Ridge Route Preservation Organization
Working to protect and preserve the Scenic and Historic 1915 Ridge Route
On September 13, 2022, I will be giving a Zoom presentation for the Historic Highway 99 Association of California on the Ridge Route Alternate between Castaic and Tejon Pass. Come join the Association for the presentation! See the link below for details and to learn how to sign up.
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkf-2hrzsiH904SqBi5hu0v6BAHfBEuTSC
We have some good news regarding the condition of the roadway. Southern California Edison and other contractors recently completed a project to replace some of the wires on their power lines. To make sure the vehicles they used could traverse the roadway and not do any damage, they cleared the roadway. The large rockslides in Swede’s Cut and Serpentine Drive reported in January have been removed. The large boulder that was moved during our August 2021 CUTRR was broken down yet more and moved further from the roadway. The gates still remain closed and the roadway between the gates is only open to non-motorized travel.
Our CUTRR events are currently on hold due to personal obligations. They will resume as soon as possible. We are also working with the USFS to get permission to use heavier equipment / mechanized tools to increase our efficiency. Thank you all for your patience and continued support.
Our online meetings should resume soon. I am working on a date for May at this time. Previous meetings have been quite successful, and I would like to keep that going. Your input has been very helpful. Future meetings will be recorded, as requested through our recent poll. If you miss a meeting, it will be posted on our YouTube channel.
Make sure to subscribe to our site to get updates on upcoming CUTRR events and Ridge Route news.
Events such as January 26, 2021 when big rigs tried to travel the Ridge Route and past fires, we thought it was a good idea to have a place to report things. If you see something wrong on the Ridge Route, be it a developing washout, large vehicles traversing the roadway, or things out-of-the-ordinary, we have set up a web page to help you report things on the road. We will pass the information along to the appropriate agencies as needed.
To Report Problems or other issues on the Ridge Route, please use the website below. The web page is also located under our “Current Roadway Conditions” page in the menu.
Would you like to write an article for our newsletter? We are looking for stories about the road, experiences you’ve had, or information about the history. Perhaps something about the things you can see alongside the roadway, such as the plants and geology. Let us know!
Swede’s Cut, is the largest and most famous cut along the Ridge Route. It slices through a ridge at 110 feet in depth. The cut is also the source of many rockslides, due to the steep sides and easily broken sedimentary layers within. We do hope to see it as clear as it was in 1915 someday. With your help, we will make that happen.
We are trying out something new this year. As stated in our last newsletter, we are starting to hold more regular meetings, albeit online via Zoom, to help keep everyone updated on the roadway, give presentations on various aspects of the history of the road or special features, and give time to share stories about the roadway.
For our January meeting, Michael Ballard will be sharing photos from the last two trips over the roadway showing the current state of the Ridge Route and giving an update on the status of upcoming events. Come join us on Thursday, January 20 at 6 pm!
To register, please use the link below:
http://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwtde-pqTwiH9TT3Z5xjxm-nQPIO_qrZhRl
With winter coming, we will be shutting down our CUTRR projects until March or April 2022, depending on how winter goes. Planning gets to be a bit more difficult when dodging rain and snow storms. Those same storms also bring additional hazards to the historic roadway. To ensure both yourself and the roadway stay as safe as possible, please do not travel the roadway during or just after a heavy rain or snow storm. Mud, rocks, and other debris may be present on the roadway blocking the roadway. The concrete paving is also most vulnerable during this period and can be easier to break with a wet base. We can all do our part to help keep the roadway safe.
Overall, the roadway is in decent shape with some major exceptions. Those exceptions are a part of our CUTRR goals and what we intend to get the USFS to repair as needed. The gates at both ends remain closed and as always, if you see them open DO NOT expect them to remain open for the duration of your visit. USFS, utility companies, and other groups with access may close the gates behind them.
