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Yokohl Valley Drive and the Lone Pine-Porterville High Sierra Road

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Yokohl Valley Drive is an approximately 23-mile-long rural highway located in the Sierra Nevada range of Tulare County.  The corridor originated in the 1860s as an overland trail to the gold strikes of the Coso Mountains near Owens Valley.  Yokohl Valley Drive begins at Balch Park Road (County Route J37) near Milo and extends northwest to California State Route 198.  
Yokohl Valley Drive was the northern Visalia Branch of the so-called Lone Pine-Porterville High Sierra Road. The initial survey for the route of the High Sierra Road was conducted in 1923 and was to be funded by Tulare County, Kern County, and Inyo County. Road building input was provided to the aforementioned counties by the California Division of Highways in addition to the Automobile Club of Southern California. Monetary assistance was provided by the City of Los Angeles which fronted $170,000 to build part of the road eastward from Mulky Pass towards Lone Pine. Much of the route of the Lone Pine to High Sierra Road was built from Lone Pine westward towards Carroll Creek but never to Mulky Pass (only Horseshoe Meadows). This section would be adopted by the California Division of Highways in 1933 as part of Legislative Route Number 127 which became California State Route 190 in 1934.
Along the western Sierra Nevade the High Sierra Road would originally be constructed as the highway to Balch Park (now Balch Park Road). This road annexed Yokohl Valley Drive as a branch to Visalia. Ultimately the Balch Park corridor was found to be wanting, and the High Sierra Road corridor would shift south to the Middle Fork Tule River. The Middle Fork segment would also become part of Legislative Route Number 127 and California State Route 190.




Part 1; the history of Yokohl Valley Drive

Early European settlement in Yokohl Valley came following the 1853 Kern River Gold Rush which spurred development of the southern Sierra Nevada range.  John Jordan who settled in Yokohl Valley in 1861 petitioned Tulare County to construct a tolled trail east over the Sierra Nevada.  The purpose of the so-called Jordan Trail to permit a fast route to the gold claims of the Coso Mountains east of Owens Valley.  The Jordan Trail would be the origin point for what is now modern Yokohl Valley Drive. 

The 1876 Baker Map of Tulare County displays the Jordan Trail originating in Township 19 South/Range 28 East near Visalia and extending through the Sierra Nevada towards the North Fork Tule River at Range to Township 20/Range 29 East.


The Jordan Trail can be seen connecting the communities of Yokohl and Milo via Yokohl Valley on the 1892 Thompson Atlas of Tulare County in Township 19 South/Range 28 East. 


Township 20/Range 29 East shows the southern terminus of Yokohl Valley Drive at Milo. 


In modern times the Jordan Trail would come to be known as Yokohl Valley Drive.  The corridor can be seen as a minor automotive highway west of Milo on the 1917 California State Automobile Association map.  


In 1923 the so-called Lone Pine-Porterville High Sierra Road was proposed.  The highway corridor was to ascend into the Sierra Nevada west of Owens Valley via Carroll Creek towards the 11,300-foot high Mulky Pass.  From Mulky Pass the High Sierra Road was to extend westward into Tulare County over the Kern Canyon Fault and emerge onto Balch Park Road (County Route J37).  After crossing the North Fork Tule River, the High Sierra Road would have split.   The northwest route would have followed Yokohl Valley Drive to Visalia whereas the southwest route went towards Porterville.  A map in the 1926 Los Angeles Times Article depicts a drawing of said Trans-Sierra Highway.


$1,000,000 dollars was set aside to build the Lone Pine-Porterville High Sierra Road.  What became Horseshoe Meadows Road from Carroll Creek was on land owned by the City of Los Angeles.  The City of Los Angeles was slated to contribute $170,000 dollars to build a road to Mulky Pass.  Below the construction of Horseshoe Meadows Road can be seen in a photo sourced from owensvalleyhistory.com and Inyo County Sequicentennial.  


The below photo sourced from Tales from El Camino Sierra shows a dirt surface Horseshoe Meadows Road when it was a dirt surface.


in 1933 Legislative Route Number 127 (LRN 127) was added to the State Highway System.  The original definition of LRN 127 was as follows:

-  LRN 4 near Tipton, via Porterville and Camp Nelson to LRN 23 near Lone Pine
-  LRN 31 to Death Valley and connection to the California-Nevada State Line
-  LRN 23near Lone Pine to Death Valley

In particular LRN 127 absorbed the planned route of the Lone Pine-Porterville High Sierra Road but also heavily modified it in the western Sierra Nevada.  Tulare County seems to have already abandoned the concept of the High Sierra Road to Yokohl Valley Drive via Balch Park in favor the Middle Fork Tule River Canyon around 1931 when Camp Nelson opened. 

Despite being omitted from the State Highway System Yokohl Valley Drive is displayed as a major county highway on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Tulare County.  


During the latter half of the twentieth century Tulare County would begin number their roadway corridors.  Yokohl Valley Drive was assigned as Tulare County Mountain Road 296.  



Part 2; exploring Yokohl Valley Drive

Westbound Yokohl Valley Drive beings at Balch Park Road (County Route J37) in the community of Milo.  California State Route 198 is signed as being 23 miles away.  


Westbound Yokohl Valley Drive quickly ascends from Milo to an unnamed pass located at approximately 2,700 feet above sea level (at roughly Postmile 19.50).  





























Yokohl Valley Drive winds through a series of switchbacks and beings to descend into Yokohl Valley. 













Westbound Yokohl Valley Drive descends into Yokohl Valley proper which is filled with rural ranch properties.  






















Yokohl Valley Drive continues west through the namesake valley following Yokohl Creek.  The rural nature of the corridor ends as it makes a right-hand turn at Tulare County Road 228.  Signage indicates California State Route 198 to be 3 miles away.  








































Yokohl Valley Drive terminates at California State Route 198.  







Near the western terminus of Yokohl Valley Drive the abandoned Visalia Electric Railroad Bridge over Yokohl Creek can be found.  The Visalia Electric Railroad was an interurban line which incorporated in 1904. Passenger service was discontinued in 1924, and the line was converted for diesel locomotives in 1944. The line was shuttered in 1992 which led to an abandonment of this span.



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