Okay, okay, okay… “UNCLE!” Please… No more fog, we’re begging!
That stuff is STILL with us (yes, this is the road report for Friday, May 25, 2018, not just a rehash of yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that, or any of the many days before that, all with FOG). And, it ain’t no joke, to use the trailer park vernacular that I’m so dang comfortable with.
The fog is sort of heavy today, and it’s reaching higher elevations than it has in the past few days… at least as high as the traffic signal at Lake Gregory Drive X Hwy. 18. And, since rain was falling even at that point in my drive, I feel safe in assuming that clouds/ fog were still stacked up high above me.
I’ll hesitatingly stop short of calling this fog “really heavy,” but, it’s just a few feet in visibility distance from qualifying for a full- monte “heavy” rating. Let’s go with “extremely majorly moderate” fog… because I could still see about 20- 30 feet in front of the car.
Crestline is socked in, but the worst of the fog, as is typical, is along the Rim, particularly through the Deathly Narrows (for the uninitiated to local geographical slang, “The Narrows” refers to the section of Hwy. 18 that runs from the Crestline Bridge (Hwy. 18 x Hwy. 138) Cliffhanger/ Hortencia’s Restaurant… although sometimes the miles of Hwy. 18 continuing up to Rim Forest are included in the reference). And, as you descend the mountain, fog remains fairly thick all the way down to Upper Waterman Canyon Road’s exit. From there, for your next couple of miles of travel, the fog will gradually thin, until you break through the floor and see the lights of San Bernardino right around the city limit sign at the lower end of Cloudland Truck Trail Road.
Today’s fog is not the absolute worst that I’ve ever seen… but it’s not for the faint of heart, not by any stretch of the imagination. It’ll slow you down… especially if you are interested in avoiding the cliff dive that one motorist took yesterday, which took the vehicle 600 feet closer to San Bernardino in a matter of seconds. The driver survived, and for that we are grateful to our emergency teams on the mountain… their work was really remarkable. See Raymond Ray’s article on www.MountainReporter.com for more details on THAT harrowing plunge. To be clear (no pun intended), the cause of the accident is entirely unknown to me, however, there seems to be a very strong chance that heavy fog in that area played a factor.
Rocks did not present a hazard on my drive this morning, but the conditions are ripe for them to succumb to gravity’s temptation today. CalTrans seems to be pretty vigilant in clearing the surly stones that to make their way to the roadway, but be aware that the rocks can come down any time (Not too long ago, I was on Hwy. 18 behind a rock plow, when a rock about the size of a loaf of bread and traveling horizontally passed in front of my windshield… I sure am glad I hadn’t planned to be at work 1/50 of a second earlier that day).
Roads are wet… rain is falling in mountain areas. Keep road slickeriness in mind as you negotiate those curves. Once you get down to the bottom of the hill, the flat parts down here seem to have very little evidence of precipitation… I don’t know where it all vanishes to, but roads down here are dry… the fog is nothing but distant overcast.
One final note regarding the commute: On the next- to- last curve on Hwy 18, as you travel downhill, as it sweeps the right, there is a car parked on the shoulder. That’s a really bad place to stop… I can only assume that the mechanical issue requiring a stop in that exact stop is locked- up brakes… because other than that, no sane person would stop THERE, and not just roll forward a few more feet to a place where the vehicle is visible to traffic. Anyhow, if you are one of those drivers that likes to ride the fog line, or even cut over it on the curves, you are likely to drive through that SUV’s tailgate and continue on through the windshield before you even realize that there’s a vehicle there… please be careful.
Memorial Day Weekend is upon us… let’s remember why we have freedom and comfortable lives. This is a time to somberly reflect upon those who are no longer with us, because they gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect the United States of America.
All gave some… some gave all.