Thank you, Miguel. Yes, that route is kind of scary. The locals are used to the fact that there are no guardrails, but I'm still not crazy about the 178. I often go through Walker Basin (from Caliente) to avoid the canyon route. It's more circuitous, but I don't have to worry about people pushing from behind up and down the canyon. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Yeah, that was an odd place for the CHP to be sitting. I remember thinking that on that drive. It's just across from Lebec School (opposite side of the freeway). But just as well. A lot of people start to really blaze through there once they have made it onto that first plateau before turning towards Frasier Park. The end of the summer was pretty smoggy this year. There were a few fires around, but I'd say not more fires than normally at that time of year. Since the weather has come through in the past few days, the air feels a lot cleaner. The good thing about storms! Thank you for watching the video, Mark! -Fred : )

I love driving through the night. As long as I'm not too tired, it's such a pleasure since there is usually much less traffic on the roads. Hoping you had a great weekend, MM! -Fred : )

That's really cool that you know these areas so well. Me too. I went to USC and pretty much used the same route from Studio City all of the time (in order to avoid the Hollywood Freeway). I used to use Glendale Blvd past Echo Park Lake at times, connecting between the 5, the 2, and the 101. I don't know how those short cuts would work today during traffic since I don't live down there anymore. But my guess is that all short-cut routes have been discovered by now. Thank you for watching. Fred : )

You got it, late summer! Yeah, I had to meander around a bit to get to the freeway because of some things I had to do. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Oh cool Tony. We are cut from the same cloth. I go down there quite a bit still, navigating the increasing density of traffic and such. I do appreciate how minor "rush hours" are up here. Lol. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

@RapidTopography At this point, I'm good with just going to the San Fernando Valley and hitting a few spots there. It's still very similar to how it was when I lived down there, which can't be said about the LA basin. Plus I spent a lot of time in the SFV as a kid, so there are a lot of good memories for me there. Thanks for posting these Fred - I look forward to your next video! Also, I got a bit thrown with when you got on the I-5 cuz in the outskirts of Bakersfield. I usually take the 99 until it merges with the 5.

I love desert driving! Thank you for watching the video, MM! -Fred : )

Yes, MM, autumn indeed. We'll see if they ever build that truck lane on the 58. It's a long way away, to be sure! -Fred : )

Thank you, HankPany! I really had a lot of fun shooting it. I love that it's still up there after all of these years too. Thank you for watching it. -Fred : )

Yes, this was after a nice day at Ventura Beach, then eating at Lure Restaurant. This was the night that I forgot my credit card there and had to come back the next day. Oh well. It was worth it for a nice day and night out and about. -Fred : )

Yeah, sometimes I like to take the 210 because it's just a bit quieter if I know I am going to Glendale or Pasadena. They used the 210 a lot when they filmed "CHiPs", the TV show. The freeway was pretty new back then. Thank you for watching, Mark! -Fred : )

It's a rarity, isn't it? There are so many cars in California that when you can find a stretch of road to yourself, it's a gift. Thank you for watching, MSGROSE1. -Fred : )

Do you know why this was done, Gary? I've noted it in other videos, but a lot of people don't know why the lanes are flipped. Just let me know if you don't and I'll explain it. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Yeah, I thought of that too. Those are really pretty roads through those areas, and being on a motorcycle would be really freeing. Great idea. -Fred : )

Thank you, MM! I appreciate your watching my videos. Fred : )

I agree MM. I tend not to use the 10 to get into Arizona simply because the Inland Empire and those areas including Yucaipa and Beaumont can get pretty congested. I don't recall now why I went that way on that day. I think I might have had to have stopped in the Burbank area that day. And boy can Phoenix can busy too! Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

That sounds like SoCal drivers, Normsweet. Lol. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

@ I forgot to mention my Dads remarks came after 2 weeks in LA 1946 after getting outta the Navy after WWll . He said “this ol Mich farmer seen quite a bit “ of the way they live & drive out there .

Just imagine if he could see it now. It's such craziness with all of the congestion. That's why I love the open road. Fred : )

Yes, drticzon, here's a quick fly over I did of it using a map: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHnMpKCqfJuNarM -Fred : )

Yeah, MM. It's because I left my credit card at Lure Restaurant in Ventura the night before. So I had to go back the next day. That was a big bummer! But it was a nice drive. Most of the 126 feels safer nowadays. Like you implied, it used to be more two lane road and there were lots of accidents long the way. But it's better now. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Anything to get some Cheesecake! That one is my favorite Cheesecake Factory because you sit looking at the boats and docks. It's really pretty. The 405 can be so tempermental. But usually just flat out crowded! -Fred : )

Hi MSGROSE1, it's really beautiful as you wrote because of it's desolation and serenity. However, as an alternate to I-5, it's just not one. The reason is that they keep a gate shut about two miles north of Templin Hwy. In order to see the whole route, you must turn around at the gate, drive up to CA SR 138, go down Ridge Route Rd, and then back to the gate again... then turn around to get out. I have very seldom seen the lower gate open. The reason that my video looks fluid is that I dissolved past this gate in either direction when shooting the old route on camera. But it's a great route to take in the beauty of what once was. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Hi Gary, the first item you mentioned above is marked at 4:17 min/sec. You may have missed it. But I put the freeway transitions at the bottom of the screen. The second idea is a good one. The third I wasn't sure what you meant by "cut." I do indicate the transition to I-405 at 12:17 min/sec., but maybe you were referring to something else. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

@@RapidTopography I meant the cut in the mountain where the 405 goes from the San Fernando Valley to the LA area. Again, great job!

