Anderson Valley to Wards Ferry

Oakdale, CA

    After leaving Eastman Lake I drove north over a little used Mariposa County road call Ben Hur Road; it's slightly less than 2 lanes wide even though there is a solid double yellow line down its center. It's likely an old wagon road which has been paved.
    Here's a view west into the San Joaquin Valley from a high point on Ben Hur Road.

    Anderson Valley, where I worked for the US Forest Service pruning pine trees during the summers of 1958 and 1959. Note the snow left over from the previous night on a hill on the other side of Bull Creek.
    Bull Creek was part of the stage route to Yosemite in the late 19th century. Here's how Russell P. Sage described the route in his One Hundred Years in Yosemite: "The Coulterville Trail started at Bull Creek, to which point a wagon road already had been constructed, and passed through Deer Flat, Hazel Green, Crane Flat, and Tamarack Flat to the point now known as Gentry, and thence to the valley. Its total length was forty-eight miles, of which seventeen miles could be traveled in a carriage."

    A plaque describing the Coulterville Toll [or Stage] Route. Unfortunately the $50,000 raised and used to improve the road in 1956 was wasted since the majority of traffic used the Big Oak Flat road [CA120] and entrance. In fact, when I asked both campers at Anderson Valley and USFS personnel they both said the road from near Anderson Valley to Deer Flat was impassable -- supposedly because of the heavier than normal winter and late spring. But that road was in poor condition in 1959.

 

 

    Panning to the right: more of Anderson Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Between the trees: Pilot Peak Lookout, which a mine owner in the area said had just closed for the season.

 

 

 

 

 

    As I looked outside my camper on the morning I discovered that someone had put a tablecloth on my picnic table. Hey! Mother Nature did it, for the white tablecloth is snow!

 

 

 

 

    The new Wards Ferry Bridge built after the level of Don Pedro Reservoir was raised by a new dam.

 

 

    Since law enforcement rarely travels down to the Wards Ferry Bridge (except perhaps when an RVer with a large Class A on the Groveland side tries to take a shortcut to CA108) the spray-can vandals have covered most of the bridge; indeed, with no unpainted (ie., untainted) surface left, they're now working on the road.

 

 

    Looking up the North Fork of the Tuolumne River arm of Don Pedro one can see the remnants of the previous Wards Ferry Bridge. The previous time I drove this route in 1959 I had to work my way through a flock of 150-200 sheep which a herded was moving to greener pastures on the Groveland side.
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Links:

• Wikipedia article on Don Pedro Reservoir
• More Wards Ferry Road Photos from Pashnit

Su 6 Nov Actual Route: Pines CG - Wards Ferry [Bridge] - Tuolumne - Sonora - N.F. Tuolumne River

M 7 Nov Actual Route: N.F. Tuolumne River - Sonora - N.F. Tuolumne River

T 8 Nov Actual Route: N.F. Tuolumne River - Sonora - N.F. Tuolumne River

W 9 Nov Actual Route: N.F. Tuolumne River - Sonora - Copperopolis - Woodward Reservoir CG

W 9 Nov Actual Route: N.F. Tuolumne River - Sonora - Woodward Reservoir CG

Th 10 Nov Actual Route: Woodward Resv - Oakdale - Copperopolis - Oakdale - Woodward Reservoir

F 11 Nov Actual Route: Woodward Resv - Oakdale - Sonora - N.F. Tuolumne River

Sa 12 Nov Route: N.F. Tuolumne River - Sonora - N.F. Tuolumne River
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Finding Campgrounds:

• RV Campgrounds from TrailerLifeDirectory.com
• Family Camping Directories from Woodalls.com

N.B. I receive nothing from Trailer Life or Woodalls for including links to their free campground lookups.

Woodward Reservoir to Fleming Mdws (Don Pedro)

Fleming Mdws CG, Don Pedro Reservoir, CA

    Before leaving Woodward Rerervoir Campground I walked out the road to the pennisula where I have driven when I arrived yesterday hoping to spend the night there; but, alas, there were no electrical junction boxes. Indeed, there were very few people there since most prefer to have juice to run their TVs.

 

    And since the terrain is rather flat around Oakdale, it's highly likly that one can pick up at least a few Modesto stations. And with the roof-top antennas that even my truck camper has, one ought to be able to pick up some Sacramento RV stations as well.

