north.


North from CA 216 the road way on J21 is initially very good but quickly narrow in places before narrowing for good on a very old small creek bridge.









As J21 begins to climb the Sierra Foothills it essentially becomes a single lane road hanging above Dry Creek.  I actually had my only encounter with another vehicle on J21 in the one-lane section but luckily the sight lines are generally excellent. 








As J21 continues to climb it widens back out but doesn't get a center stripe.  There is one major hairpin turn on the uphill northbound climb.







At about 2,500 feet above sea the clouds started to lift.  There is a somewhat major junction on J21 at Mountain 453/Stagecoach Road which continues to Hartland.


Continuing to climb I could spy what I believe was Big Baldy to the east in Sequoia National Park.  It was actually nice to see the sun given the rains and Tule Fog in San Joaquin Valley largely had kept it from coming out for several weeks.  J21 ends at CA 245 a mile south of the ghost town Badger.  I ended up taking CA 245 back south to Boyd Drive, but that's another story for another blog.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Local Sign Find - The last remnant of Business Interstate 95 between Kenly and Rocky Mount , NC

By
As you head north on Interstate 95 at Exit 107 for Kenly and US 301, you'll notice something odd about the overhead sign for the exit.  Peeling off the sign for all that can see is the word 'NORTH' off-center from the US 301.  This old sign (probably close to original from when this section of I-95 opened - more on that in a little bit) gives a hint to a short-lived Business Interstate Route that ran from here to Rocky Mount. The last hint of the Kenly-Wilson-Rocky Mount Business I-95 (Shaun White - August 2020) Interstate 95 in North Carolina has a unique history.  But one of the overlooked and forgotten pieces of Interstate 95 in North Carolina is the 38 mile section between Kenly and Rocky Mount.  When opened to traffic in late 1978, it was the next to last piece of Interstate 95 in North Carolina to open replacing a four lane US 301 from Battleboro through Rocky Mount and Wilson to eventually tying back into the Interstate in Kenly. Though it was not delayed in l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nostalgia fast food with style - Returning to Rax

By
Nostalgia. It sells. It evokes, and more accurately, warps memories of days gone by.  Things were better, simpler, and we eat it up. Nostalgia can make you drive three hours and over a hundred miles out of your way just to reconnect with a dying fast-food restaurant you last enjoyed in the early to mid-90s.  That person was me - that restaurant was Rax. I could go on about Rax's history, but in short, Rax was briefly a very popular roast beef fast-food chain.  Growing up in the 80s and early 90s in Western PA, Rax was the good fast-food spot.  The milkshakes.  (Personally, the chocolate chip milkshake was heaven.)  Uncle Alligator Kids Meal with the chocolate chip cookie. Take that McDonald's Happy Meal!  The fancy salad and hot foods bar.  Going to Rax was special.  Like so many similar restaurants, various investments, management decisions, etc., led Rax to almost disappear overnight.  By the time I graduated college in late 1999, abou...
Post a Comment
Read more