Hate to give away a secret, but I'm wondering if any TT owners have discovered the "Road 600" complex of extremely suitable roads for spirited driving. These roads are all in rural Madera county.

I'm not advocating that anyone exceed local speed laws (!) or the boundaries of safe and sane driving practices, but if you want a fast and beautiful way to get to Yosemite from the south bay/Monterey Bay area, try the route listed below. L.A. area folks driving north on I-5 can exit at CA 152 and follow the directions from there.

1. Take CA 152 over Pacheco pass and through Los Baņos.
2. Exit CA 152 at Chowchilla to CA 233. Drive through Chowchilla on CA 233 and over CA 99. CA 233 becomes Avenue 26.
3. About two miles out of Chowchilla on Ave. 26, (you should be able to see the Sierra on a clear day from here) , you can put the hammer down for eleven miles of rough but perfectly straight and relatively unpatrolled asphalt. Watch out for the railroad tracks....
4. Turn right onto Madera County Road 29 at the end of Avenue 26, then drive .5 mile to a left onto Road 603.
Watch for blind corners on Road 603.
5. Turn left and continue on road 603 at the first stop sign. If you like getting airborne and/or testing the compression of your springs, get ready, because a parallel series of foothills makes the next 1.5 miles more fun than the Texas Cyclone. Don't worry if you can't see the road in front of you at the apex of the hill - it's there, and it's straight until the fourth crest.
6. At the next stop sign, turn left onto Road 600, or continue straight on Road 603, past Hensley lake. (Ahem. ACE Reservoir.)

Both roads run through sparsely populated areas of the beautiful Sierra Nevada foothills, with lots of challenging corners and hills. Watch for deer at night.

Road 603 eventually rejoins Road 415 near Coarsegold, and Road 415 empties onto CA highway 41, about 23 miles south of the south gate to Yosemite. The south entrance to the park is typically less crowded than El Portal, and there's more to see and do along the way in Oakhurst.

Have fun, and remember not to be a touron* when in Yosemite. Oh, and good luck getting past Joe Motorhome and Betty Bluehair on CA 41.

*Touron: n. Tourist who is a moron, refusing to use pullouts when driving slowly up mountain roads, ignoring posted warnings about sensitive areas in National Parks, and generally being a nuisance.

 

Wish we had places like this in Jersey. sigh =;^[ Even NJTP is stop and go these days.

 

Obviously, you've never driven up NJ-23 to High Point!

 

A ****load of cops, small towns, and traffic most of the time. From Sussex on is a mystery to me. Haven't been to High Point since I've had a drivers license. Sounds good, whatsitlike?

 

to Yosemite. Love all those roads. In addition to the great directions people should also try driving through the valley at night with clear sky and full moon. That was magic. God I miss California.

 

Hike through the valley on a clear night in February, after a heavy snowfall, during a full moon, and with two friends, after a little too much talk about photography and a little too much Mac Allan 15 year.

Ach, but that was years ago...just after the Flood.

 

Yosemite is one of my fav places in the world.

 

Check you're email in a couple.

 

You're climbing the mountain on killer twisties, and the Port Jervis side is two lanes going up the mountain. Next time you're flying out of Sussex, just look for the monument on top of the highest mountain and fly towards it.
Unfortunately, I know all too well how to get to Sussex Airport..... :-(

 

Why do you frequent Sussex Airport so much? ??