Submitted by a viewer, "How's the road over Grayback?"
I just went "over the hill" to Cave Junction a few days ago, and I paid especially close attention to the condition of the road.
For years there had been marked differences in the condition since roughly one half of the road is in California and the other is in Oregon. The winter snow drifts -- sometimes five to six feet -- that close down the seasonal road every year also add to the road erosion problems. In the past several years water runoff measures have been taken to keep the road in better condition.
Not being a road engineer, please take my descriptions with a grain of salt. The California side has recently been "black topped" or asphalted, and the condition is smooth and level. The center line markers -- at this point -- are the yellow tabs instead of paint. At the summit, someone has marked the "Cali" and "Oregon" line on the road with orange spray paint -- being a Greyback traveller since it was paved decades ago, there seems to always have been the painted marking.
At the painted line, you can see that the Oregon side is different. It is what we would call a standard paved mountain road -- with a few bumps and cracks here and there. It's not uncommon to see a small section of the road, usually on the downhill side, slouching a little bit due to the erosion under the road. The "slouch" causes a little bump -- worse ones get taken care of.
There is one spot in the road -- currently -- where road repair is happening due to a gully washout. The small detour to the side is probably less than 50 yards, and is not paved. Hopefully the road repair will be done by the time you all show up.
If it were me, I'd watch my speeds on the downhill side -- there are some areas where keeping it on the road is very important.
Also, when you see the 10 mph caution sign and "whoa!" painted on the road (by the same state line painter?) -- it signals the beginning of one hairpin switchback.
It's a beautiful, beautiful ride. We can't wait to welcome all of you!
I just went "over the hill" to Cave Junction a few days ago, and I paid especially close attention to the condition of the road.
For years there had been marked differences in the condition since roughly one half of the road is in California and the other is in Oregon. The winter snow drifts -- sometimes five to six feet -- that close down the seasonal road every year also add to the road erosion problems. In the past several years water runoff measures have been taken to keep the road in better condition.
Not being a road engineer, please take my descriptions with a grain of salt. The California side has recently been "black topped" or asphalted, and the condition is smooth and level. The center line markers -- at this point -- are the yellow tabs instead of paint. At the summit, someone has marked the "Cali" and "Oregon" line on the road with orange spray paint -- being a Greyback traveller since it was paved decades ago, there seems to always have been the painted marking.
At the painted line, you can see that the Oregon side is different. It is what we would call a standard paved mountain road -- with a few bumps and cracks here and there. It's not uncommon to see a small section of the road, usually on the downhill side, slouching a little bit due to the erosion under the road. The "slouch" causes a little bump -- worse ones get taken care of.There is one spot in the road -- currently -- where road repair is happening due to a gully washout. The small detour to the side is probably less than 50 yards, and is not paved. Hopefully the road repair will be done by the time you all show up.
If it were me, I'd watch my speeds on the downhill side -- there are some areas where keeping it on the road is very important.
Also, when you see the 10 mph caution sign and "whoa!" painted on the road (by the same state line painter?) -- it signals the beginning of one hairpin switchback.It's a beautiful, beautiful ride. We can't wait to welcome all of you!
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