We are working with the USFS to “upgrade” our relationship with them as well as get approvals to use heavier equipment, such as skid-steers and scrapers. Using them will allow us to clear the roadway a lot easier and with greater speed while still ensuring the historic roadway remains intact. Our last two events have mostly used hand tools, which we still will use for smaller projects and to clear brush as needed. I do wish to thank ALL that have contributed to the success of these events, in any way they have contributed. Some have done so financially, others brought tools, many others have been helping swing picks and clear debris. We couldn’t, nor could we continue, to do this without all your efforts. Thank you Ridge Route volunteers!
We had another successful CUTRR event on the 23rd. We set the date later in October with the hopes the weather would be cooler and the fire danger would have subsided. We got that and more. It rained a bit the night before, but not enough to cancel or cause a problem. It rained / drizzled yet more when we all met in Gorman. However, when we got to the work site, the weather was near perfect.
The work was hampered a fair amount due to the lack of heavier equipment. Should we do this again without skid-steer/bobcat-type equipment, we intend to use powered tools, such as jackhammers and the like to break up and remove the debris from the roadway. We hadn’t really used such equipment in the past and I hadn’t considered it before as a result.
Despite using just hand tools, we made really good progress, thanks to our volunteers. The drain was cleared, channels were dug to help direct the water better, and a decent amount of material was removed to help prevent this from getting worse. Repairs to the drainage culvert will be necessary in the near future, however, as it is starting to rust and develop holes.
If you’d like to help plan the next CUTRR event, let us know! We can use the help.
Make sure to subscribe to our site to get updates on upcoming CUTRR events and Ridge Route news.
With all the recent fire activity as well as other events such as January 26 when big rigs tried to travel the Ridge Route, we thought it was a good idea to have a place to report things. If you see something wrong on the Ridge Route, be it a developing washout, large vehicles traversing the roadway, or things out-of-the-ordinary, we have have set up a web page to help you report things on the road. We will pass the information along to the appropriate agencies as needed.
To Report Problems or other issues on the Ridge Route, please use the website below. The web page is also located under our “Current Roadway Conditions” page in the menu.
This month’s featured photo shows a section of the Ridge Route which seems insignificant, but contains a great deal of history. It was taken on Castaic Lake Drive just north of the Castaic Lagoon entrance. This location marks the end of the 1915-1917 Saugus to Castaic paving, the 1922 widening of the 1917 paving (the small strip of concrete at the edge of the roadway), the beginning of the “true” Ridge Route 20′ wide paving, the first curve on the Ridge Route, and the former junction with Elizabeth Lake Canyon Road (now Lake Hughes Road). Come check out this unique piece of Ridge Route history next time you visit Castaic or Castaic Lake.
Our event on August 28 was a great success! Let’s keep that going. Our next event will be on Saturday, October 23, 2021, weather and conditions permitting as always. This event will concentrate on the northern end of the roadway between Granite Gate and the Liebre Maintenance Station site. This section of roadway has numerous potholes, rocks, and other debris covering the roadway which need to be cleared. We are negotiating with the USFS to get permission to use asphalt patch material for the potholes and potentially larger equipment such as a skip-loader to remove some of the debris. Lacking those, we can still make great progress on the roadway and reduce the damage to the historic roadway. Please bring shovels, picks, branch cutters / clippers, and any other tools to help clear dirt from the roadway and brush from the drains. We will need a truck or two to transport material to another site for disposal.
If you would like to join us, please RSVP as soon as possible. Let us know what sort of equipment you will bring and if you are able to assist with transporting the materials to a disposal site further south on the roadway. Try to carpool, if possible, so that we can reduce the number of vehicles on the roadway.
We will meet at the parking lot of the Carl’s Jr in Gorman (49669 Gorman Post Rd, Gorman, CA 93243) near Exit 202 off I-5 at 8 am. We will depart by 8:30 am and head to the work site.
If you have any questions or concerns about the event, please let us know. We look forward to seeing you all there! Please use the form below to sign up for the event.
For Amateur Radio: We will be on 146.580 (Simplex) as well for communications.
If you haven’t already, please use the box below to subscribe to our website. You will receive any updates we post to our site directly to your e-mail.