Oh, yes, the Sepulveda Pass. I'll mention it next time. When I was learning to drive at age 16, the Sepulveda was was way fewer lanes than it is now. They really did "cut" into the sides of the pass even relatively recently to wide it further. The retaining walls are very tall now, meaning that they have cut deep into the hillsides, especially on the east side of the interstate. Fred : )

Thank you, Gary! I really appreciate it. Yes, as soon as I am able to, I plan to explore the more rural areas of Arizona. I'm kind of tied down at the moment with other things, but I do plan to indeed. Thank for you watching the video and for the kind words. Fred : )

Hi Charkswitlazers, there is a gate that is normally closed at the southern end (about 2 miles north of Templin Hwy), but you can usually enter from the CA SR 138 side and go south quite a distance. You'll just have to turn around and go back if that gate is shut, which is usually is. The way I did the videos in each direction was to drive to the gate, then go around and continue on, dissolving the jump past the gate. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Oh that's great, Claud. I'm glad that seeing the drive gave you a lot of memories again. I really like the parts that are not populated. I originally come from LA, so you can probably understand my appreciation of "low density." Lol. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

@@RapidTopography I lived in Pasadena for 6 months in 1983. It was wild and hectic after my small town of 20,000 but I loved it.

Pasadena has great eateries and shops! Lol. Fred : )

Thank you, JL! Yeah, a lot of people haven't seen this route, but have heard it it. That's what gave me the idea to shoot it. I have several higher clearance vehicles now, but at the time I shot this, can you believe that I used a Honda CR-V I had at the time for a lot of it? But other than the upper canyon folds/turns, which had a lot of rocks and pebbles, the car's low clearance wasn't too much of a problem. But I would advise using higher clearance vehicles to anyone else though. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

I'm glad that you enjoyed it, SoCalFun64! I had a lot of fun making it. It had been in my mind for a while to just shoot the whole thing, and it took a few days to cover it all (the LA parts and the Bako parts), but it came out okay I thought. Hope you get to ride on it sometime. Just be aware that there is a gate that is generally kept locked towards the southern part (about 2 miles north of Templin Hwy), so you kind of have to drive back up to the 138 and come around if you want to finish the bottom portion. Fred : )

Awesome! I'm glad that you enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun to shoot. Thank you for watching the video, Reckless! -Fred : )

Thank you JL. I don't make a lot of money on these, but I really love driving and photographing the drives. So it's worth it for me. Thank you for your very kind words and for watching the videos. -Fred : )

That's so great that you have those memories, Paul. I love hearing about them since I never had any firsthand travel though these old routes, with the exception of the Ridge Route Alternate/U.S. Route for maybe a year or two. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Thank you MM. It's funny because I was just at lunch with some people yesterday, we were recalling that drive on the older two-lane 59 through Kramer Junction and all of that, and how white knuckling it was in the later years with so much traffic on the route. So glad they constructed the newer divided highway. Fred : )

I've always loved driving long distance in the night. As long as you're on a highway that's not traffic filled, you just kind of float along through the night. I usually put various podcasts on and try to learn my dense brain a thing or two. Lol. Fred : )

It's crazy how those routes were the main ones back then, HRodriquez. It would be cool to take a time machine and pop back into like the 1940's around L.A. and have a look around. There are quite a few people putting videos of people driving around with cameras back then up and down a lot of the main streets of Los Angeles. I didn't know they even had footage like that from back then. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

I'm sure everyone anywhere close or adjacent to So Cal will feel such an earthquake. They're building the Bullet Train, eventually from San Diego to San Francisco. I've seen online the plans for the portion from L.A. to S.F., and I hope that they reinforce the raised portions as well as the tunnels for larger quakes. This is the guy who has followed the construction of the high speed rail pretty nicely: www.youtube.com/@LucidStew/videos

Those are the officers who check that trucks have their stickers and such, right? I see them a lot in Castaic, about where that part of the video was. I suppose it's because the scales are not far to the south of there. I also see those white CHP cars, often Dodge Chargers, in the Grapevine as well. -Fred : )

Yeah, I grew up on Studio City, and it's definitely different up here. More space, less traffic, the people are not quite as pressured and maybe not quite as haughty feeling. I think it's because the entertainment industry is in LA and creates a lot of that down there. The one thing I miss a lot is restaurants being open later. There are some on Ventura Blvd that I love, and there are just none like those up here. But it's not that far of a drive if we get in the mood for wanting those things. I don't mind the drive since I've done it so consistently since about 1996. I just float along with a podcast on. The trouble starts around Santa Clarita through L.A. with the traffic. I hate traffic. But it is what it is. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Yeah, it winds around a bit. Hope you get to drive it sometime, Tom. It's very serene. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

@@RapidTopography Thank you for filming it.

