Pen In Hand: Water Canyon Road: My favorite 3 miles
Pen In Hand: Water Canyon Road: My favorite 3 miles
By: Jon Hammond
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Posted by editor Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:24:41 PST
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0 responses 0 comments One of my favorite roads in the Tehachapi area is only 3 miles long and dead-ends with no outlet. I’ve been on it a thousand times and still look forward to every trip on this winding two-lane road. Which one is it? Water Canyon Road, of course.
Water Canyon Road begins at Highline Road and travels south into the mountains, ending at the 500-acre Tehachapi Mountain Park, a Kern County Parks Department facility that was established in 1952. It starts at an elevation of 4,000 feet and ends 3 miles later at almost 5,500 feet.
The canyon through which this little road snakes its way into the mountains derives its name from Tehachapi Creek, which splashes or trickles beside the road year-round, though it may disappear underground in places during the summer. The perpetual presence of the creek has created a narrow riparian area of willows, cottonwoods, canyon oaks and elderberries, and contrasted with more arid surroundings it is indeed a Water Canyon.
The Nüwa (Kawaiisu) Indians of the Tehachapi area were familiar with Water Canyon and gathered the Arroyo Willow (Salix lasiolepsis) that grows there. Known as pu-hi-suva by the Nüwa, the willows were used for building houses, making baskets, cradleboards and many other household items. You can see the notch that Water Canyon forms in the mountains from many miles away.
When settlers and homesteaders moved into the area in the 1850s and 60s, the footpaths and game trails in Water Canyon became first a horseback trail and then was widened to allow the passage of wagons carrying supplies into the mountains — and lumber, firewood and mined ore out of the forested hills.
The pond and wishing well near the entrance of the park are situated on a relatively flat area (rare in these steep slopes) that was once the site of an active sawmill that converted Jeffrey, Ponderosa and Sugar Pine into lumber for the ranches, mines and town.
As far as I’ve been able to determine, Water Canyon Road wasn’t paved until the county decided to create the park about 1950. Many older residents remember Wonderview Kennels, the first building on your left as you head up Water Canyon Road, which was once painted pink and housed a thriving dog grooming business and kennels for vacationing pet owners.
There are 30 or 40 houses scattered on both sides of lower Water Canyon Road, none on the steep slopes in the canyon narrows, and then a handful above the narrows where the canyon widens before you reach Mt. Park.
Water Canyon Road has been the scene of innumerable accidents over the years — most of them involving people headed down the canyon. It is steep and winding and it is easy to reach unsafe speeds on the unforgiving corners. The sharpest of them all, a horseshoe-shaped curve, is known as “Dead Man’s Curve.” Although I don’t know of any fatalities there, it has been site of many accidents and injuries over the decades. Water Canyon Road has sent many cars to the wrecking yard.
The Kern County Sheriff’s Department has taken to closing Water Canyon Road following snowstorms because so many out-of-towners arrive ill-prepared to play in the snow. Their passenger cars become stuck in the snow and especially on the ice, which is common in the shady curves of Water Canyon, and it can be impossible to get emergency vehicles past the chaos.
My friend Joy Gray wrote a song entitled “Water Canyon” when she was in the local band Full Moon, and I’ve always loved it as it referred to the mystical side of this sunlight-dappled canyon. Whether I’m photographing the many butterflies that float down Water Canyon in the summer or navigating a snow-covered road in the winter, Water Canyon Road will always be one of my favorites in Tehachapi — or anywhere else, for that matter.
Have a good week.
Captions:
Water Canyon Road with a coating of fresh snow is both enticing and potentially dangerous for the unwary.
Thick canyon oaks (Quercus chrysolepsis) create mixed lighting of sunlight and shadow in the Water Canyon narrows.
This cross commemorates not a person but a beloved Subaru car that met its end (as have others before and since) on the winding curves of Water Canyon Road.
Valley oaks (Quercus lobata) show golden autumn leaves against a blue November sky as they frame Water Canyon Road looking north.
Photos by Jon Hammond
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