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Drive #18: La Gloria Road

Date Driven: 8/17/07

Length: 11.4 miles

My Drive Time: 1 hour 16 minutes

Start: Where western La Gloria Rd. turns to dirt, N36º 30.936′ W121º 20.453′

End: La Gloria Rd. and Hwy. 25, N36º 33.977′ W121º 10.984′’

GPS Track: GPX or KMZ format. (right click -> Save As)

Source(s): This Drive doesn’t appear in any of my guidebooks.

Summary: A rural dirt road drive across the mountains, through high valleys and past remote ranches.

Description: This Drive begins in the small agricultural city of Gonzales. La Gloria Road (shown on some maps as Gloria Road) turns from paved to dirt just past the Swiss Rifle Club at the base of the eastern mountains. It’s a pretty normal fire road as it snakes its way up the mountains, offering some nice views along the way.

We climbed 1700′ to the top, before beginning the gradual descent to the eastern end of the road. La Gloria narrows some and passes through a few high valleys and ranches ranches. The road is easy (at least it was when I drove it, when it was dry) and scenic. We stopped for a few geocaches along the way and saw some interesting sights, including a tree with barbed wire grown through it – eight feet above ground.

The road ends at Highway 25, which is a popular backroad drive for motorcyclists and people like me. We headed north and passed through some other small but interesting rural communities. If you go south, it’s not far to the eastern entrance to Pinnacles National Park.

Here’s the photo gallery from my drive.

Disclaimer – This information is provided from the best of my recollection and is necessarily subjective. GPS data is from a personal device inside my vehicle, so coordinates will not be exact. Typos are possible. Use of any of this information is at your own risk and responsibility – period. Conditions change (especially in winter), vehicles and driver skills vary, etc. and I have no control over these things. Don’t let anything written here override your own personal common sense or safety.