Redinger Lake Road (Road 235)

This past month I drove the entirety of Redinger Lake Road located in Madera County along the horseshoe bend region of the San Joaquin River.

Redinger Lake Road carries the designation of "Road 235" and is a 8.6 mile road which begins at Powerhouse Road (Road 222) at Kerckhoff Lake in Sierra National Forest and ends to the east at Italian Bar Road (Road 225) along Redinger Lake.

Redinger Lake Road was completed by 1950 and was used as a haul road during the construction of Redinger Dam. Redinger Dam was completed by 1951 and is part of the Big Creek Hydroelectric Project. Internally Redinger Dam is also known as Big Creek Dam #7. Redinger Dam is a 250 foot high concrete gravity dam which impounds the San Joaquin River. Redinger Dam has a maximum capacity of 35,000 acre feet of water.

My approach to Redinger Lake Road was from Powerhouse Road northbound on the shore of Kerckhoff Lake. From Powerhouse Road I turned east onto Redinger Lake Road.

Redinger Lake Road quickly enters the horseshoe bend of the San Joaquin River. Less than half a mile from Powerhouse Road there is a trailhead for Horseshoe Bend Trail.

Redinger Lake Road quickly ascends to the top of the Horseshoe Bend where it has a view of Kerckhoff Lake.

Redinger Lake ascends to a bluff above the Horseshoe Bend and continues eastward towards Willow Creek.

Redinger Lake Road makes a sharp descent through a series of hairpins to the 1950 Willow Creek Bridge in the Redinger Lake Recreation Area.

Redinger Lake Road makes a brief climb from Willow Creek to Redinger Dam.

Redinger Lake Road passes through the Redinger Campground and Marina before continuing several miles to an eastern terminus at Italian Bar Road.

From the eastern terminus of Redinger Lake Road the upstream waters of the San Joaquin River near the Italian Bar Bridge can be seen below.

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Signed County Route J37; the last Signed Tulare County Route and the Lone Pine to Porterville High Sierra Road

Recently I drove the entirety of Signed County Route J37 located in rural Tulare County. Signed County Route J37 is notable in that it is the last Signed County Route which actually has field signage left in Tulare County and was intended to be part of a Trans-Sierra Highway known as the Lone Pine to Porterville High Sierra Road.

While researching California State Route 190 and more specifically the gap in the highway over the Sierra Nevada Range it became quickly apparent that there was far more to J37/Balch Park Road than initially thought. The previous blog on California State Route 190 can be found here:

California State Route 190; the Trans-Sierra Highway that could have been

On the above blog I attached an article from 1926 written by the Los Angeles Times detailing the route of the Lone Pine to Porterville High Sierra Road which was slated to begin construction in 1927. The route of the Lone Pine to Porterville High Sierra Road would have followed Carroll Creek southward out…

Former US Route 99,US Route 466, and California State Route 65 through Famoso

This past weekend I explored the alignments of US Route 99, US Route 466, and California State Highway 65 through Famoso.

Part 1; The history of State Highway service in Famoso

Famoso is a ghost town and former Southern Pacific Railroad siding located in northern Kern County on Poso Creek. The site of Famoso is located roughly at the junction of CA 99 and CA 46. Famoso was founded as a Southern Pacific Railroad siding known as "Poso" during the early 1870s when the Southern Pacific Railroad was building it's main freight line through San Joaquin Valley. The name of Poso was changed in 1888 to Spottiswood when the community received a spur line of the Southern Pacific and Post Office Service. The community name of Poso was already in use by a mining community to the west in San Luis Obispo County which required a new name be chosen to establish Post Office Service. The name of Spottiswood was changed to Famoso in 1895.

Famoso was an important early highway junction in…

Old California State Route 65 on; Famoso-Porterville Highway, Sign County Routes J35/J22/J29

Earlier in March I traveled down to Famoso of Kern County to take the original alignment of California State Route 65 north to Lindsay in Tulare County.

This blog is a spin off of the below entry on the Southern Segment of current California State Route 65.

California State Route 65; South Segment

Part 1; The Stockton-Los Angeles Road, the East Side Line, and early California State Route 65 on Legislative Route 129

The corridor of CA 65 is closely aligned to the Sierra Nevada Foothills which first became a popular route of travel as part of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road. The Stockton-Los Angeles Road came into use after the 1853 Kern River Gold Rush began. The Stockton-Los Angeles Road was a replacement of the earlier El Camino Viejo. Unlike El Camino Viejo the Stockton-Los Angeles Road avoided the dense Tule Marshes in San Joaquin Valley. The Stockton-Los Angles Road stayed close to the Sierra Foothills near the new claims on the Kern River watershed. The earlier El Camino Vi…

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