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.

Comments

California State Route 225; the Zombie Highway of Santa Barbara and presently shortest in California

This past month I visited the Santa Barbara Area and drove the many short State Highways located there. The shortest and the strangest is the 0.081 mile California State Route 225.

As noted above CA 225 is presently only 0.081 miles in length and is located completely on Castillo Street in Santa Barbara between Montecito Street and US 101/CA 1. Fortunately the Caltrans Post Mile Tool illustrates that CA 225 still exists despite almost being relinquished to death.

At present moment CA 225 is the shortest State Highway in California. By the definition of actual field mileage the following State Highways are the five shortest in California:

1. CA 225 at 0.081 miles
2. CA 275 at 0.14 miles
3. CA 283 at 0.36 miles
4. CA 77 at 0.40 miles
5. CA 153/CA 265 at 0.50 miles each

The origin of CA 225 was back in 1933 when Legislative Route 150 was added to the State Highway system as a loop of US 101/LRN 2 between Santa Barbara east to near Montecito according to CAhighways.org. As orig…

California State Route 198

Over the past four years one of the most common State Highways I've driven in California has been California State Route 198. Fortunately CA 198 has one of the best driving segments in the entire California State Highway System and some deep history dating back to the 1909 First State Highway Bond Act.

CA 198 in present configuration is a 141 mile east/west State Highway from US Route 101 in San Lucas of Monterey County east to the Generals Highway or Sequoia National Park in Tulare County.

CA 198 was one of the original Signed State Highways which was announced in a 1934 Department of Public Works Guide on Page 32. CA 198 was aligned entirely over Legislative Route 10. Originally CA 198 was the highest number assigned to any Signed State Highway.

CA 198 has come up several times on Gribblenation mostly in regards to former alignments. While the history of the entire route of CA 198 will be discussed here much of the photographic details on particular areas can be found o…

California State Route 60/Former US Route 60/70 through the Moreno Valley Badlands west to Riverside

This past month I drove California State Route 60 through the Moreno Valley Badlands westward towards the City of Riverside. CA 60 through the Moreno Valley Badlands was once part of the corridors of US Route 60 and US Route 70.

The present route of CA 60 is a 70 mile (76 counting multiplex) slice of former US 60 between downtown Los Angeles east to I-10 near Beaumont. The vast majority of CA 60 aside from a small section in the Moreno Valley Badlands is presently a freeway grade.

For me CA 60 holds some personal history as it was the route I used most frequently accessing work sites in the Inland Empire circa 2011-2013. Despite what many others probably would say I always really enjoyed the Moreno Valley Badlands portion of CA 60. Considering I frequently worked on US 60 through Arizona and New Mexico the route holds even more appeal. I even have a CA 60 shield hanging up in my garage.

Part 1; History of Roadways in the Moreno Valley Badlands

CA 60 between Beaumont and Riverside…

Gribblenation

Search This Blog