 

 

 

    Yet another photo of the upper end of Woodward, this one perhaps taken with my hat shadding the lens.

 

 

 

    One of the many marinas at Don Pedro Reservoir, with this shot taken from the Tent Only Camping area of Fleming Mdws Campground. Decided I didn't want to pay $35 or a full hook-up (water, sewer, & electricity) so I opted to dry-camp; as it turns out there is water, presumably potable, here in Block A.

    Here's a view toward what appears to be the upper end of the lake, but the main Tuolumne River makes several twists and turns before passing the former site of Jacksonville and then continuing up stream to the powerhouse and fish hatchery at Moccasin and Moccasin Creek. [Believe Jacksonville was buried under 70' of water.]

    Used to drive from my grandparents' place in Tuolumne back to the Groveland District Ranger Station of the Stanislaus Nation Forest and primarily used the main highway: 108 from Sonora and 120 after taking the Chinese Camp cutoff. There was a steep hill down to Jacksonville where one could really roll if he didn't use his brakes. And there was quite a resort near the bridge over the North Fork of the Tuolumne River near its junction with the main fork.
    The photo above was of a rental fleet of houseboats. When full Don Pedro has 13,000 surface acres and 160 miles of shoreline. By way of comparison, Lake McClure, which is like a Giant H, has 82 miles of shorline. The elevation of the latter is 900' while Don Pedro's elevation isn't listed in either of my guidebooks; but I'd guess it's perhaps 150' higher. [Wrong! It's 60' lower than McClure at 840'.]
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    If you noted some blue in the above foreground, it was the typical lupin color: blue, as you can see in the photo to the right.

 

 

    Actually took this photo of a houseboat anchorage near the dam as I was leaving Don Pedro. Unfortunately, there was not a place near the dam to take a photo looking up the lake or down the new outlet canyon. Also, there are no sidewalks and several "Do Not Stop on Dam" signs.
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Links:

• Wikipedia article on Done Pedro Reservoir
• Fate and photo of original Don Pedro Dam

Th 28 Apr Actual Route: Woodward Reservoir - Oakdale - Fleming Mdws CG (Don Pedro Reservoir)

F 29 Actual Apr Route: Fleming Mdws CG -Jamestown - Sonora

Sa 30 Actual Apr Route: Sonora - Columbia - Murphys - Arnold - Dorrington - Murphys - Angels Camp -Frogtown RV Park

Su 1 May Actual Route: Frogtown RV Pk (Calaveras County Fairgrouds) - New Melones Campgrounds

M 2 May Route: New Melones Campground (Big Oak) - Sonora - Big Oak CG

Photo Gallery2

Hollister Inn, CA.

While attending San Jose State I worked during the summers for the US Forest Service in the Stanislaus Natl Forest; the first two summers, '58 & '59, were in the Groveland District.
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This first photo [click on it 1 or 2 times for a bigger photo] was taken from a hilltop to the left of SR120 a few miles past the Groveland Ranger Station and was an attempt to capture a view to the NE including the snow on the higher Sierra peaks.

The second shot was taken from a slightly different spot on the same hilltop -- but looking to the SE.

 

 

 

 

One of the shortcuts to following SR120 to the Groveland RS which locals told me about was the Ferretti Ranch - Big Creek Rd (now Ferretti Rd). The first shot was taken about 1.5 - 2 miles past the junction with the Lumdsen Bridge Rd looking NNE.

 

Moved further back up Ferretti Rd to take another shot through the break in the tall roadside brush and trees.

 

 

 

 

 

Don't know if this is true or not, but Priest's Grade from just below Big Oak Flat down to Mocasin was reputed to have 166 turns in its six miles -- but there are plenty of turns.
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This view is of the northeastern arm of Don Pedro Reservoir and Mocasin Creek.

 

 

Houseboats on Don Pedro taken from near a boat ramp below the Mocasin Point RV Campground.

 

 

 

 

 

RIP Jacksonville, CA! When the New Don Pedro Dam was built the enlarged reservoir buried Jacksonville under c70 feet of water, a fate suffered by several other Mother Load gold-mining towns.

 

 

 

Sunday's Route: Mocasin Pt RV CG - Chinese Camp - Red Hills - Waterford - Turlock - Los Banos - Hollister
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Monday's Route: Hollister - Watsonville - Santa Cruz