Traveling the Grapevine

The portion of Interstate-5 running from Los Angeles to Kern County with a section known as the "Grapevine" twists and turns for forty miles through the Tehachapi Mountains with a serious downhill grade of 6% as it descends into the San Joaquin Valley.  The road is a challenge in either direction for truckers and passenger vehicles alike.  We followed Highway 99 south from Bakersfield today to its juncture with Interstate 5 to join in with the heavy truck traffic and other cars heading up the grade toward Gorman and Fort Tejon (and for us just a few miles further to our destination of Pyramid Lake with its RV park.)  Originally the road was a one-way passage following Indian paths across the ridges of the mountains taking 12 hours to complete the course at 15 mph.  It was called the "The Ridge Road" in the 1920s.  Now it is an eight lane, major highway.  For some really nice historical photos and more details on the history of the road, click here.  Pictured below-we climb toward the summit.

The road got its name from early settlers in the 1800s who hacked their way through thick patches of Cimarron Grapes in order to traverse the same route which they called the Canyon of the Grapes. Today, descendants of these same grapevines can be seen along the road in patches of what appears to be ivy, strikingly green against the barren, blonde hued hills.  In the valley the grapes of today (pictured at the top of the page) are heavy on the vines in clusters of light green and purple below dense leaves along neatly tended rows of vines in contrast to those of the 1800s.

Fort Tejon was established in 1854 just six miles beyond the highway's summit of 4,183 feet where the highway drops down to pass a present day historical marker dedicated to the fort.  Built for the purpose of deterring cattle rustling prevalent at that time in this area, Fort Tejon also served to protect Native Americans living in the San Joaquin Valley.  It is here that the Grapevine truly begins (and not as commonly thought back at the beginning of the steep five mile grade where Interstate-5 begins its decent into the San Joaquin Valley.)  Today on average, 70,000 vehicles travel the road daily with 26% of that traffic (or 19,000 of those vehicles) being big-rig trucks.  In the above photo, we are descending back down into the San Joaquin Valley.