Thanks for the information as we travel along. Yhe written dialogue vs a voice makes me feel like I am there in the vehicle enjoying another trip out west. I love it.
This is a great road to ride; I live in Mariposa and ride it all the time. Cal trans does a great job of keeping the road clear of debris. All of hwy 49 up to Placerville is a nice ride. Hwy 108 over Sanora pass is an excellent ride also.
The stretch of this road from Bear Valley to Coulterville is known as the "little dragon" for all the curves in response to the "tail of the dragon" in North Carolina.
There must be never-ending work for the CalTrans crews, cleaning up rockslides on that route, especially during monsoon season. But what a fantastic driver's road, through some beautiful scenery. Glad you had a fairly clear run through it!
Mariposa brings back memories. After visiting Yosemite and a thunderstorm our coach took us to Mariposa and I posed for a photo standing next to a bear at a gas station before walking up the hill to a Mexican diner. This was in June 2015.
Mariposa County resident here: Bear Valley is where the Fremont homestead used to be before it burned in the 1860s. The towns of Bear Valley and Mt. Bullion were almost lost to the Detwiler Fire in 2017, but thankfully Cal Fire and other fire agencies up and down the state that responded literally defended the area and saved those communities, and that fire itself almost took Mariposa with it too (you can still see the burn scar at 1:35 to the right of the power pole at center screen where it was stopped on the ridgeline). I was in town working that day when the mass evacuation took place and got caught up in it that afternoon, so naturally I was beyond terrified that whole week. For the record, not even the locals will drive Bagby Grade because of how dangerous it is. A year after the fire we had a nasty squall line go through and washed the hwy out, and the hwy had to be closed that whole summer while it was getting a total repair job. The worst type of vehicle to get behind on Bagby is a big rig, especially a logging truck. This is one road you do not want to take during the rainy season at all.
