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Rock River Road (Tuolumne County and Stanislaus County)

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Rock River Road is an approximately 9.3-mile-long rural highway corridor located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Tuolumne County and Stanislaus County.  As presently configured Rock River Road begins at Green Springs Road (former California State Route 120) near Keystone in Tuolumne County and terminates in Willms Road near Warnerville in Stanislaus County.  

Rock River Road was originally known as "Oakdale and Sonora Road."  This corridor was developed as highway frontage of the Sierra Railroad in the 1890s following the course of North Fork Dry Creek from Warnerville to Keystone.  The name "Rock River Road" first appears on 1950s era maps and likely is a reference to a gravel pit once located on North Fork Dry Creek.  The paved portion of Rock River Road in Tuolumne County has some of the most haggard asphalt conditions in California whereas the Stanislaus County portion is surfaced in well maintained gravel. 




Part 1; the history of Rock River Road

Rock River Road connects the Sierra Railroad sidings of Keystone and Warnerville via the general course of North Fork Dry Creek.  The corridor was once known as Oakdale and Sonora Road as it was a direct link to the two communities by highway.  

Warnerville is one of many sidings which were established by the Sierra Railway after the company incorporated during February 1897.  The company quickly constructed a line east of Oakdale to Chinese Camp by November 1897.  The company would plot Occidential, Paulsell, Warnerville, Copperstown, Chinese and Crimea (now Keystone) sidings during the initial run of line construction.  The line would later be extended east of Jamestown to the community of Tuolumne by 1900.  The Sierra Railway from the outset has been a freight corridor which has mostly been focused on the hauling of lumber. 

Oakdale and Sonora Road can be seen branching northeast of Warnerville to the Tuolumne County line near the property of G.W. Price on the 1906 map of Stanislaus County.  


Oakdale and Sonora Road can be seen connecting Warnerville to Crimea on the 1914 Weber map of Stanislaus County.  


Oakdale and Sonora Road can be seen in detail on the 1916 United States Geological Survey maps of Cooperstown and Copperopolis.  The roadway corridor name is overtly displayed on the Copperopolis area map.  Rushing Ranch and the Big Hill Lookout (now atop what is known as Rushing Mountain) are both displayed as being accessible just west of the highway withing Tuolumne County. 





Oakdale and Sonora Road is displayed as a minor local highway on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Tuolumne County.  Crimea is shown to have been renamed as "Keystone."


Oakdale and Sonora Road appears renamed as "Rock River Road" on the 1954 United States Geological Survey map of Copperopolis.  It isn't fully clear what the name "Rock River" references.  The corridor is not near a river but is shown as permitting access a gravel pit along Dry Creek near the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct. 


The Tuolumne County portion of Rock River Road was eventually paved.  Within Stanislaus County the highway has never been paved but is often graded and surfaced with gravel.  The asphalt in Tuolumne County is some of the poorest maintained in the state of California (see Part 2 as I'm quite certain this isn't a hyperbolic statement). 



Part 2; a drive on Rock River Road

Southbound Rock River Road begins at Green Springs Road (former California State Route 120) near Keystone siding.  


Southbound Rock River Road crosses North Fork Dry Creek.  The initial asphalt conditions aren't great but not really remarkable until the roadway reaches a private ranch property.  Rock River Road turns left at the ranch property, but it is difficult to identify due to the heavily weathered asphalt. 























Beyond the ranch the asphalt conditions worsen as Rock River Road approaches a vista of San Joaquin Valley.




The broken asphalt on Rock River Road can be difficult to negotiate around in a low clearance vehicle but can be done at low speeds.  The asphalt gives way to gravel at the unmarked Stanislaus County line.  
















The gravel portion of Rock River Road is well maintained and quite the contrast to the asphalt conditions in Tuolumne County.  Nonetheless the remoteness of the terrain is evident due to signage having been blasted by shotgun shells. 



Rock River Road terminates at Willms Road near the siding of Warnerville.  Rock River Road, Willms Road, Copperstown Road, Warnerville Road and Crabtree Road all converge at Warnerville siding.  








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