Signed County Route G1

In December of 2016 I visited Signed County Route G1 and Fremont Peak State Park in San Benito County.

Signed County Route 1 is a 5.42 mile long highway traveling south from California State 156 in San Juan Bautista. CR G1 is routed along the San Juan Grade/Salinas Road (the original alignment of US 101 incidentally) to San Juan Canyon Road. CR G1 follows San Juan Canyon Road to the boundary of Fremont Peak State Park in the Gabilan Range. While CR G1 technically terminates San Juan Canyon Road continues south to the foot of Fremont Peak. Given the vista of the downhill grade leading out of Fremont Peak was absolutely massive I decided to take my photo album heading northbound.

CAhighways.org on Signed County Route G1

Fremont Peak is the high point of the Gabilan Range at 3,455 feet above sea level. Fremont Peak was surveyed by John C. Fremont in 1846 to access its military value. Fremont Peak has a massive overlook of Monterey Bay which served a strategic importance overlooking a potential beach head.

San Juan Canyon Road begins at the parking lot below Fremont Peak.

San Juan Canyon Road carries the a San Benito County Road designation of "2" on it's Postmiles.

I couldn't find anything in regards to the grades on G1 but the first five miles north have be above 10% pretty handily. The road is most dicey on the ascent since you're on the western slopes of the mountains which are pretty sheer. The steep grades roughly are from 2,700 feet to 1,100 where most of the houses begin to appear.

The next five miles along San Juan Canyon Road are through shaded canyons which were frosted over on the ascent.

CR G1 makes a quick dip over to Salinas Road/San Juan Grade where the only northbound shield is located.

CR G1 northbound ends at CA 156.

Comments

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926. Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California. The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant. However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes. The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield. In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range. ...

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida. One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region. For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate. Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century. Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area. The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog