California State Route 88

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State Route 88

(CS&HC Section 388)

Length:

122 mi^[1] (196 km)

Major
junctions:

SR-99

SJ 0.00

SR-12

SJ 12.24

SJ 19.17

SR-124

AMA 5.53

SR-104

AMA 7.40

AMA 12.68

SR-49

AMA 14.28

AMA 14.29

SR-89

AMA 13.40

AMA 19.22

NEV-88

ALP 25.28

Major cities:

Stockton
Jackson
Kirkwood
Markleeville

California State Routes
< SR 87		SR 89 >
Unconstructed - Deleted - Freeway - Scenic

State Route 88 is a California State Highway that travels in an east-west direction, from Stockton through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and ending at the border with Nevada, whereupon it becomes Nevada State Route 88, eventually terminating at U.S. Highway 395. CA-88 is one of only three routes to continue with the same route number after crossing into Nevada, the others being CA-28 and CA-266.

Unlike other two-lane California highways through the mountains (CA-4, CA-108 and CA-120), CA-88 stays open through winter, except during the worst snowstorms, making it the third major route through the mountains, after Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 50. In fact, CA-88 over the Carson Pass is designated as Alternate U.S. 50, such that it may be used during floods of the American River Canyon.

A portion of CA-88 (from Antelope Springs to the border) started as the Amador/Nevada Wagon Route, a toll road completed in 1862, which was a major thoroughfare through the mountains, as California sent timber, food, and particularly gold to the east during the Civil War. Completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 greatly decreased traffic on the wagon road.

[edit] Points of interest

Listed in order from west to east.

California Historical Landmark #995, the Trail of the 1844 John C. Frémont Expedition, at the northwest corner of the Calaveras River (postmile SJ 6.09)
Clinton (CHL #37), on Clinton Rd., south of the highway, in Pine Grove—Clinton was the center of a placer mining community during the 1850s and of quartz mining as late as the 1880s. This town once decided Amador County elections as its votes were always counted last.
Irishtown (CHL #38), at the intersection of Pine Grove Wieland Rd. in Pine Grove—This was an important stopping place for emigrants on their way to the southern mines. The first white settlers on this spot found it a "city of wigwams," and hundreds of mortars in the rocks testify that this was a favorite Indian camping ground.
Mount Zion State Park, Pine Grove
Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park, Pine Grove
Eldorado National Forest, Amador Ranger Station, Pioneer
Maiden's Grave (CHL #28), burial place of Rachel Melton (d. 1850), a young girl who died while traveling to California via covered wagon (postmile AMA 61.3)
The Old Emigrant Road was a long loop around the Silver Lake basin, starting from Caples Lake and reaching an elevation of 9,640 feet at one place. This difficult portion of the road was used by thousands of vehicles from 1848 to 1863, when a better route was blasted out of the face of the cliff at Carson Spur (the present highway route). There are two markers. One (CHL #662) is at the intersection of Mud Lake Rd (postmile AMA 63.1). The second marker (CHL #661) is at postmile ALP 2.4, at Caples Lake.
Kirkwood Mountain Resort, Kirkwood
Kirkwood's (CHL #40), a resort, stage station, and post office originally built by Zack Kirkwood in 1864. The building straddles the Alpine–Amador county line.
The Kit Carson Marker (CHL #315, postmile ALP 5.2), at the summit of Carson Pass, marks where Carson carved his name into a tree in 1844 while guiding John C. Frémont through the Sierra Nevada. The original can be found at Sutter's Fort, Sacramento.
On some large rocks near Carson Pass, a group of pioneers inscribed their names and the emblem of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1849 (CHL #378, postmile ALP 5.3).