Yes, ha ha. Thank you for watching. Fred : )

They were doing road repairs while I was shooting the video. They were actually very large rubber mats, as one would see in the gym. Fred : )

It's probably always going to need repairs here and there. Lol Fred : )

You gotta to it, Earl! Just be careful of some of the ruts toward the two where the turns follow the contour of the canyon folds. There are a few rock strewn about. But I'll bet that if you do it, you'll have a blast! -Fred : )

@@RapidTopography Im in my 80s now and live in Washington, sooo I do most of my" traveling " on my I pad now, if I traveled THAT road on a motorcycle I think I would use one of those BMW dirt bikes with a HUGE gas tank, you know? the ones they use for long distance, cross country racing, and have a shaft drive, no chain to fail half/way thru also better to go with several others as it seems there is NOTHING for about 100 miles!! Would sure hate to get stuck up there with a broken machine bet the cell phone coverage is pretty spotty too!!

You're probably right to take a bike that would be robust like that. The distance on the video can kind of fool you. From Castaic to CA SR 138, which I would consider the feral portion of the grapevine, is probably only about 25 miles or so. That trick, as I've mentioned would be getting past the southern gate just north of Templin Hwy by about two miles. So that's why I would say that coming down from the top (CA SR 138) is better because you get a better run that way before having to turn around at the gate and head back. But anyways, yes, the old Ridge Route is probably about 60 miles, but the part where there are no services, between Castaic and Gorman is really only about 25 miles, and if you were to talk only about the unpaved part (where the asphalt has eroded away), it's only about 11 miles I'd say. Fred : )

Straight and bakin' in the sun! Thanks for watching, TRONA-CA. Fred : )

That is so great that you have those memories, Russell. We should all be so lucky to have done it first hand when it was being used. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Thank you, Leslie. Fred : )

Hi Dorothy, yes, this is the original 1913 Ridge Route. The one that you took to see your grandpa was what they called the "Ridge Route Alternate," build in 1933. It was the "U.S. Route 99" through Piru Canyon, part of which is now flooded with Lake Pyramid since about 1970. The Ridge Route Alternate was constructed when they developed better land-moving equipment as a way to offer an alternate to the long, winding Ridge Route. You can still take part of it from Templin Hwy up to the just south of Pyramid Lake, then north of Pyramid Lake to just about half a mile north of Smokey Bear Road. I think I did a video about your section. Let me see if I can find it. Here it is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kITXnGuPf7Z5bZY And then here is an overgrown piece of it just south of the section above: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qanSqXyoZpt2o7M

@@RapidTopography Thanks! I remember when the four-lane highway opened in 1953. My father loved it! The first time we drove it he shocked my mother by announcing, "Look! We're going 100 miles an hour!" He had wondered if the car could actually go that fast or if it was just numbers on the speedometer. So on that nice new road and no traffic, he couldn't resist.

That is so awesome to remember that, Dorothy. How funny. Well, just think, for your parents at that time, a rather straightly aligned highway through the mountains was really exotic. Great story! -Fred : )

@@RapidTopography Like so many men, my father had driven on the autobahns during World War II and enjoyed anything that approached their quality.

See now, XSleep, I need to go to the market and buy some Oreo's and milk. Why'd you mention them. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Hi Brian, that's cool that you got to hear first hand stories about your grandparents taking the Ridge Route. I love those oral histories passed down like that. To answer your question, I'm not sure if it's the Forest Service, or whom, but they have two white gates along the Ridge Route. They are the kinds of gates that they can close to cars and kind of swing and lock. There is one on the southern end of the route, which is about two or three miles north of Templin Hwy. It's after you pass a few ranch houses. That gate is almost always locked. There is also one on the northern side, but not at the top of the route. I'd say it's a good eight miles south of CA SR 138, where that part of the route begins. That one I've found to almost always be open. So you can likely go down from CA SR 138 all the way to the bottom gate, and then you'd turn around. Then, you could drive down to Templin Hwy, turn east (left if you're going southbound on I-5), and reconnect with the route taking it north to the southern side gate. You can take the route all the way down to Castaic from there as well. I hope that you get to do your ride. I think you'll really enjoy the serenity of it. I've seen people pulled over and standing out looking at the views kind of meditating. It's really nice up there. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )

Yeah, MM, I got stuck in the Tule Fog one time as I was driving back from San Francisco or beyond (don't recall), and it was late at night, and I happened to be crossing the Central Valley probably between Lemoore and Hanford on CA SR 198, and the fog was so thick, all that I could do to survive was to keep right behind a big rig's tail lights. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known where the road was. Thank you for watching the video. Fred : )