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

Grand Loop Road of Yellowstone National Park

By
  Grand Loop Road is a 140 mile loop highway which traverses the interior of Yellowstone National Park.  Grand Loop Road connects all of the major attractions and geological features of Yellowstone National Park along with the entrance roads.  Grand Loop Road is a seasonal highway and despite some conjecture never has been part of the US Route System.   Part 1; the history of Grand Loop Road The majority of history pertaining to Grand Loop Road was taken from the below National Park Service article: Historic Roads - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Yellowstone was declared the first National Park of the United States on March 1st, 1872.  The first real highway to access Yellowstone National Park came in 1873 when a tolled facility was constructed from Bozeman, Montana via Yankee Jim Canyon to Mammoth Hot Springs.  Numerous attempts were made to fund construction of roadway infrastructure during the early years of Yellows...
Post a Comment
Read more

The last 1956-63 era California Sign State Route Spade?

By
Along southbound California State Route 170 (the Hollywood Freeway Extension) approaching the Hollywood Freeway/Ventura Freeway interchange a white California State Route 134 Sign State Route Spade can be observed on guide sign.  These white spades were specifically used during the 1956-63 era and have become increasingly rare.  This blog is intended to serve as a brief history of the Sign State Route Spade.  We also ask you as the reader, is this last 1956-63 era Sign State Route Spade or do you know of others?  Part 1; the history of the California Sign State Route Spade Prior to the Sign State Route System, the US Route System and the Auto Trails were the only highways in California signed with reassurance markers.  The creation of the US Route System by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926 brought a system of standardized reassurance shields to major highways in California.  Early efforts to create a Sign State Route ...
Post a Comment
Read more

California State Route 156

By
Over the past couple years I've taken about every single conceivable noteworthy road in and out of the California Coast as far south as Malibu northward towards Point Reyes.  Generally I try to avoid the more popular routes due to the high traffic capacity which often overwhelms existing highways.  That being the case I've often found myself in need of getting to the Monterey Peninsula from San Joaquin Valley in a hurry which often means a trip on California State Route 156.   CA 156 is a 25 mile route from CA 152 in Santa Clara County west to CA 1 near the mouth of the Salinas River in Castroville of Monterey County. Part 1; the history of California State Route 156 All of modern CA 156 was part of Legislative Route 22 .   LRN 22 was defined during the 1909 First State Highway Bond Act between as a route between San Juan Bautista and Hollister.  During the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act LRN 22 was extended east from Hollister to the Pachec...
Post a Comment
Read more