Southern California Regional Rocks and Roads - Guide

New Video – C-Monuments

Michael F Ballard — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 23:24:05 +0000

The Historic Highway 99 Association has posted their latest video in the History along US 99 series. This time, the video is on C-monuments. What they are, how they came about, and how you can find them is all there in the video. Come check it out!

NPS National Historic Trails Site

Michael F Ballard — Sun, 01 Oct 2023 23:29:46 +0000

A reader sent a link to this site and I thought it would be of interest to all of you. This site, produced by the National Park Service (NPS), has detailed maps showing the routing of various national historic trails. Of interest to California, it shows the National Old Trails Highway (US 66), El Camino ...

Sightseeing Faults in the Southern California

Michael F Ballard — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 01:19:55 +0000

Southern California has many faults, some hidden, some very obvious. One of the more fun aspects of geology is to see where the land moves. To witness the power of what Earth can do can be quite awe inspiring. Some features are easily recognizable, such as the San Gabriel Mountains which have somewhat rapidly risen ...

Finding Old Highways Presentation

Michael F Ballard — Sun, 09 May 2021 20:30:01 +0000

On Tuesday, May 4, 2021, I hosted a Zoom presentation for the Historic Highway 99 Association of California on the topic of finding old highways. This presentation included information about survey monuments, pavement styles, bridge types, and more. A recording of the presentation is now available for viewing and download. Please follow the link below ...

Guide to Truss Bridges

Michael F Ballard — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 16:42:24 +0000

The Historic American Engineering Record, a part of the National Park Service, produced a very detailed poster for identification of truss bridges. While these bridges aren’t as common in southern California, they still get plenty of use. Railroads are the most common user of these types of bridges, specifically the Pratt Truss.

Highway Tips #2 – Signs

Michael F Ballard — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 20:16:24 +0000

Road signs come in many different sizes, shapes, and colors. Each one carries a specific meaning to help guide you down the road in a safe manner. This installment will discuss each of the types of signs and what they mean. Road signs come in a variety of colors. Each color has a meaning, which ...

Highway Tips – Roadway Striping

Michael F Ballard — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 18:03:02 +0000

This is the first part of a new series on SoCalRegion where we will discuss various topics related to roadways, their design, signage, as well as other features to help assist all road users in traveling throughout California. Many of these features exist in other states, but some have a different take on things. Roadway ...

What is a “C-Monument”?

Michael F Ballard — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 06:22:38 +0000

Roadways and their rights-of-way are marked in various ways. Originally, roadway rights-of-way were poorly marked, and as a result, changed quite a bit. These changes made travel sometimes rather confusing as the roadway path may have changed before the map the traveler used changed. This sort of problem also cost the State quite a bit ...

August 12, 2017 Cajon Pass Highway Tour – Updated

Michael F Ballard — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 22:39:08 +0000

On August 12, 2017, I will be hosting this websites first highway tour in the Cajon Pass area. This tour will cover the roadway from Verdemont to Cajon Summit. Some portions will have to be skipped, unfortunately, due to fire-related closures. The start of the tour has changed from the initial announcement. It will now ...

US 6 Tour goes east!

Michael F Ballard — Sat, 08 Apr 2017 18:00:06 +0000

It has been a while since I’ve added to my US 6 tour. For quite some time, it “only” went to Tonopah, Nevada. While that town makes for a good end point, it left quite a bit of very interesting and scenic highway out of the tour. US 6 across Nevada is one of the ...