You Can't Get There From Here!

     Most people driving to or from Pine Mountain Club from either direction would agree that the roads are less than optimal. Some might say primitive. Well the roads today are far superior to what existed up until the late 70's and early 80's. 
     To get an inkling of what it was like, you need only to go east to Lake of the Woods. (Yes, there used to be a lake there!). Turn right on Lockwood Valley Road at the Mini Mart. For the next mile or so, the roadway is narrow, winding, with little or no shoulder. The road follows the contour of the terrain, rather than coursing smoothly across it. The pavement is more repair than   road. Or better still, go straight east on Frazier Mtn Park Road to Lakewood Drive, and turn left. Go a few dozen feet up the hill, and take the first left. Follow this winding street west, until it dead-ends. This is a remaining portion of the original Frazier Mountain Park Road. The road from the freeway, through Frazier Park, all the way through Lake of the Woods, past Ivins Drive, was all like these two examples. Numerous curves, dips, and unbanked turns, with lots of patched (and un-patched) potholes, made the drive "adventurous", to say the least. Rain, snow, and/or fog and ice added to the fun. A one-way trip could easily take 45 minutes, or more.
     To the west, the paved portion of Mil Potrero Hwy. ended at Cedarwood Dr. The next two-plus miles was a rough, rutted, dirt road, hardly suited for passenger cars without a lot of clearance. Once you reached Cerro Noroeste (Mt. Abel) Road, the roadway was paved, but it was mostly patches between potholes.
     When Kern County began the several projects to upgrade the roads, the section through Frazier Park, including the three bridges, was completed first, and bypassed the original route through "downtown" Frazier Park. (Mount Pinos Way). This project did not disrupt travel much. The other two projects, (1) from the west end of Mount Pinos Way to Cuddy Valley Road, and (2) from the east end of Mount Pinos Way to the freeway, were done within the existing road bed, or immediately adjacent to it where the road was re-aligned. As a result, travel was delayed, or stopped, for months, and most of the time you had to drive on roughly-graded, rocky, wash-board dirt roads. Once the projects were complete, the new roads were worth the wait. However, whereas before the road conditions were such that most drivers did not feel safe driving at extra-legal speed; now the wide, smooth pavement was an invitation for too many to drive like they were still on Interstate 5. 
      The unpaved section of Mil Potrero Highway was re-aligned and widened and paved in the early 80's; The turns were straightened, and the dips filled in, and culverts were installed so the gullies didn't drain across the road. The decomposed granite fill for the road-bed came from the quarry behind the PMC maintenance yard/transfer site. (More on this later, and some notes about guard-rails.)