Good timing, I drove both those roads last week. Neither is in good condition, but since you are already in B.O.L.A, I would probably just head
south.
The last time I drove that route was right after Hurricane Kay, and there were some rugged detours around washed out areas. The temporary repairs
have not been upgraded, and there are miles of washboard and long sections of the road are bedrock and cobbles that really can't be graded.
The steeper sections are the worst, and the closer to the junction with the El Arco road, the lack of maintenance is more pronounced.
I did not really need 4x4 with my Trooper, but the road has enough rough and soft areas that I strongly recommend airing down if your tires are large
enough to carry the load at a reduced psi.
The road in from El Arco is a smoother ride, and showed signs of recent grading, but it is also still using the temporary repairs from post Kay
damage.
The grading does not include pushing the shoulders back where they should be, so there are miles of soft, 1 1/2 lane wide roads. The closest I came
to getting stuck was two occasions when I met oncoming pickups and we both had to jump up on huge, soft curbs!
The old repairs to the steep grade down to the junction held up, but it is still slow going. I did not drive the last section down to San
Francisquito, but on past visits it always seemed to get better maintenance than either of the roads feeding it.
The last two years have been good for the vegetation which is starting to encroach on the roadways.
A bonus was two different sightings of deer along the road, probably because of the vegetation. |
