Skip to main content

Fault Line Friday; Weird San Andreas Fault Roads between CA 198/25 and CA 41/46

Back in March I had a look at some of the weird roadways along the San Andreas Fault between the junction of CA 198/41 south to CA 46/41.  Specifically I traveled on; Peach Tree Road, Indian Valley Road, Slacks Canyon Road, Vineyard Canyon Road, and Cholame Road.  I started the day out by driving west on CA 198 to the overlook in the Diablos above Peach Tree Valley.  Peach Tree Valley is the boundary line between the Diablo and Gabilan Ranges which are bisected by the San Andreas Fault.


CA 198 drops sharply westbound out of the Diablos to a junction with CA 25 and Peach Tree Road.



Peach Tree Road has a center stripe and is two lanes for the first couple miles south off of CA 198 but that drops a very narrow single lane very quickly.



There is actually a couple interesting overviews of Slack Canyon that are worth stopping for.


Earlier this year Peach Tree Road was shut down while this new bridge was being put in.  The Google Street Vehicle shows the older bridge which looked to be pretty substantially narrow by comparison.



Peach Tree Road terminates here at the junction of Slacks Canyon Road and Indian Valley Road.  For whatever reason Slacks Canyon Road is been gated off and shows being that way pretty much on every GSV screen shot I looked at.  It looks like the Fault continues via Slacks Canyon Road, maybe that along with the lack of pavement was why it was closed? 



Indian Valley Road continues directly south and begins to rise through the Gabilan Range roughly to about 2,200 feet above sea level.


At the summit Indian Valley begins to drop elevation fast, I would say that this is the only section of any of the roads I traveled that had a "mountain road" feel to it.






Gradually Indian Valley Road levels out at about I want to say 1,400 feet, the descent from here on out was much more gentle.


Approaching Valleton and San Miguel there are increasing signs of residential habitation, by this point I still had not encountered another car.  I encountered seven south from this point to Vineyard Canyon Road.


Some nice bridge work near Big Sandy Road.


At the junction of Indian Valley Road and Hare Canyon Road is a community called Valleton.  Really it isn't really much of anything aside from ranch lands and a couple stray abandoned old homes.  Supposedly there was a post office here from the 1880s to almost 1920s, seems like it more or less a real place at one point.


By the time I hit junction with Hare Canyon Road I had traveled 27 miles south from CA 198.


South of Hare Canyon the roadway on Indian Valley begins to widen and basically it becomes somewhat a normal width.


 Eventually US 101 can be seen right before hitting the San Luis Obispo County Line.



 37 miles in I took an eastward swing on Vineyard Canyon Road.


 Vineyard Canyon Road is substantially wider and what I'd expect out of a modern roadway.


 Surprisingly the summit on Vineyard Canyon is pretty high at about 2,500 feet above sea level.


Approaching Slack Canyon Road and the San Andreas Fault there is some more interesting bridge work, I'm not sure what is up with the brown street blades.



The last five miles south to Parkfield-Coalinga Road and Cholame Road are pretty bland, I did make a stop in Parkfield for breakfast.


I did the rest of the Parkfield Grade from CA 198 in 2016, it is actually a pretty cool road.  The creek below is the actual fault line and there is a bow in the bridge that is obvious from outside the car.  I believe Parkfield has been around since the 1850s, there are less than 20 residents supposedly left in the town.  Parkfield is mostly known for being the most seismically active place in the Continental United States.







CA 46/41 is 17 miles of Parkfield via Cholame Road.


Cholame Road has some pretty nice single lane bridges and wide views before terminating at CA 41/46.






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon

Within the Truckee River Canyon in the Sierra Nevada range numerous abandoned portions of US Route 40 can be found alongside modern Interstate 80.   This segment of highway was opened during 1926 as a bypass of the Dog Valley Grade which carried the early North Lincoln Highway and Victory Highway. The corridor of the Truckee River Canyon State Highway would be assigned as US Route 40 when the US Route System was commissioned during November 1926. During 1958 the segment of Interstate 80 between Boca, California and the Nevada state line was complete. When Interstate 80 opened east of Boca numerous obsolete portions of US Route 40 were abandoned. Some of these abandoned segments have been incorporated into the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail.  Part 1; the history of US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon The Truckee River Canyon for centuries has been an established corridor of travel known to native tribes crossing the Sierra Nevada range.  The first documented wagon crossi...

Former US Route 50 and the Pioneer Route Lincoln Highway on Johnson's Pass Road

Johnson's Pass Road is one of the oldest highway corridors in California.  Johnson's Pass was part of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road as it was completed during 1856 over the Sierra Nevada.  The pass would later be incorporated into the Pioneer Branch of the Lincoln Highway in 1913 and US Route 50 in 1926.  Johnson's Pass Road would be bypassed by a new alignment of US Route 50 over Echo Summit in 1938.  A replacement of the Meyers Grade east of Johnson's Pass would be opened to traffic in 1947.   Johnson's Pass Road remains accessible to traffic and is still signed by the Lincoln Highway Association.  Pictured as the blog cover is the view from the top of Johnson's Pass Road overlooking modern US Route 50 and Lake Tahoe.   Part 1; the history of Johnson's Pass Much of the history of what become the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road is discussed in the  September 1950 California Highways & Public Works  during its Centennial Edition.  The or...

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced...